Moving toward Phase 1

Dear Colleagues,

Every day since the Coronavirus became part of our reality, you have navigated the new and the unknown. It has been challenging, but your creativity, perseverance, and commitment to our mission will make us better for it. I would like to reiterate my thanks to you as we steadily and carefully move towards reopening the Smithsonian.

As local jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C., announce their plans for reopening, the Smithsonian’s reopening will take place in a manner and at a pace that we determine. Even if you see a region entering an early stage of reopening, you should not change your work status until you hear directly from your supervisor and/or unit director.

I am pleased to share updates below from Richard Wright and Ellen Stofan, chairs of the Reopening Task Force and New Normal Team, respectively. These teams have been developing and refining tools and resources to help us slowly evolve from “stay at home” to “safe at work.” They are also imagining the future of the Smithsonian:  how our daily operations might change and how we best carry out our mission in a post-COVID world.

Over the coming weeks, you can anticipate hearing more from them. In the meantime, I encourage you to share your feedback and ideas by emailing si-coronavirusinfo@si.edu. As we continue to move through uncharted waters, thank you for being part of this journey.

Sincerely,
Lonnie G. Bunch III
Secretary

Reopening Task Force

Richard Wright
Deputy Smithsonian Coordinating Officer for the COVID-19 Response Team and Director of the Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management

Our reopening strategy calls for a four-phased approach governed by specific gating criteria, or benchmarks, for moving forward. These criteria include factors such as COVID-19 case numbers, testing availability, hospital capacity, and guidance from local jurisdictions and the federal government. We will also consider factors that specifically impact our community such as the availability of cleaning supplies and PPE, status of public transportation, reopening of schools, travel warnings, and actions of our partner institutions.

This framework is not governed by a fixed timeline but rather by each region’s ability to meet the benchmarks above safely as we move through the four phases. Below are key features that define each phase that we want you to be aware of as a small number of units begin to enter early reopening.

• For many units, Phase 1 will not represent a significant change from current operations. Additional staff who are not currently working on site and not at higher risk may return to work. During this time, we will be keenly focused on the safety of employees. We will monitor how we work together in common spaces, our stock of cleaning supplies, our enhanced cleaning practices, and the capacity of the Office of Facilities Management and Reliability and the Office of Protection Services to safely support and protect those returning to work.

• During Phase 2, while telework eligible employees will still be primarily working from home, we will begin welcoming small groups of visitors to select Smithsonian facilities. Phase 2 is our opportunity to pilot and improve new visitor services practices while minimizing risk for all members of our community. A limited number of research associates and academic appointees as well as behind-the-scenes volunteers may also return. Public events and retail and food services will be considered with strict social distancing. As we learn lessons in how to operate, small increases in public offerings will occur.

• We will gradually increase our capacity and public offerings in Phase 3. When we are confident that we can continue to ensure a safe workplace, we will welcome additional staff to our facilities, including the safe return of high-risk employees. Programming, on-site research, public services, and work-related travel will expand. We will hone our new communications, cleaning, and operational practices.

• Finally, in Phase 4, we will begin to approach pre-pandemic public operations with additional employees and affiliated staff returning on site.

Our progress may not always be linear, some units may move at difference paces than others through these phases, and we may need to pause or take a step backward in some cases, but our commitment to the health and well-being of visitors and staff is unwavering. We look forward to working with individual units and to helping you develop plans that are tailored to your needs. If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, we encourage you to reach out to us.

New Normal Team

Ellen Stofan
John and Adrienne Mars Director of the National Air and Space Museum

The New Normal Committee is working on what it means to be the Smithsonian once we reopen.

The committee—with 15 members from across the Institution—is operating under the direction of Secretary Bunch that this crisis is creating a fundamental shift to the Smithsonian and the rest of the world. These times call for us to take bold measures to be strategic, envision a different world, help people feel safe, and show why the Smithsonian is valued especially in difficult times. We see opportunity to adapt and improve the Smithsonian and come out of this stronger.

To do this, we have divided the New Normal Committee into four subcommittees, each taking on aspects to get us to this goal:

• Big Ideas (which will inform the goals of the other three)
• The Evolution of Onsite and Digital
• How We Work
• How We Operate Profitably and Flexibly

The group has been soliciting thoughts on the New Normal from outside of the Smithsonian, as well as working with Smithsonian Organization and Audience Research to seek input from within the Smithsonian. We are committed to deliver recommendations by August 1 to Secretary Bunch and the Smithsonian leadership team. These recommendations will provide the framework so that our museums and research units can develop specific plans going forward.

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