How the Next Mayor Will Likely Define New York Theatre's Future
By Chad Fasca
When New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani's plea, "To people from all over the country who want to help...go to a restaurant, see a show... ," helped revive Broadway sales in record time, he proved that the future of theatre in New York starts at the top...the Mayor's office.
With today's election, an unprecedented turnover of public officials holds both great promise and potential disaster for the arts community. Consequently, it was not surprising that many of "New York's Public Policies: Scenarios for the Future" panelists expressed November election hopes and fears.
Susan Chin, assistant commissioner for capital projects for the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, saw the turnover of politicians as an opportunity for the arts to state its case and win broad support.
Fran Reiter, former executive director of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theater, said members of City Hall are concerned about issues that can win them elections, and "the arts ain't it." She challenged theatre artists and leaders to be more political.
To that Virginia Louloudes, executive director of A.R.T./New York responded that her members--many of New York's non-profit theatres--were connected to the communities they serve and did reach out to politicians in their area.
"We know our local officials and they know us," she said.
In general, the panel agreed that the theatre needs to make a stronger case for itself within the city government.
"More research is needed," said Marian Godfrey, program director for culture at The Pew Charitable Trusts.
She believes that city officials were beginning to understand that culture is something people turn to in times like these. This new impression must be "shored up with data and with the stories that policymakers love to hear," she said.
New York's Public Policies:
Scenarios for the Future
MODERATOR:
Robert Marx, The Samuels Foundation
PANELISTS:
Jed Bernstein, president, League of American Theatres and Producers
Alan Eisenberg, executive director of Actors' Equity Association
Marian A. Godfrey, program director for culture, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Kathleen Hughes, deputy commissioner of cultural affairs, programming
Virginia Louloudes, executive director, Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York
Fran Reiter, former executive director, New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theater
Bruce Weber, drama critic, The New York Times
Get Vertical
Alan Eisenberg, executive director of Actors' Equity, believes the theatre industry should align itself vertically and come up with a common platform and common figurehead such as Jack Valenti (RIAA).
"How can we come together? I don't think we can," Reiter said.
The notion that commercial Broadway theatre and nonprofit theatre are part of, or should be brought into, one uniform arts policy is "naive" and "wrong," according to Reiter.
But the benefits to a unified theatre industry were made apparent indirectly later in the conference. In the open session, a member of the Actors' Equity staff compared its response to Broadway theatres in the wake of September 11 with that of off-Broadway commercial theatres. It was easier for the unions to respond to the demands of Broadway shows, because they were actively represented by the League of American Theatre and Producers. Meanwhile, this staffer said that Actors' Equity was prepared to offer similar concessions to off-Broadway theatres, but had a hard time doing so.
Can the Rockefeller Era Return?
Moderator Robert Marx of The Samuels Foundation wondered if it was possible to return to the Rockefeller initiatives of the 1970s. He recalled the administration of former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, "who made the arts a part of his portfolio and protected it."
His administration pumped millions of dollars into the arts at levels that far exceed today's totals even without adjustment for inflation. For example, The Public received $700,000 in 1975 versus the $60,000 it receives today. He later added that the money was earmarked largely for artist's fees because the belief at that time was that the artists sit at the top of a food chain. The theory was: If the state fed the artists, out of that mix of good, bad and indifferent work the artists would feed the public.
Reiter said that based on the way the state budget works, this probably would not happen again. If it did happen, it would likely be at the city level, where the mayor's office is powerful.
'I Loved Kampuchea/Loisaida; It Was Much Better Than Cats'
"I'd like to see the mayor going not to the Met, but to Atlantic Theatre Company," said Bruce Weber, drama critic for The New York Times.
"New York Theatre is not Broadway, and I think that is a message that does not get out," he later added.
Weber would like to see the next mayor make quotes from Shakespeare or references such as 'I just saw an off-Broadway show' part of his mayoral discourse.
When asked by the moderator what her one wish for the next administration would be, Reiter concurred with Weber's sentiments. She said she would like to see elected officials out at a show on a night other than opening night.
"It might get them out of another rubber chicken dinner," she said, to say "'I can't go to your dinner; I have to go to the theatre.'"
What Could Be Done
Investigative reporter Charles Bagli dismissed as myth the $107 million that the Yankees reportedly will pump into the New York economy during the World Series.
"Theatre and cultural institutions are crucial to the life blood of the city; baseball stadiums are not," Bagli said.
"In the aftermath of Sept. 11, we realized just how important (tourism) really is."
To prove his point, he asked rhetorically: Tell me how many people are flying in (from out of town) for these baseball games? His point, delivered during the "Room to Breathe: Real Estate, Neighborhoods, and Urban Renewal" panel, was that Broadway and not baseball attracts tourists who fill hotels and restaurants in the city.
During the same panel, Louloudes suggested that arts institutions be involved in efforts to rebuild and revitalize downtown New York. She would like to see community facilities, cultural instititions, artist offices or artist living spaces put into every new building that goes up downtown. There is a real argument for why arts groups should be involved, Louloudes said, because artists have a history of helping rebuild and revitalize communities.
Louloudes also advocated a redistribution of available public funds with less emphasis on the larger institutions that could hold their own. She sees redistribution as an opportunity for another Rockefeller-type era, especially for small institutions and artists.
"I would like some sort of arts advisory council that advises the government on where to distribute the funds," Eisenberg said.
To accomplish either goal, the community will need legitimate support from the mayor and deputy mayors and have city hall "buy into the arts community as an economic engine," Chin said.
To do that, it is going to take hard data from the theatre community. When asked what he would wish for in the way of public policy, Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theatres and Producers, said he'd use his to fund the definitive study that proved conclusively that arts has a positive influence on other studies.
"So you can tell the congressman from Nebraska, 'If you don't fund this, then people will be stupid.'"
