NCC is implementing public health safety strategies to mitigate any potential spread of COVID-19 within our facilities. The following guidelines are mandatory and must be adhered to by all who enter our studios so that we can provide the safest possible environment for students, teaching artists, and staff. We thank you for your understanding and support of these safety strategies.
COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate
Before entering NCC, you must self-conduct and pass a health screening. Health NCC requires proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or a notarized exemption with weekly testing, for all students, studio artists, teaching artists and staff. Proof of vaccination must be provided before your activity with NCC through an online submission form, or can be shown in-person before the start of your activity.
Conduct a health screening
Before entering NCC, you must self-conduct and pass a health screening. Health Screening Checklists will be posted at the entrances to NCC. DO NOT enter the facilities if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms: fever, chills, new cough, shortness of breath, new sore throat, new muscle aches, new headache, new loss of smell or taste.
Wear a mask at all times inside NCC facilities
NCC continues to require masks to be worn inside our facilities at all times. NCC requires CDC approved masks, which include cloth masks (2 layers) that fit snugly against your face and do not have gaps. Coverings that are NOT approved inside NCC include: masks with valves, face shields, single layer fabric coverings.
Keep social distance
- Wheels are spaced out to facilitate distancing
- Xs on the floor denote where to work 6 feet apart in Studio C (handbuilding)
- Space out in studios Studio A & B while watching demonstrations
- One person at a time at the sinks, colored dots mark where you can wait for the sink 6 ft back
- Max of 3 people at the large wedging tables in Studios A & B, space at least 6 ft apart
- Keep 6 ft of distance from others as much as possible while moving throughout the studios and glaze bay
- 5 people maximum can use the glaze bay at one time, sign up for access on the Open Studio online form
Wash your hands frequently
Wash your hands with soap and water in the bathroom for at least 20 seconds. (Clean your hands of clay first in your own individual buckets). This will help to mitigate any potential spread of germs on surfaces. We recommend washing about once an hour.
Apply the following additional safety measures
- Clean up in shifts to avoid traffic at the sink area.
- Bring a gallon size bucket that will be used while working and for an individual cleaning station at your wheel.
- Bring your own large sponge for cleaning up your station.
- Dump wastewater in provided 5-gallon buckets rather than in the sink.
- Wash your hands after using any standing water.
- If using NCC’s large sponges, please give them a dunk in the sanitizer bucket once cleaned of excess clay.
Confirmed COVID-19 Case Action Plan
If there is a confirmed case from a student, staff person, or studio artist who had entered NCC’s facilities while experiencing symptoms, or two days before any symptoms occurred (MDH guideline), we will perform contact tracing to notify those within prolonged proximity of the individual inside NCC facilities of potential exposure. Per NCC’s COVID-19 Acknowledgement form, said individuals experiencing symptoms or with confirmed case of COVID-19 must not enter NCC facilities. Individuals who are fully vaccinated (at least two weeks after completing a vaccination series, which is two doses in a two-dose series or one dose in a one-dose series) and have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 should refrain from visiting NCC until they get tested five to seven days after exposure, even if they do not have symptoms, and receive a negative COVID-19 test.