PORT TOWNSEND — Centrum, the presenter of music, writing and art programs and performances, is being reborn right now at Fort Worden State Park.
“We’re offering our full suite of programs just like in 2019. Every program is back on,” said Rob Birman, the executive director heading into his 10th year with Centrum.
All of the in-person workshops except one will be hybrids, with an online element for people who can’t or prefer not to travel to Port Townsend, he added.
The single program without a virtual version is Voice Works, the weeklong workshop for singers.
“It’s too hard to do singing online,” Birman said.
As for the rest — the Fiddle Tunes, Choro and Red Hot Strings workshops, the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference, Jazz Port Townsend, the Acoustic Blues Festival and the Port Townsend Ukulele Workshop — participants around the globe may choose between in person and online.
Costs for virtual participation are a fraction of in-person attendance prices; details about faculty, schedules and youth discounts can be found at centrum.org.
Registration for summer workshops opened last week on Centrum’s website.
Tickets to the accompanying performances — including concerts at McCurdy Pavilion and on Littlefield Green — will become available April 15 for Centrum donors of any level and May 1 for the general public.
At this point, Centrum requires in-person workshop attendees and concert-goers to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, Birman noted.
That includes a booster shot. All Centrum employees adhere to the same rule.
The fort’s indoor gathering spaces are equipped with air purifiers while the workshops have COVID coordinators to manage protocols, added longtime Centrum staffer Peter McCracken.
This week at Fort Worden, Centrum is hosting the return of Explorations, an immersive art and personal development program for seventh- through ninth-graders.
“We have kids here for the first time since the pandemic,” Birman said, his voice lifting.
He was just as enthused about the first Port Townsend Chamber Music Series concert at the fort’s Wheeler Theater on Feb. 20. About 100 open seats provided for social distancing between parties, he said, while the internationally known Merz Trio played for about 170 people.
Two more chamber concerts are set for spring in the Wheeler: the Brasil Guitar Duo on April 3 and the Dover Quartet June 12. Tickets and information can be found at centrum.org under the Music menu and by phoning 360-385-3102, ext. 110.
Come summer, Centrum again will host its Free Fridays at the Fort concerts as well as the Fiddle Tunes, Jazz Port Townsend and Acoustic Blues shows outdoors in July and August.
It’s been a long, bumpy road here, said McCracken, program manager for Fiddle Tunes, Voice Works and the ukes workshop.
“Back in the fall, it was like we were spinning our wheels a lot,” he said, as the Centrum crew would invent scenarios and then have to discard them.
But “right now, it’s feeling pretty good,” with Voice Works 15 weeks away.
“People are thirsty to make music together again,” added Gregg Miller, who programs the chamber music series along with the Choro and Jazz Port Townsend workshops.
Choro, the April program whose subtitle is “The Sweet Lament of Brazilian Music,” already has 55 participants registered; eight of those chose to go online, Miller said.
“The most we’ve ever had in Choro is 60. So we’re within striking distance,” he said.
The Port Townsend Writers’ Conference and the Fiddle Tunes, Jazz Port Townsend and Acoustic Blues workshops are also seeing signups come in from across the United States and around the world, like before.
“What I always get a lot of joy and pleasure from is when I see people meeting face to face with people they’ve admired for years, their musical heroes,” said Miller, who’s watched this happen many times during Jazz Port Townsend.
“Just playing music, knee to knee,” added McCracken: “Everyone is just jonesing to do that.”
Centrum’s programs join two Seattle Theatre Group events at Fort Worden this summer: the Dance This youth camp and THING, the multilayered festival that debuted in 2019.
Here’s the 2022 lineup.
• Choro workshop of Brazilian music, April 20-24, concert April 23;
• Red Hot Strings workshop, May 25-29;
• Voice Works, June 27 through July 2 plus concerts to be announced;
• Fiddle Tunes, July 3-10, concerts July 4, 8, 9;
• Port Townsend Writers’ Conference: July 17-24, free public readings all week;
• Jazz Port Townsend, July 25-31, mainstage concerts and club gigs July 29-30;
• Acoustic Blues Festival & Workshop, Aug. 1-7, concerts Aug. 5-6;
• Dance This youth camp, Aug. 14-21, no public concert;
• THING festival (thingNW.org), Aug. 26-28;
• Port Townsend Ukulele Workshop, Sept. 7-11.
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Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend workshop and concerts — like this rare in-person outdoor show at Fort Worden in 2021 — are among the events returning in person to Fort Worden State Park this spring, summer and fall. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
