Loyola is merging the School of Music Industry with the School of Music and Theater arts, according to an email from Jeff Albert, director of the School of Music Industry and the School of Music and Theatre Arts. 

The merger process will take place over the course of the next year according to Albert. The purpose of the merger is to mitigate scheduling issues with practice rooms and instrument rentals. 

Albert also announced new COVID-19 guidelines for ensembles and music making. Ensemble preformances have a higher risk of spreading COVID-19 than other classroom activities due to their higher rate of aerosol generation, according to the guidelines. 

“All people participating in group music making must provide proof of being fully vaccinated or a negative COVID test taken no more than 72 hours prior to participating in music making activities,” according to the guidelines. 

The new guidelines also mandate instrument-specific cleaning practices, indoor masking and social distancing. These guidelines come after Loyola encouraged professors to create class seating charts to aid contact tracing and announced plans to drop students who fail to update their vaccination status from their fall classes.