To the whole extended RDYB Family:
Unfortunately the April 2020 Richard Davis Foundation Bass Conference is canceled.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced that it will be suspending all in person teaching through April 10, at a minimum due to the COVID19 coronavirus pandemic. This will also impact the conference centers for all events. The Pyle center has been an amazing host to us bassists year after year and we’re so grateful that they have let us know about this announcement and policy as soon as they could.
Furthermore, local school districts have been canceling out-of-state travel and recommending staying home for spring break. I expect many young bassists’ schools will be doing something similar in the coming days if not already.
I’m still waiting on details for what that fully means (will it be rescheduled? can we get hotels at Lowell refunded? etc., I don’t know yet) and I’m just not sure at this point – most likely we’ll just have to wait till next year because of the way their booking works and the many moving pieces that it takes to put this all-volunteer run event on.
I can say at a minimum, that I will do everything I can to work with families to extend a full refund of tuition payments.
I remember once coming in to a bass lesson fully soaked and late (eek!) from the busses being all off schedule in a thunderstorm. Afraid that Richard would be mad, I came in so apologetically, and Richard just said, well if there’s one thing we can’t control, it’s the weather. How simple and true. The same can probably be said about this situation in a way. Looking out for the safety, health and well-being of each other is most important above all.
Stay well & best wishes.
-Catherine Harris
executive director