Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Wednesday, September 09, 2020
How New York City's Return to Normalcy Hinges on the Return of Broadway
www.broadwayworld.com: The Washington Post has reported on the ways in which the life and economy of New York City hinges upon bringing Broadway back, and how Broadway cannot be brought back until New York City reaches a point of economic and social normalcy in the midst of a global pandemic.
I didn’t realize how important Broadway was to New York’s economy. This line really shook me: “ Broadway alone accounts for more tickets sold each year than for all of the metropolitan area's professional sports teams, and the industry pumps on the order of $13 billion annually into the city economy. It seems fair to say, then, that until the return to health of the performing arts, the city cannot really be said to be back.” It makes sense though because the people coming in to see shows also pay for hotels, shopping and transportation. When they said that actors and designers are moving away more and more everyday because they don’t have anymore money from their last projects, it made me so sad. It’s so important that they find a safe way to start doing shows again to support all these artist.
There is no way to bring back these jobs safely at this current moment in time, so I am partially glad that Broadway is not doing any shows until 2021. But this does mean that no one on Broadway currently has a job which must be worrying. I think that there should be more government subsidy for these creatives to have more time to wait out the pandemic until it is safe for them to reopen the theatres. Once they reopen, I think that there should be some sort of fund created for each union that could be paid out to the union members when there are situations where Broadway has to close or there is some sort of economic downturn that prevents many creatives from having to leave their work or going broke.
There is quite literally nothing we can do in this situation except wait, anticipate, and prepare. I am so heartbroken and afraid for theatre workers and artists who have seen their livelihoods completely uprooted. It really just.. It is horrible. I don’t really have any other words. I am so encouraged and comforted, however, by how seriously Broadway has taken this pandemic since the very beginning, and by how thoroughly they are preparing for multiple situations upon reopening in order to do it as safely as possible. They seem to have a lot of optimism and confidence in what they are doing, and unlike most of the government’s sentiments, theirs seems to be backed by genuine plans. I hope that theatres will have the means to stay afloat through the end of that transition, and that they will be able to bounce back for their employees sooner rather than later.
I understand that New York is a cultural center for our industry and has been for some time. Right now we have to balance people’s safety and the need to work in an unsafe world. Short of creating mega-housing for companies to live in a communal space, there is no real way to keep people safe. Spoke jobs translate well into a digital world, some don’t at all. Unfortunately we longer in a society that loves the products more than the people making it.
We are all people who have spent our careers “making it work” and we will continue that. Drive-in theatre, socially distanced platform seating, live broadcast, we are trying them all. Brick and mortar theatres may falter but people will want to create and they will always be an audience hungry for that entertainment.
This isn’t just about Broadway; it really is about the whole live entertainment industry. Yes, the focus is on Broadway’s economic impact on NYC, but there is an underlying message here. Live events won’t be able to resume until 2021 and not until we have the protocols in place to protect the artists, crew, and audience as well as venue staff, the local stagehands, and people like bus drivers. Until we can protect everyone or have a reliable cure for COVID-19 in place, our industry is not going to be able to start coming back. We rely on that human interaction to succeed. When we do start coming back, it is expected to take until 2022 or 2023 to be able to return to pre-Covid levels. Remember, this didn’t have to happen this way. Our Government leaders failed us in their response, and this is where we now find ourselves. Yes, Broadway would have still had to shut down for a period of time, but it wouldn’t have had to get this bad.
I don't think I believe this article or the Washington Post article completely. How is it that the city that also controls much of the US economy- is completely dependant on a show to become a city again? I think this was written by sad theater people or their families and plays up the sad reality of the theater industry and tries to argue that we're essential workers. We aren't essential workers and I think that when I see articles like this floating around facebook and on people's instagram stories, I really do wonder if theater will make a graceful comeback. If broadway is the reason that New York is New York(haha), then why are theater people so poor all the time? We contribute our souls for a below sub par paycheck for more work than we should be doing. If broadway listens to our demands and pays people not a living wage but a deserved one, I promise that this industry won't be the heart of the NYC economy.
