PUBLIC POLICY NOW, EVEN MORE QUESTIONS tural policy.”1 Codified or not, the government does implicitly pursue a cultural policy. As In the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist Virginia Louloudes of A.R.T./ point- attack on the World Trade Center, the New ed out, “If you think you don’t have a policy, York theater world quickly marshaled its look at your budget. Your budget clearly indi- resources. Like many other industries that suf- cates a philosophy, because you allocate fered from the economic fallout of the attack, resources based on choices.” Public Policy it held out hope for new government assis- tance. But beyond mere exhortations, what TROUBLE AHEAD FOR CITY could theater realistically expect from public FUNDING officials? More to the point, what should the- Funding by ’s Department of ater leaders ask for in this shifting and uncer- Cultural Affairs, the main source of local pub- tain policy landscape, and how should they lic support for the arts, has increased almost ask for it? two-thirds since 1988 to $134 million, sur- It is all too clear that nonprofit theater passing inflation by more than 10 percent. The companies can expect a drop in public support funds slashed under Mayor David Dinkins in in the immediate future, given the number of the late 1980s were more than recovered dur- constituencies pressing for disaster-related aid ing Rudolph Giuliani’s eight years in office. and the anticipated $4 billion city-budget But this obscures the fact that the city’s deficit for fiscal 2002. But even before Sept. budget, spurred by the rapidly expanded late- 11, theater’s public policy needs were numer- ’90s tax base, grew even faster, leading to an ous. Despite some promising developments in actual decline in the cultural affairs budget as a the past decade, industry leaders agree that percentage of city spending. With a large more can be done by city, state and federal post–Sept. 11 DCA budget cut expected on top authorities—and by theater’s own advocates. of an already-projected 7 percent cut for fiscal Theater companies are not alone in feeling years 2003 through 2005, the DCA budget is overlooked by public agencies, particularly by not expected to reach $134 million again until city government. In the words of one recently at least 2006.2 And the vast majority of DCA published report, “Despite its standing as the city funding goes to just 35 organizations in the cultural capital of the world, New York City Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) category, lacks a comprehensive and comprehensible cul- only three of which are theater organizations.

A SHRINKING PIECE OF THE PIE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS BUDGET, 1988-2000

DCA as percentage of total city spending

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25 (percent)

0.20 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Source: New York Foundation for the Arts

36 Wonderful Town The state and federal funding pictures are TOUGH LOVE FROM GOVERNMENT no better. Since 1991, New York State GOVERNMENT INCOME AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL INCOME, NYC NONPROFIT ARTS GROUPS (1999 DATA, Council on the Arts funding to New York Public Policy City arts groups has declined slightly, while BY DISCIPLINE) National Endowment for the Arts funding has plummeted a full 60 percent. As a result, the 30 (28.8%) average New York City nonprofit arts group in 1998 received little more than one-third as 25 much of its budget from the government— 20 11.2 percent—than it had in 1982 (28.9 per- 3 cent). And theaters and other performing arts 15 (12.7%) organizations receive a significantly smaller (11.2%) percentage of their budgets from the govern- 10 ment (4.7 percent) than do their peers.4 (4.7%) As a popular art form, theater benefits 5 more from ticket income than, say, dance or (percent) 0 All Groups Visual Arts PERFORMING Living Collections opera. A relatively low proportion of public ARTS funding can be seen in a positive light in one Source: Alliance for the Arts respect: It protects the industry from the polit- ical vicissitudes that often cause levels of sup- typically come to the city solely for a game port to fluctuate unpredictably. Debates about and then leave. In describing midtown’s deso- the government’s role in the arts have raged lation during the days after Sept. 11, Charles for decades, and like other art forms, the the- Bagli of observed, “All of ater industry is in an awkward position when a sudden, it really brought home to me that it comes to seeking aid, New York Times the- the theater and cultural institutions were cru- ater critic Bruce Weber said. “Artists them- cial to the lifeblood of the city in a way that selves are generally in the business of being baseball stadiums are not.” outsiders. And at the same time that they are There exist other indicators of the the- being observant and critical of this society— ater’s contribution to the city. Nearly half of and this government—they are perennially New Yorkers discuss plays “very or fairly asking to be included.” often,”8 and 8 percent say that they actively On the other hand, in a city (and a participate in theater or dramatic performanc- national culture) sometimes perceived as bot- es.9 Stronger government support would break tom-line oriented, theater’s economic power is down the barriers to participation, such as surprisingly underappreciated. Broadway high ticket prices or difficulty reaching the- alone generates nearly $3 billion for New York aters, that three out of five New Yorkers say City’s economy, more than ten times the impede their ability to experience and enjoy impact of the Yankees5 (see chart on p. 38); the arts. It might help children in low-income off-Broadway numbers are less comprehensive, families—who are 60 percent less likely to but the economic impact of 118 New York attend the theater than their high-income nonprofit theaters—less than one-third the counterparts—gain equal access to perform- city’s nonprofit total—alone exceeds $300 ances. The link between wealth and atten- million.6 The theater is inextricably linked to dance is stronger for theater than for musical the city’s $25 billion tourism industry: More performances or museum visits.10 than half of Broadway theatergoers are tourists Public money, especially at the state and who stay at local hotels and dine at local federal level, is crucial to theater companies restaurants7—unlike visiting sports fans, who for reasons that go beyond direct financial

