Charleston’s signature Spoleto festival will require COVID vaccination for attendees
Spoleto Festival USA, an internationally recognized 17-day performing arts festival, will become the first major citywide event in Charleston to require proof of full COVID-19 vaccination to attend — a move meant to encourage people to get vaccinated and to ensure the survival of the festival itself, its director announced in a statement on Tuesday.
“Mounting a full-scale in-person performing arts festival requires prioritizing our community’s health and well-being. The future of our festival depends on it,” said Mena Mark Hanna, the festival’s general director. “Vaccinations, including boosters, are the best defense against serious and fatal COVID-19 infections. Spoleto gathers artists and audience members from around the globe, and we are setting policies that allow for this gathering on such a scale.”
The requirements will be the most aggressive response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic by a large-scale festival in Charleston.
Unlike other festivals in the region, Spoleto Festival USA confirmed it will not offer audience members, staff, volunteers or performers the option of showing proof of a negative COVID-19 test ahead of the event. A recent COVID-19 infection would also not make an audience member exempt from the vaccine requirement, organizers said.
Going one step further regarding its vaccine requirements, the festival’s director said audience members will be required to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination, including booster shots for those who are eligible.
Masks must also be worn by attendees for indoor performances.
The springtime festival, which is now approaching its 46th year, has become one of the largest festivals in Charleston.
Spoleto Festival USA is internationally recognized for bringing together famous and emerging artists from a range of disciplines to perform rare masterpieces, new takes on traditional works and even world premieres in a wide-ranging festival that showcases everything from opera and theater to dance and music.
The festival’s 2022 season will run from May 27-June 12.
Jenny Ouellette, a spokeswoman for Spoleto Festival USA, said the organization usually sells between 55,000 and 60,000 tickets each season, with people traveling from 49 states to attend the annual event in Charleston.
This year, she said the festival is expecting ticket sales to be on the “upper end” of that range, given the pent-up demand for events after the pandemic forced many festivals to cancel in the last two years.
In 2021, with a scaled-down lineup and fewer venues, Spoleto Festival USA decided to go on with the show, but it also implemented a fair amount of safety requirements at the time, including mandatory mask-wearing for both indoor and outdoor performances. Last year, the festival also offered several of its performances virtually for the safety of both performers and guests.
While the proof of vaccination will be a new requirement to attend the event, organizers note some other aspects of Spoleto Festival will be a welcome return to Spoleto’s pre-pandemic performance experience.
This season’s festival will offer more than 120 events, and for the first time since 2019, international artists will return to perform, Ouellette confirmed.
The festival lineup will be announced Feb. 11, and tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 22.
This story was originally published February 1, 2022 at 11:38 AM.