Every time people tell me about how theatre is “dying” or no one goes to see shows any more. I relish the opportunity to remind these folks what theatre and what live art does for the economy. What Broadway does for New York is an excellent example that is easy for most people to come to understand. This article shows the impact that COVID has had on our industry and the ripple effect it creates throughout the country. Due to safety reasons, I absolutely understand why Broadway cannot reopen, and, if I were the one making the call, I would have made the same decision. While this is the right decision, it also puts a lot of individuals and organizations in financial and emotional turmoil. Failing to acknowledge that both of these things are true would be denying the complexity of what is going on. I hope that the government will do more to support people facing this challenge.
It is interesting to see how Broadway so strongly impacts the rate of travel and tourism in NYC. With everything grinding to a halt, Broadway production closures must have a domino effect on several other industries in the area as well such as transportation and hotels, to name a couple out of many. Yes, we can adapt theater to other mediums such as a virtual medium, at least in some capacity, but this still leaves the other businesses it impacts without a significant portion of their revenue. To promote the best for public safety or to promote impacted industries is such a difficult dilemma to grapple with and I often find myself struggling to comprehend what is most important in this time; however, it is clearly most important to uphold public health, and on an individual level, everyone can do their part to help out those who are struggling. Support the arts and buy from small businesses!
This really highlights just how much of an impact theatre has and has the potential to have on both the economy and society as a whole. I mean, the article flat out mentioned the possibility of parts of Times Square being shut down to help accommodate Broadway! I knew Broadway was influential and extremely lucrative for NYC, but I had no idea any group had the kind of pull necessary to shut down even a part of one of the busiest sections of New York City! But aside from that cool knowledge, this article also spells out a very grim message. While the prospect of Broadway returning is a good omen for the industry at large, the fact that even Broadway, the group with the largest clientele, finances, and resources in the entire industry, has no means of which to return safely until at LEAST 2021 is extremely concerning for the rest of us. If you're talking major cities and large theatre companies, they should have a slightly better chance of returning to some kind of operation, albeit most likely slower than Broadway. However, when you talk about the smaller groups that make up a large and equally as important portion of the industry, I would imagine that they'll have a much harder time doing productions safely. They might not be able to at all until a vaccine is developed, tested, and widely distributed, which could prove damning.
9 comments:
I didn’t realize how important Broadway was to New York’s economy. This line really shook me: “ Broadway alone accounts for more tickets sold each year than for all of the metropolitan area's professional sports teams, and the industry pumps on the order of $13 billion annually into the city economy. It seems fair to say, then, that until the return to health of the performing arts, the city cannot really be said to be back.” It makes sense though because the people coming in to see shows also pay for hotels, shopping and transportation. When they said that actors and designers are moving away more and more everyday because they don’t have anymore money from their last projects, it made me so sad. It’s so important that they find a safe way to start doing shows again to support all these artist.
There is no way to bring back these jobs safely at this current moment in time, so I am partially glad that Broadway is not doing any shows until 2021. But this does mean that no one on Broadway currently has a job which must be worrying. I think that there should be more government subsidy for these creatives to have more time to wait out the pandemic until it is safe for them to reopen the theatres. Once they reopen, I think that there should be some sort of fund created for each union that could be paid out to the union members when there are situations where Broadway has to close or there is some sort of economic downturn that prevents many creatives from having to leave their work or going broke.
There is quite literally nothing we can do in this situation except wait, anticipate, and prepare. I am so heartbroken and afraid for theatre workers and artists who have seen their livelihoods completely uprooted. It really just.. It is horrible. I don’t really have any other words. I am so encouraged and comforted, however, by how seriously Broadway has taken this pandemic since the very beginning, and by how thoroughly they are preparing for multiple situations upon reopening in order to do it as safely as possible. They seem to have a lot of optimism and confidence in what they are doing, and unlike most of the government’s sentiments, theirs seems to be backed by genuine plans. I hope that theatres will have the means to stay afloat through the end of that transition, and that they will be able to bounce back for their employees sooner rather than later.