37 National Arts Journalism Program impact. It offers a kind of Good Housekeeping seal of approval that can legitimize a project or company in private funders’ eyes. “The multi- A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY pliers [for public support] are extraordinary,” BROADWAY’S ECONOMIC IMPACT said city planner Bruce Rosen. “Wall Street on a good day never gives a return like that.” $3.0 ($2.772) If public arts support more generally Public Policy Broadway shows and doesn’t remain at a healthy level, a 1997 $2.5 physical improvements McKinsey & Co. report warned, “large parts ($1.972) ($1.352) Visitor spending $2.0 of the [arts] industry will grind to a halt, the

($.678) health of what is left will be seriously compro- $1.5 mised, and the investment opportunity will evaporate. Without fresh input and without $1.0 ($1.420) constant outreach to new publics and new ($1.294) $.5 communities, the [cultural] engine will grind

(billions) to a halt within a generation.” 0 1991-92 1998-99 NO UNIFIED VOICE Source: League of American Theatres and Producers The theater industry lacks a single leading rep- resentative to press its case to officials, trade groups and the general public. The film indus- OTHER NEW YORK INDUSTRIES & THEIR ECONOMIC IMPACT try has such a person: Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, ($12.1) $12 has long wielded significant political clout. “How do we begin, for the first time, to really create a unified voice for this industry, so it

$9 can speak with a focused, direct and aggressive voice to benefit everybody?” asked Robert ($7.2) Marx of the Samuels Foundation.

$6 It may not be feasible, others argue, to cram every New York theater beneath a single

($3.7) lobbying umbrella. Broadway’s commercial

$3 ($2.8) behemoths have different needs than do fringe ($2.2) nonprofits; producers’ priorities differ from ($1.3) those of unions; traditional theater houses ($.3) court different audiences than cross-genre pro- 0

(in billions, FY99 dollars) BROADWAY BROADWAY All NYC arts TV/Film CUNY Columbia Yankees (including local (theater production University and Mets ductions such as “Stomp” or Blue Man Group. tourism) only) combined An aggressive campaign for more capital fund- Sources: Alliance for the Arts, , ing might push artists’ needs off the table. City Comptroller’s Office, City University of New York “The notion that [Broadway] is part of, or should be part of, one uniform theater policy, I think is crazy,” said Fran Reiter, former deputy mayor for economic development under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former executive director of the Joseph Papp Public Theater. The uncertainty about how to proceed and what to expect from city government after Sept.

