Emergency meeting rallies somber, yet resilient artistic directors
By Chad Fasca
The aftershocks of September 11's tragic events have begun to rock the performing arts community. In a special, emergency meeting organized by the Alliance of Resident Theatres - New York (ART/NY), leaders of New York's not-for-profit theatre community gathered this morning to begin grappling with issues that will likely dominate the next 12 months or more.
Among the many concerns raised at the briefing and subsequent open discussion were questions about audience turnout, early reports of show/booking cancellations, and widespread fears of a funding crisis. In a sense, to borrow from the war analogy so often used in descriptions of the terror attack, New York's performing arts community will be fighting a war on two fronts. On one hand, they will be fighting to keep their doors open and their shows up. But theatres will also be fighting an even greater battle to provide healing, hope and expanded services to the community.
The Show Must Go On
In his welcome message, Todd Haimes, artistic director of Roundabout Theatre Company and president of the board of ART/NY, began the morning by putting into words the conflicting emotions of the previous week with his description of the first performance of "Major Barbara" after the attack, last Thursday.
Most of the actors did not want to do the show, he said. People were still in shock. "And they particularly did not want to go on at the Amerian Airlines Theater in a show about armaments," he added. So he made speeches all day about the show going on. The city had urged New Yorkers and New York businesses to resume activities quickly, and so the decision was made that the show must go on. Later that evening in the American Airlines Theater green room, Dana Ivey made a speech about why they, like the city, had to go on: because the very way of life that encourages theatre was under attack. "What we do is important. And tonight it is more important than ever," Haimes paraphased Ivey as saying.
He said the decision turned out to be a good one for the audience and the cast. He finished his address with a stark appraisal of the theatre community's near future.
"It is going to be a shitty year."
The Road Ahead Lined With Question Marks
To explain how bad was partly the job of Fran Reiter, executive director of the New York Shakespeare Festival. Reiter, who worked in the public sector for three and a half years, was asked to relay her thoughts on what artistic directors should expect in the months ahead from the city government, the city dwellers and tourists.
"Tourism is going to, and has taken, a big hit," she said, though she added: "Entertainment has always thrived in times of stress. Whether as a release or as a reminder of what we stand for. Our audiences will be there and will be bigger and better than ever."
When and if the tourism industry will pick up was one of many question marks that cloud the discussion, much like the dust and debris cloud that choked the city last week. The city budget is going to be another big question mark for everything and everyone that relies on public dollars. None of the speakers had any idea of what might transpire there.
Reiter thought that the the federal government would help New York, but real strains on the capital budget exist and discretionary projects will likely be examined very carefully. Projects slated for next year or the next several years may be put on hold.
The next question is leadership. With nearly every office up for re-election, the inevitable shift of New York's political landscape is sure to impact the arts community. How it will affect the community, no one knows since the race is wide open.
One ray of hope in Reiter's message to the audience was her assessment of the government's inclination toward the arts. She said public officials recognized that what is done in the theatre, and at other cultural institutions, form the backbone of this economy, along with the financial industries.
"We are the reason why many people come to New York to live and or visit," she said.
Schuyler Chapin, commissioner of New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), concurred with Reiter. He said that there was indeed a recognition of the economic importance of the arts to the city. He qualified it as the source of the second largest flow of income.
"This is not just a sort of mantra, but it is something that elected officials believe," he said.
He added that the DCA was coordinating its efforts with NYSCA and other organizations to best serve the New York cultural community.
Richard Schwartz, chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), did ease some funding concerns when he said the normal flow of funding from this year's established budget should not be hampered by this. His office is trying to assess the impact on those in the immediate area surrounding the attack site as well as the financial impact on the New York community in general.
Gary Steuer, president and CEO of the Arts & Business Council, noted the "extraordinary losses of our business friends" as the attack and aftermath wiped out numerous firms, left others with hundreds of personnel losses or the loss of headquarters space. Many of these companies and industries have been tremenedous arts supporters in the past.
Right now, he said, "the corporate world is so consumed with dealing with this from a nitty gritty standpoint. They have not begun to even think about what effect this will have on their support and funding of the arts."
In this situation, it is "all too easy" for the arts to become marginalized, he said. This could lead to a weak funding climate. He advocated that artistic institutions join together to create a unified response to the crisis to position the arts as the source of hope and healing for the community and, perhaps, even the nation. He announced that the Arts & Business Council's planned Arts Issues Forum would go on as scheduled this Novermber.
Ben Cameron, chairman of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), also reminded the attendees of the importance of their task.
"We are being called upon to be rescuers and to establish glimmers of hope in the human spirit," he said.