I understand that New York is a cultural center for our industry and has been for some time. Right now we have to balance people’s safety and the need to work in an unsafe world. Short of creating mega-housing for companies to live in a communal space, there is no real way to keep people safe. Spoke jobs translate well into a digital world, some don’t at all. Unfortunately we longer in a society that loves the products more than the people making it.
We are all people who have spent our careers “making it work” and we will continue that. Drive-in theatre, socially distanced platform seating, live broadcast, we are trying them all. Brick and mortar theatres may falter but people will want to create and they will always be an audience hungry for that entertainment.
This isn’t just about Broadway; it really is about the whole live entertainment industry. Yes, the focus is on Broadway’s economic impact on NYC, but there is an underlying message here. Live events won’t be able to resume until 2021 and not until we have the protocols in place to protect the artists, crew, and audience as well as venue staff, the local stagehands, and people like bus drivers. Until we can protect everyone or have a reliable cure for COVID-19 in place, our industry is not going to be able to start coming back. We rely on that human interaction to succeed. When we do start coming back, it is expected to take until 2022 or 2023 to be able to return to pre-Covid levels. Remember, this didn’t have to happen this way. Our Government leaders failed us in their response, and this is where we now find ourselves. Yes, Broadway would have still had to shut down for a period of time, but it wouldn’t have had to get this bad.
I don't think I believe this article or the Washington Post article completely. How is it that the city that also controls much of the US economy- is completely dependant on a show to become a city again? I think this was written by sad theater people or their families and plays up the sad reality of the theater industry and tries to argue that we're essential workers. We aren't essential workers and I think that when I see articles like this floating around facebook and on people's instagram stories, I really do wonder if theater will make a graceful comeback. If broadway is the reason that New York is New York(haha), then why are theater people so poor all the time? We contribute our souls for a below sub par paycheck for more work than we should be doing. If broadway listens to our demands and pays people not a living wage but a deserved one, I promise that this industry won't be the heart of the NYC economy.
Every time people tell me about how theatre is “dying” or no one goes to see shows any more. I relish the opportunity to remind these folks what theatre and what live art does for the economy. What Broadway does for New York is an excellent example that is easy for most people to come to understand. This article shows the impact that COVID has had on our industry and the ripple effect it creates throughout the country. Due to safety reasons, I absolutely understand why Broadway cannot reopen, and, if I were the one making the call, I would have made the same decision. While this is the right decision, it also puts a lot of individuals and organizations in financial and emotional turmoil. Failing to acknowledge that both of these things are true would be denying the complexity of what is going on. I hope that the government will do more to support people facing this challenge.
It is interesting to see how Broadway so strongly impacts the rate of travel and tourism in NYC. With everything grinding to a halt, Broadway production closures must have a domino effect on several other industries in the area as well such as transportation and hotels, to name a couple out of many. Yes, we can adapt theater to other mediums such as a virtual medium, at least in some capacity, but this still leaves the other businesses it impacts without a significant portion of their revenue. To promote the best for public safety or to promote impacted industries is such a difficult dilemma to grapple with and I often find myself struggling to comprehend what is most important in this time; however, it is clearly most important to uphold public health, and on an individual level, everyone can do their part to help out those who are struggling. Support the arts and buy from small businesses!
This really highlights just how much of an impact theatre has and has the potential to have on both the economy and society as a whole. I mean, the article flat out mentioned the possibility of parts of Times Square being shut down to help accommodate Broadway! I knew Broadway was influential and extremely lucrative for NYC, but I had no idea any group had the kind of pull necessary to shut down even a part of one of the busiest sections of New York City! But aside from that cool knowledge, this article also spells out a very grim message. While the prospect of Broadway returning is a good omen for the industry at large, the fact that even Broadway, the group with the largest clientele, finances, and resources in the entire industry, has no means of which to return safely until at LEAST 2021 is extremely concerning for the rest of us. If you're talking major cities and large theatre companies, they should have a slightly better chance of returning to some kind of operation, albeit most likely slower than Broadway. However, when you talk about the smaller groups that make up a large and equally as important portion of the industry, I would imagine that they'll have a much harder time doing productions safely. They might not be able to at all until a vaccine is developed, tested, and widely distributed, which could prove damning.
Post a Comment