38 Wonderful Town 11 is only amplified by the election of as mayor and a City Council that,

owing to term limits, has 37 (out of 51) newly Public Policy elected members. Theater professionals can CULTURAL TOURISM read one remark by Bloomberg—“I like theater, GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN, BROADWAY AUDIENCE dining and chasing women,” he said to New

York Times columnist Maureen Dowd last sum- 100 (7%) mer—with optimism, revulsion or both. But as (9.3%) Other country Other U.S. a political neophyte, Bloomberg is a blank slate 80 when it comes to cultural policy. (41%) NYC suburbs (46.9%)

Bloomberg replaces a mayor who antago- 60 nized many arts groups and artists. Giuliani NYC convened a “decency panel” in early 2001 to 40 (29%) review controversial artworks, having already (24.4%) threatened, loudly and publicly, to withhold 20 city funds from the Brooklyn Museum of Art (22%)

(percent) (19.4%) after its “Sensation” exhibit of contemporary 0 British art in 1999. 1990-91 2000-01 Yet Giuliani also presided over some poli- Source: League of American Theatres and Producers cy changes that eased the way for arts groups. In 1993, he placed the arts and cultural budg- et under the purview of the deputy mayor for economic development, a shift that sent a strong signal about the city’s recognition of the link between culture and the city’s future. Since 1993, the proportion of the New York City budget allocated to the DCA has HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS 11 increased by nearly 20 percent. IMPACT OF INCOME ON CHILDREN’S LIKELIHOOD OF ARTS The Giuliani administration was particu- ATTENDANCE (IN RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION, “IN THE larly enamored when it came to capital proj- PREVIOUS 12 MONTHS, HAVE YOU ATTENDED. . .”) ects. In 1997, theaters and museums that did not reside in city-owned buildings could for Theater Children in families w/incomes under $50,000 the first time receive funding from the city for (35%) Children in families w/incomes over $50,000 renovations and new facilities. Among the first (71%) recipients were A.R.T./NY and the Roundabout Theatre Company. “Once we Art shows and museums (56%) learned that there was the funding available, we were able to make a case for it, because we (79%) were something that the city and state believed Musical performances in,” said Roundabout’s Julia Levy. “We were (45%) able to use that money to leverage private dol- (73%) lars. The city money became critical.” When Giuliani took office, the DCA gave 0 1020304050607080 (percent) away $62 million annually for capital con- struction, money that leveraged about $120 Source: Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy million in private support. By fiscal year 2002, that annual capital support has ballooned to

