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Thursday, April 11, 2024
Nonprofit Theaters Are in Trouble. Lawmakers Are Proposing Help.
The New York Times: The financial crisis facing nonprofit theaters in America has captured the attention of Congress, where a group of Democratic lawmakers is introducing legislation that would direct $1 billion annually to the struggling industry for five years.
2 comments:
Penny Preovolos
said...
1 billion dollars funded by the government is sort of a crazy number to wrap my head around. And I know that 1 billion dollars is a lot but I would be curious to see how they came up with that number and how far they think that money will go. From the little experience I have in the theater industry, I know it is expensive and time-consuming. I would also be curious to see how much money goes to each theater. Do bigger theaters get more or do smaller theaters? What aspects are they going to be taking into consideration when dividing up that money? And while I'm sure this money will make a huge difference for nonprofit theaters, but I cannot help but think about how many things our country needs. I want to know what exactly the incentive was specifically for lawmakers to propose this, I mean in my head if I were running this country I wouldn’t know what to do first, so I think it is interesting how they choose to allocate such a significant amount of funds to the industry.
I think that there’s definitely a case to be made for a wider-scope bill than this one, but I’m thrilled that we’re reaching a point where bills like this are being proposed. I truly believe that having a way to create publicly-funded art in a variety of mediums would be tremendously helpful to not only art in general, not only artists in general, but the entire community. Art brings people together: it unifies, it inspires. There’s so much impactful art out there that hasn’t been made because it hasn’t been encouraged. So much art as well stems from the work of the theatre, especially in Hollywood, so encouraging the source would only make the quality of American films better. Art also just helps serve the community because it allows for a space of togetherness. Governmental help would also help in that it can allow people to see the shows who might not have been able to otherwise, as prices rise but wages remain stagnant.
2 comments:
1 billion dollars funded by the government is sort of a crazy number to wrap my head around. And I know that 1 billion dollars is a lot but I would be curious to see how they came up with that number and how far they think that money will go. From the little experience I have in the theater industry, I know it is expensive and time-consuming. I would also be curious to see how much money goes to each theater. Do bigger theaters get more or do smaller theaters? What aspects are they going to be taking into consideration when dividing up that money? And while I'm sure this money will make a huge difference for nonprofit theaters, but I cannot help but think about how many things our country needs. I want to know what exactly the incentive was specifically for lawmakers to propose this, I mean in my head if I were running this country I wouldn’t know what to do first, so I think it is interesting how they choose to allocate such a significant amount of funds to the industry.
I think that there’s definitely a case to be made for a wider-scope bill than this one, but I’m thrilled that we’re reaching a point where bills like this are being proposed. I truly believe that having a way to create publicly-funded art in a variety of mediums would be tremendously helpful to not only art in general, not only artists in general, but the entire community. Art brings people together: it unifies, it inspires. There’s so much impactful art out there that hasn’t been made because it hasn’t been encouraged. So much art as well stems from the work of the theatre, especially in Hollywood, so encouraging the source would only make the quality of American films better. Art also just helps serve the community because it allows for a space of togetherness. Governmental help would also help in that it can allow people to see the shows who might not have been able to otherwise, as prices rise but wages remain stagnant.
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