He added that he had received 400 emails from theatre companies nationwide pledging their support to the New York theatre community.
"There is a national community, for which you are a part, a national community looking to help where they can be of most use," he said.
He asked member theatre companies to write him with their needs, so that TCG's national network could pitch in where help was most needed.
Ted Berger, executive director of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), said the community needs to "find ways to keep funding that is there there, to keep on doing what we are doing."
He also mentioned that he hopes to establish a fund to subsidize admissions for the public and especially the victims, relief workers and their families.
Victoria Bailey, executive director of the Theatre Development Fund (TDF), offered the support of her organization and its services to companies as their money gets tight. She also expressed concern that "we also have to invent new programs and strategies," both to sustain companies and gain audiences.
An ART/NY Board Member said that foundations are dealing with their own set of concerns at this time, such as the drop in the stock market eroding their assets.
"I don't know how they will deal with this," she said. "Dip into capital reseves?"
She also mentioned that the September 11th Fund established by the United Way and New York Community Trust will also reserve some of its funds to benefit non-profit instutitions in the city of New York, because "they believe that these institutions may be in danger." Whether the arts will be included remains to be seen.
What The Artistic Directors Had To Say
The most moving parts of the meeting came from the open discussion.
Daniel Aukin, artistic director of Soho Rep, related his experiences over the past week and a half. With their WalkerSpace two blocks south of Canal, just west of Broadway, the theatre company has been locked in the grips of the city's restricted area, making continued performances of the show currently running in the space almost impossible.
To make matters worse, a number of people planning to rent the space have pulled out, leaving the Soho Rep without a significant source of income. He said much of their income was generated by rentals and shows. With the nearby police even uncertain about when this area will reopen--they tell him anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months--the Soho Rep is considering everything from cancelling shows, to looking at moving, to debating whether they can keep going.
"It's pretty grim," Aukin said.
ART/NY Executive Director Virginia Louloudes responded to Aukin by pledging her organization's support to him.
Elena Holy, artistic director of the Present Company, has faced cancellations of a different sort as artists withdraw their shows, because they feel that the material is inappropriate within today's social climate.
Kristin Marting, artistic director of HERE Arts Center, estimated her losses to date were $14,000, but with possible cancelations looming ahead, that figure could rise.
Jacqueline Christy, artistic director of the Access Theater, said their current occupant's show was actually running. Because the police only allow those who live and/or work in the area below Canal Street, she wrote a letter to the area's policemen with names of people in the show to be escorted down to the theatre.
Scott Cargle discussed how the tragedy affected the efforts of his company, the Shakespeare Project, to find a home. Having "worked without toilets" doing theatre in the parks for a number of years, the group was looking forward to getting its own space. He had found one. And the company had invested $7,000 to have the place checked out by architects and such, thereby beginning the process of establishing a permanent home. He held back tears and apologized for becoming a little emotional as he added that the company would be abandoning these efforts in the wake of the tragedy. He then offered to help companies that wanted to do shows outdoors because they lost their space or could not afford one. He said he could show them how to get permits, get insurance, deal with police, etc.
Accentuating the Positives
While the meeting bore the markings of uncertainty and practical concerns everywhere the conversation went, participants also drew attention to artistic goals and made suggestions on how companies could move forward.
Elyse Singer, artistic director of Hour Glass Group, cautioned artistic directors to take stock of the situation before implementing ideas such as impromptu rescue/relief fundraising efforts at their productions. She urged them to think about "how to respond intelligently, rather than opportunistically" to tragedy and aftermath.
She suggested that ART/NY discuss becoming one of the RedCross's Disaster Reserve Partner Groups (DRPGs), which often are clubs or churchs.
Speaking to the artistic side of the discussion, Melanie Joseph of the Foundry Theatre said she was putting together a list of alternative media sites and other alternate sources for information about the geopolitcal and local significances of the attack and impending response. She wanted artists to have access to what the conventional media was not discussing.
Taking a position contrary to the one most would expect in uncertain times, Alan Bushman said that he thought the community should hire more people to create, and present, more work in the wake of the tragedy. While his idea may be difficult to pull off, the spirit of it was something akin to what Louloudes tried to impress upon the gathering in her opening statement.
In this initial address, she said that companies cannot assume that they will get that grant, that their lines of credit will be continued, or that audiences will come out to see their shows. She urged theatres to promote the healing power of their work and to shake off the notion that they are not health grief counselors or heathcare professionals in that sense.
"This is critical moment for us in the arts," she said. "And if we are going to survive, we had better seize it."