39 National Arts Journalism Program about $660 million in city funds, which has those groups receive is disproportionately leveraged a further $1.5 billion in private sup- lower, because only three (9 percent) of the port.12 Such a funding mix is increasingly CIGs are theaters.13 common in construction projects and in other Of A.R.T./New York’s 360 nonprofit large-scale initiatives undertaken by theaters. member theaters, only 98 receive any sort of Susan Chin, who oversees capital projects at city funding. Certainly, a larger group of the- the DCA, said, “As much as we hate to hear aters could share in the available city funds if Public Policy the ‘three Ps’ of public/private partnership, the share granted to the CIGs was diminished. they’re going to be really critical to the next According to Alan Eisenberg, president of administration.” Actors’ Equity, city funds need not “just go to The prospects for city cultural funding the Metropolitan Museum of Art or Lincoln after Sept. 11 are uncertain, to say the least. Center or the Roundabout. For the smaller City officials have announced that all non- theaters, the $5,000 or $10,000 grant would uniformed agencies can expect a 15 percent mean so much more.” cut. Some argue that theater can expect sup- But political roadblocks hamper any New York City’s port only insofar as it can be demonstrably change in the status quo: The CIGs boast linked to tourism, and thus to tax revenues. boards of directors filled with powerful New smallest arts “As it pertains to major institutions that can Yorkers. There may be manpower obstacles to be pointed to as great attractors of visitors to overcome as well. The DCA’s staff has shrunk organizations the city, and the dollars they generate, there’s by nearly half since 1988,14 taxing the depart- saw public going to be an effort to protect them,” said ment’s ability to process and evaluate the Reiter, who predicts a falloff of more than 15 needs of a broader spectrum of arts groups. funding decline percent. “The not-for-profit theater compa- Small theater companies remain most vul- nies may be looking at some difficult times.” nerable to declines in public support. The by an average smallest New York City arts organizations (those with budgets under $100,000) are of 22.6 percent BEHEMOTHS DOMINATE CITY FUNDING more than three times as dependent on gov- in the late 1990s. Even when the budget is stable, cultural fund- ernment funding as the largest (those with ing debates in New York are contentious, in budgets over $10 million).15 Unfortunately for part because of the overwhelming priority the the smaller groups, public funding was the city gives to the 35 members of the Cultural only income source that declined across the Institutions Group—large, well-established board in the late 1990s, even though a flush cultural organizations, including the economy brought more money into govern- Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Bronx ment coffers than ever before. New York City’s Zoo, that operate on city-owned property smallest arts organizations saw public funding (the Police Museum has been added to the decline by an average of 22.6 percent. group since Sept. 11). In fiscal year 2001, The picture for state funding is not quite more than four out of five DCA dollars went as bleak as for local funding. “The general pat- to the CIGs; the balance was split among tern for states across the country seems to be line-item grants and challenge grants for 525 not actual cuts, but an across-the-board with- Program Groups, which represent a broader holding of appropriations that would amount mix of museums, theaters, dance companies to about 4 percent,” said Marian Godfrey, and the like. director of the culture program at The Pew Though theater is the single most repre- Charitable Trusts. Still, the impact is bound to sented art form among DCA grantees—about be worse in New York State, whose $84.3 bil- one-fourth of the funded organizations are in lion budget faces a $1.6 billion hit from the the “theater” category—the total funding attacks alone.

40 Wonderful Town Public Policy 41 (9%) (23%) Botanical gardens (15%) Botanical gardens History museums (15%) THEATERS museums (6%) Children's Multi-discipline (18%) Other (16%) Art museums (21%) Other (15%) Dance (10%) Museums (7%) (7%) Visual arts orgs. Music (21%) Multi-disciplinary (17%) THEATER National Arts Journalism Program Source: New York Foundation for the Arts Foundation York New Source: CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS GROUP, BY DISCIPLINE (2000 DATA) INSTITUTIONS GROUP, CULTURAL WHERE CITY MONEY GOES WHERE BY FUNDING RECIPIENTS, AFFAIRS OF CULTURAL DEPT. (2000 DATA) DISCIPLINE sion in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway sion in off-Broadway in the late 1960s and ’70s. theater programs York New ago, the years “Twenty-five was getting $700,000 Festival Shakespeare much does it get now? NYSCA]. How [from said. “This$95,000,” Marx govern- was real and ment money pouring into not-for-profit one theaters.” No off- and off-off-Broadway soon. expects those days to return POLICY OPTIONS keep public support from for theater To the industry will have further, even eroding York to make a case to lawmakers and New newCity officials with strong policy recom- of the most attractive mendations. Some definitive the “We have virtually have no information on “We president Bernstein, Along those lines, Jed Most arts groups have already weaned already arts have groups Most But even reams of research aren’t very aren’t of research reams even But programming,” McCarthy said. “We know said. “We McCarthy programming,” We’re virtually nothing about artistic careers. on the arts.” in research stage at a primitive and Theatres of the League of American would like to see “ Producers, INFORMATION IS POWER IS INFORMATION could be raised, public-policy profile Theater’s better were if there many experts agree, a “There’s about the industry. available research so that industry advocates data” need for more economic argu- [purely] “the can get beyond basically the only thing the ments, which are been listening to,” said policymakers have need the attitudinal data about “We Godfrey. is, why people care what the demand really the poli- to help move about the arts, in order being focused only on econom- cymakers from broadly to being focused more ic development on cultural development.” themselves from dependence on federal fund- dependence on from themselves for the Endowment the National ing from Arts,is smaller million budget whose $104 Department of that of the city’s than even support increas- has Affairs. Public Cultural said state and local levels, ingly shifted to the a senior social scientist for McCarthy, Kevin of public about 10 percent RAND. Only arts City nonprofit York funding for New the federal government. comes from groups likely to boost public-policy interest in the arts likely to boost public-policy interest attained during the back to the lofty levels Nelson Governor York administration of New (1959-1973), during which the Rockefeller Council on the State York pioneering New Arts model for the (NYSCA), an eventual of the Arts, was estab- Endowment National whom of Rockefeller, The initiatives lished. for King” described as a “Sun Marx Robert for the huge expan- responsible the arts, were study that proves that arts education has a study that proves function- influence on students’ positive direct ing in all other areas.” Public Policy

