While plans are being developed to reopen Broadway and off-Broadway theaters by September and bring back the $15 billion a year New York City theater industry from the Covid-19 shutdown, the campaign “ReStart the Arts” has been launched by ArtsWestchester to help reopen theaters and bring back other arts activities in Westchester and Rockland counties.
The “ReStart the Arts” campaign was created to seek $1 million in Covid-19 recovery funds from the state to distribute to arts organizations, performance venues and individual artists.
A nationwide pool of federal Covid-19 recovery money has been available for arts organizations to go after. The relief package from December 2020 included $15 billion in grants for entities and individuals operating live performance venues, performing arts organizations, museums, independent movie theaters and talent agencies.
The newly passed American Rescue Plan included $135 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities to support arts and cultural organizations and $1.25 billion for Small Business Administration grants to help concert venues and performing arts centers that had to cancel performances.
On March 26, members of Westchester”™s state Senate and Assembly delegations joined with representatives of arts organizations for a news conference at ArtsWestchester”™s Mamaroneck Avenue headquarters in White Plains. The group is the largest private not-for-profit arts council in New York state.
ArtsWestchester”™s CEO Janet Langsam, said, “ArtsWestchester, with our affiliates, and there are least 150 of them, have gotten together and said, ”˜We need to restart the arts in Westchester and we need the help of the Assembly and of the Senate.”™ And, you guys have been so supportive of the arts in the past. We need you to rally up in Albany for $1 million to restart the arts here in Westchester County.”
Langsam pointed out that in addition to offering outlets for creative expression the arts brings people and communities together.
“The arts are a way to bring people together and we have worked for many, many years trying to make sure that what we do is fair, equitable and really reaches down to every community in Westchester,” Langsam said. She emphasized that arts has a $172 million economic impact and employs more than 5,200 people in Westchester.
The White Plains event came a day after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told a briefing that the city is targeting a September opening for Broadway and off-Broadway shows with some theaters possibly opening before then.
He said the city is “working with the Broadway community now to develop the plans to make the reopening go smoothly. We need it back on every level. And the hope that comes with live performance, the hope that comes from our cultural community. This is also absolutely crucial. This is going to be a year to turn things around. And our artists, our performers, our cultural community are going to lead the way and encourage people and inspire the people. So, it”™s time to raise the curtain and bring Broadway back.”
The mayor said that they are developing a crowd management plan and over the next four weeks will be setting up dedicated vaccination sites specifically for the theater industry.
“We”™re also going to have a mobile unit that will serve off-Broadway theaters. It”™s so important to make sure that people are getting vaccinated now, as we look forward to the fall. Also, to make sure that testing is available on an ongoing basis, so there will be pop-up testing sites at and near theaters on Broadway and off-Broadway,” de Blasio said.
“The city will be actively engaged in helping theaters to manage crowds before and after shows. I”™m calling upon the state to please quickly issue clear guidance for theater workers in terms of masks usage, in terms of how we use proof of vaccination or proof of negative testing to help ensure that everyone can work and that crowds can come back in the fall.”
In White Plains, State Sen. Shelley Mayer said, “Arts are the touch of life we are missing and this is the moment to bring them back. We are fighting hard to make ArtsWestchester a dedicated line in our budget.” She said they also are trying to get more funding for the New York State Council on the Arts.
State Sen. Peter Harckham said, “We are talking about an economic multiplier. When people come to patronize the arts and experience the arts they”™re dining out, they”™re shopping, they”™re going to gas stations, staying in our hotels, paying hotel tax. This is a dynamic way to get people to our downtowns.”
State Assemblyman Tom Abinanti characterized the arts in Westchester as “the heart and soul of our community and they are the lifeblood of our economy.”
State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin said that getting back to the arts also means getting back to normalcy. State Assemblyman Chris Burdick suggested that the arts are an important part of the fabric of life in Westchester.
One of the representatives of the arts organizations was Waddell Stillman, president and CEO of Historic Hudson Valley, who said, “It takes a lot to regroup, to reassemble, to rehire, to recruit, to reconnect with audiences and thereby restart the arts.”
Laura deBuys, president and executive director of The Picture House Regional Film Center in Pelham said that the federal CARES Act funding has helped keep many organizations from having to go out of business but now more support is needed because “we have to redesign programming, we have to make our spaces safer and we have to fund the artists so they can get back to the business of creating.”
The state legislators expressed optimism that the funding ArtsWestchester was seeking could be approved in relatively short order.
