The Case for a New Federal Theater Project

Variety: The $15 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant — the federal program formerly known as Save Our Stages — isn’t exactly a new Federal Theater Project. But according to Nataki Garrett, the arts leader who has become one of the country’s most vocal advocates for government support of the theater sector, the SVOG represents a dawning bipartisan realization of just how important the arts are to the health of the nation’s economy.

New York State Council on the Arts Awards $40M in Funding to 1,225 Arts Organizations

www.broadwayworld.com: The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) just announced that 1,225 arts and cultural organizations across New York State will receive $40 million in grant funding. "During an unprecedented and most challenging year for our sector, New York State arts and cultural institutions have continued to showcase their inspiring resiliency, creating and connecting with their communities in the most innovative of ways"

IATSE Lauds House Passage of American Rescue Plan Act, Urges Swift Senate Action

IATSE Cares: Early this morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan Act, the first step in providing comprehensive COVID-19 relief to behind-the-scenes entertainment workers still reeling from the pandemic. The bill passed largely along party-lines, with all but two House Democrats voting in favor and all House Republicans in opposition. IATSE lauds House passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, which contains vital assistance for our members and all Americans.

No Longer Able to Easily Work in Europe, UK Artists Are Urging Boris Johnson to Renegotiate Brexit Terms to Allow for Visa-Free Travel

news.artnet.com: Artists are lobbying for the UK government to renegotiate the terms of Brexit to make it easier for them to travel to work in the European Union.

Governor Cuomo to Test Theater Reopening via NY PopsUp Events

thebroadwayblog.com: As Broadway approaches the one-year mark of no performances, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has released a plan for reopening Broadway theaters and other venues. There is still no firm date for when Broadway and live, indoor theater will resume, but Cuomo did note the state is moving toward reopening venues by using rapid testing and socially distanced seating with reduced crowd sizes.

Save Our Stages re-emerges in new Senate small business bill

Broadway News: The $370 billion bill, entitled the Heroes Small Business Lifeline Act, contains the small business provisions of the most recent Heroes Act, including extending the Paycheck Protection Program through March 2022 and supporting theatrical venues and restaurants through the Save our Stages Act and the Restaurants Act. The introduction of the bill Tuesday comes as the fate of a larger stimulus package remains uncertain.

How Broadway Is Showing Up for the Election- What & When to Watch!

www.broadwayworld.com: The election is right around the corner, and Broadway is showing up to the party. Countless artists have already raised their voices to call for change and inspire people around to world to vote... and they aren't finished yet. Check out some of the most anticipated upcoming events that combine the Broadway stars you love with the most important issues on the moment.

RESTART Act Update From Capitol Hill

LiveDesignOnline: The Senate Leadership has announced that Monday October 19, when the Senate reconvenes, the first action item will be a vote on a new relief bill to assist those most devastated Americans.

Specifically mentioned was a second round of PPP for those in need.

This will help a lot of small business, including those in Live Events.

Universal Basic Income for Artists? San Francisco Will Give Local Creatives Struggling Amid the Shutdown $1,000 a Month

news.artnet.com: A cohort of more than 100 San Francisco-based artists will be given a $1,000 monthly stipend as part of the city’s Economic Recovery Task Force, the mayor’s office announced last week.

San Francisco Will Pay Artists $1,000 a Month in Universal Basic Income

Reason.com: San Francisco will become the latest city to experiment with a universal basic income (UBI). Sort of.

In an effort to assist the city's struggling arts community in bouncing back from the pandemic, Mayor London Breed announced last week that she'd be rolling out a cash transfer program for artists.

It's time for artists to speak out against government gaslighting

Exeunt Magazine: I’m old enough to remember March 2020, when the media were falling over themselves to proclaim the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak as “Dishy Rishi” and Prime Minister in waiting. The Job Retention Scheme was seen as almost unbelievable act of generosity and the British people were supposed to line up and tug their forelocks in appreciation. Yes, it was a golden time, unless you had been in a job for less than a year or worked in an industry that required large numbers of people to congregate in small spaces. Industries like the creative arts.

Trump halts stimulus negotiations, postponing possible theater industry relief

Broadway News: “There is no other way to say it. Without a subsequent COVID-19 relief bill, entertainment workers and their families face economic desolation,” the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said in a statement.

IATSE and Equity both emphasized the longevity of the shutdown and the uncertain timeline for a return to work.

Trump Ends Negotiations On The HEROES Act; Equity Responds

www.broadwayworld.com: Actors' Equity Association has released the following statement in response to Donald Trump's tweet asking the Senate to block all coronavirus relief until after the election.

"The President's reckless and irresponsible decision to postpone relief talks while most of the arts and entertainment sector is unemployed is an insult not just to our members, but Americans everywhere who will suffer with a slower and more uncertain economic recovery,"

Broadway leaders applaud inclusion of Save Our Stages in revised Heroes Act

Broadway News: The Save Our Stages Act has made it into the latest version of the House Democrats’ Heroes Act.

The provision would provide $10 billion in grants to live venue operators, producers, promoters and talent representatives in the entertainment industry whose business has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We Need A New Federal Theater Project!

New York Theater: “One of the things we’re talking about internally has been the way in which the scale of this catastrophe — a wholesale shutting down of the field — is only really comparable is the Great Depression. We’re looking at 20 percent or higher unemployment! So what lessons can we find in the Federal Theater Project? Under the New Deal, the government’s super-spending effort that put America back to work in the ’30s, the Federal Theater Project only accounted for 0.5 percent of the Works Progress Administration spending, which, if you applied that to the current bailout, would come to $10 billion.

Broadway, Sen. Schumer Call on Congress for SOS Support

www.ticketnews.com: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) joined the Broadway League to drum up support for the Save Our Stages (SOS) Act in New York City Friday. The legislation proposes federal assistance for productions, concerts, comedy shows and other positions within the industry, which has been brought to a near-complete halt by the coronavirus pandemic.

Senator Schumer calls for federal aid for Broadway in Times Square rally

Broadway News: U.S. Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Broadway leaders gathered in Times Square Friday to show support for the Save Our Stages Act.

The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Schumer, would provide grants of up to $12 million to live venue operators, producers, promoters or talent representatives whose businesses were impacted by COVID-19. Speaking at the foot of the TKTS stairs, Schumer said the likelihood of the bill passing is improving due to its planned inclusion in a larger pandemic relief package.

Hungary's students are making a last stand against Viktor Orbán’s power grab

Hungary | The Guardian: As I write, the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest (SZFE) is being occupied by its students and staff. It is the latest battle, and possibly last stand, against the Hungarian government’s attempt to seize power in independent institutions of all sorts, including cultural ones.

COVER STORY: STATE OF THE ARTS | It could take government action to revive performing arts

coloradopolitics.com: Fraught. Fragile. Dire. Endangered. Grim. Those are some of the words local leaders are using to characterize the present state of the arts in Colorado.

Signs of the arts apocalypse are everywhere: Foot-high weeds growing out of the abandoned stone rows of the Mary Rippon Amphitheatre, home to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder.

Rallying to Save the Arts: He turned from playwriting to bill writing

New York Theater: Matthew-Lee Erlbach first realized he would become an actor and a playwright when he saw “True West” on Broadway at age 14 – “It was like gods performing rituals to mortals,” he says. It took years before he understood “just how vulnerable those gods are.”
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, “our businesses are being eviscerated, and our friends and family are being evicted from their apartments,” Erlbach says, “but we were being left out of meaningful economic relief and even out of the political conversation.”