CMU School of Drama


Monday, November 11, 2013

Art nonprofits concerned about competing with gambling casinos

www.troyrecord.com: Directors of regional theaters and performing arts centers warned Tuesday that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s bid to open seven gambling casinos upstate could have dire consequences for the nonprofit venues.

Upstate Theaters for a Fair Game are seeking protections against new casinos that would be powerful enough to lock up exclusivity rights with concert and theater promoters and artists, effectively freezing the smaller nonprofits out of competition in bookings.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I can see where nonprofit directors could be concerned about competing with casinos. However, I think that nonprofits and casinos are so different that that one doesn't affect the other. In fact, until reading this article I hadn't thought about these two things having any impact on each other. People will forever support nonprofits because of the ideas behind said nonprofit, and they will still go to casinos for recreational fun.

Jess Bergson said...

I completely understand why administrators of nonprofit theater companies upstate are concerned. However, I do not think they have much to worry about. The types of shows, let alone the audiences, that are likely to attend nonprofit theaters are vastly different than the types of audiences and shows that will attend and take place in the casinos. It is good that the administrators of the nonprofit theater companies are taking precautions and working with the governor to protect themselves from being "beat out" from the higher competition of the casinos. Hopefully, the casinos will only help and not hurt the surrounding nonprofit companies. Also, the administrators of the nonprofit theater companies should be looking to find ways to benefit from the oncoming increase of people coming to their area.