(percent change, 95-99) -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 NYC NONPROFITGROUPS(1999DATA, BYBUDGETSIZE) GOVERNMENT INCOMEASPERCENTAGE OFTOTAL INCOME, 42 10 20 30 (percent) 10 15 20 25 30 NYC PERFORMINGARTS GROUPS(1999DATA) CHANGE INGOVERNMENTANDPRIVATE SUPPORT, A DECLINETHAT HURTS SMALLGROUPSMOST 0 0 5 All Groups Wonderful Town income earned (8.7%) (11.2%) Total (29.4%) private income Very Large Total >$10 million (8.2%) government (-14.9%) income Total $1m-$10m (18.1%) Large Source: Alliance fortheArts (-4.2%) Total city $100,000-$1m Medium (19.4%) (-4.9%) Total state <$100,000 (27.6%) Small (-51.1%) federal Total thirds inthelastdecade. and earnedrevenue increase by almosttwo- their operatingbudgetsincrease by one-third assistance. The initiative’s 12granteessaw loansandtechnical through grants, short-term medium-sized New York organizations arts ernment, hashelpedstrengthen small-to and 1999fundedby cityandfederalgov- Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund between 1990 Stabilization Initiative, by theLila undertaken ment andtheprivate sector. The Arts populations. other underserved low-income residents, seniorcitizens and improving to communicationaboutthearts staffing; clarifyinggrantmakingcriteria;and tural policy;increasing DCAfundingand ‘food chain.’ The ideawas that you don’t start from 1976to1983.“We usedtocallitthe had beenNYSCA’s theater program director agenerationago,saidMarx, who on theArts tude prevailed attheNew York State Council the creators oftheater. atti- This artists-first has suffered sinceAugust. million inbudgetcutstheBoard ofEducation But thisfundingwasslashedamidthe$400 restore educatorstotheschooldistricts. arts of Education’s ProjectARTS, whichaimsto the citycommitted$75milliontoBoard were phasedoutinthe1970s.Under Giuliani, public schools,whichsuffered whenspecialists inception. nearly $1.5billionintheseven years sinceits taxinLondonhasraised years, andalottery raised $145millionforculture inthelast40 benefit culturalgroups. San Francisco’s has have tourism-orleisure-related taxes that wide tourismandtheater. Numerous cities rooms? culturaljewelsthathelpfillthehotel the very lion ayear. Couldthemoneybeusedtoaid hotel-room surcharge thattakesin$40mil- ideas discussed by theater experts include: ideas discussedby theaterexperts ● ● ● ● ● Increasing collaborationbetween govern- Creating acomprehensive citywidecul- Shifting thefundingemphasistoward Restoring educationtothecity’s arts Re-emphasizing thelinkbetween city- 18 The cityofNew York hasa$2-a- 17 16 with the audience: that the best way to create Broadway, but to the Atlantic Theater art for the public was to first serve the artists Company or to that tiny theater on Arthur

