Bridgewater, VA – October 2020. When they invested in Martin Audio’s large format Wavefront Precision Longbow (WPL) early last year, Virginia-based Southard Audio became the first of two co-operative live event production companies in the U.S. to acquire the premium line array.
Servicing a wide range of events in the mid-Atlantic region, Southard found much of their workload in the surrounding East Coast states cut off after COVID-19 struck … and even in the academic sector—a market segment in which they are usually particularly active—the normally busy Orientation Events week was virtually wiped out.
One that did go ahead, albeit under heavily moderated conditions, was Bridgewater College. The presence of COVID-19 meant an enlarged role for Southard at this Liberal Arts institution, as the students were divided into pods and the classrooms were moved outside onto two large grassy spaces providing plenty of room for social distancing.
Each of the two back-to-back main stages...
