The Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), an annual destination for many music educators and musicians, will be a virtual destination in 2020 due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conversations about how to handle PASIC 2020 began at the April board meeting, according to Joshua Simonds, Percussive Arts Society executive director. At the time, the board had dual plans: Plan A was to hold PASIC as usual while Plan B was to hold it online. Simonds recalls a board member noticing, “I think your Plan A and Plan B are backwards.”
In June, the focus shifted primarily to planning a virtual PASIC.
Because of this early and extensive preparation, Simonds says that PASIC 2020 will be “as close to [past] PASIC [events] as possible, [just] online and not in person.”
A virtual PASIC has advantages, which Simonds says he is already seeing. For example, the event will be accessible to more musicians due to lack of travel time and expenses and a low cost of $50.
While PASIC 2020 will feature speakers and clinicians, competitive events will not occur because of social distancing guidelines and a potentially uneven playing field for some schools that are still not meeting in person. “Most of the actual performance stuff, we won’t have this year,” Simonds says. Essentially, PASIC will be “I&E [Individual and Ensemble] without the E [Ensemble].”
Though it’s too early to say what will stick for future PASIC events and what won’t, Simonds already realizes, “I don’t see us going back to a time where PASIC is only in person.”
Visit pasic.org for more information.
