President Donald Trump's immigration executive order in January was, by most accounts, an unmitigated disaster. It prohibited entry into the U.S. of all refugees and of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Africa. In its aftermath, chaos reigned at American airports and border crossings, in large part because no one seemed to know exactly which agencies had authority to detain or bar travelers, or under what pretenses. Untold numbers of travelers, including many not from the seven countries, as well as foreign-born residents with valid visas, were detained or denied entry. That is, until a federal judge froze the executive order. Still, the short-lived ban caused plenty of damage, not the least of which was heightened tension and anxiety among immigrant and refugee communities around the globe. A revised version of that executive order was announced on Monday. It removes Iraq from the list of barred countries. Citizens of the other six, who had been barred indefinitely, now face a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas. The order also revises rules for refugees. Even with those changes — and despite immediate pushback — the unease surrounding immigration and international travel issues isn't likely to ebb anytime soon. Though local arts organizations rank comparatively low on the list of those affected by a travel ban, they frequently rely on foreign artists as part of their programming, and many have become wary of Trump's restrictions. Most performing-arts groups book their seasons a year or more in advance, so the direct impact of the January order has thus far been minimal; paperwork and fees for foreign acts were filed long ago. Still, clouds of uncertainty darken the outlook on booking international artists for the future — or getting them here. But that doesn't mean arts orgs plan to stop trying. "I refuse to be afraid of something that's not here," says Steve MacQueen, artistic director at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington. "My plan is to keep booking international performers like I've always done. If anything, it makes you want to try a little harder to do it." Citing "the importance of outside perspectives," MacQueen explains that booking global performers is critical to the Flynn's role in the larger arts community. "We describe the involvement of international artists as part of our mission," he says. But MacQueen notes that booking foreign artists has…
President Donald Trump's immigration executive order in January was, by most accounts, an unmitigated disaster. It prohibited entry into the U.S. of all refugees and of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Africa. In its aftermath, chaos reigned at American airports and border crossings, in large part because no one seemed to know exactly which agencies had authority to detain or bar travelers, or under what pretenses. Untold numbers of travelers, including many not from the seven countries, as well as foreign-born residents with valid visas, were detained or denied entry. That is, until a federal judge froze the executive order. Still, the short-lived ban caused plenty of damage, not the least of which was heightened tension and anxiety among immigrant and refugee communities around the globe. A revised version of that executive order was announced on Monday. It removes Iraq from the list of barred countries. Citizens of the other six, who had been barred indefinitely, now face a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas. The order also revises rules for refugees. Even with those changes — and despite immediate pushback — the unease surrounding immigration and international travel issues isn't likely to ebb anytime soon. Though local arts organizations rank comparatively low on the list of those affected by a travel ban, they frequently rely on foreign artists as part of their programming, and many have become wary of Trump's restrictions. Most performing-arts groups book their seasons a year or more in advance, so the direct impact of the January order has thus far been minimal; paperwork and fees for foreign acts were filed long ago. Still, clouds of uncertainty darken the outlook on booking international artists for the future — or getting them here. But that doesn't mean arts orgs plan to stop trying. "I refuse to be afraid of something that's not here," says Steve MacQueen, artistic director at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington. "My plan is to keep booking international performers like I've always done. If anything, it makes you want to try a little harder to do it." Citing "the importance of outside perspectives," MacQueen explains that booking global performers is critical to the Flynn's role in the larger arts community. "We describe the involvement of international artists as part of our mission," he says. But MacQueen notes that booking foreign artists has…