who make it,” he said. Avenue in the Bronx, or out to Brooklyn or the Public Policy ● Increasing public participation in the Soho Rep, as a vote of confidence.” arts—which in practice could suggest a fund- Fran Reiter believes that if politicians put ing emphasis counter to that which Marx theater on their agendas, audiences will follow. favors. More public support for audience- “Get out there and experience your own development programs such as High 5 Tickets cities,” she urged them. “Who knows, it may to the Arts, which in 2001 sold 10,000 tickets get you out of having to go to another rubber- to teens at greatly reduced prices, could help chicken dinner.” ■ achieve this aim. “Perhaps we really should think of the audience, and that if we don’t 1 “Culture Counts: Strategies for a More Vibrant Cultural Life have that audience, we are just an echo, and of for New York City,” New York Foundation for the Arts, 2001. 2 NYC Independent Budget Office data. no consequence whatsoever,” said Ray Ledara 3 Ibid. of the Art Group theater company. 4 “Who Pays for the Arts?” Alliance for the Arts, 2001. 5 “Broadway’s Economic Contribution to New York City ● Incorporating performance space, hous- 1999,” League of American Theatres and Producers, 2000; ing for artists and other cultural development New York City Office of the Comptroller. 6 into the post–Sept. 11 downtown rebuilding “Economic Impact Study of New York City’s Not-For-Profit Theatres,” Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, 2000. effort (for more, see Real Estate section). 7 League, “Who Goes to Broadway? The Demographics of Even with government budget cuts on the the Audience, 2000-01 Season,” 2002. 8 Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy data, way, mayors or governors can throw their from “Culture Counts. . .,” NYFA, 2001. weight behind theater in important, non-finan- 9 Ibid. 10 cial ways. Weber of The Times is among many Ibid. 11 New York City Independent Budget Office. who think politicians are not doing enough to 12 New York City Department of Cultural Affairs FY 2002 promote the theater, especially in the outer bor- data. 13 “Culture Counts. . .,” NYFA, 2001. oughs. “The message that New York theater is 14 Ibid. not just Broadway doesn’t get out,” he said. “I’d 15 “Who Pays for the Arts?” Alliance for the Arts, 2001. 16. like to see the mayor and city council members “Culture Counts. . .,” NYFA, 2001. 17 Ibid. going not just to the Metropolitan Opera or 18 Ibid.

CRUMBS FROM D.C., ALBANY GOVERNMENT INCOME AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL INCOME, NYC NONPROFIT ARTS GROUPS (1999 DATA)

Total 12 (11.2%)

Federal (1.2%) 10

State (2.6%) 8

6

4 City (7.5%)

2

(percent)

0 Source: Alliance for the Arts

43 National Arts Journalism Program PICKING UP THE PIECES porary concessions from their partners, includ- ing a 25 percent wage reduction from unions. The theater industry suffered serious reper- “Royalty-holders gave up royalties, theater cussions from the terrorist attack of Sept. 11. owners gave up rent, every constituent group Broadway grosses plunged 65 percent the gave something back,” said Jed Bernstein, pres- week of the attack, down nearly $7 million ident of the League of American Theatres and from the same week a year prior, and four Producers. Public Policy shows closed. Nonprofit theater was hit hard, Rudolph Giuliani helped too, asking New too. One hundred and one nonprofit theaters Yorkers to “see a show” the week of the surveyed by A.R.T./New York suffered $4.7 attack—a time when many New Yorkers million in direct losses and $16.3 million in appeared willing to do whatever the mayor projected 2002 income losses.1 Worst off were asked of them. The League successfully spun the smallest theaters—those with budgets this casual remark into a clarion call, incorpo- under $100,000 anticipated losses totaling 39 rating the quote into a broad public-relations percent of their annual budgets—and the 10 campaign, “I Love New York Theater.” Within theaters inside the sub–Canal Street “frozen two weeks of the attack, Broadway ticket sales zone,” one of which had its offices inside Five had rebounded remarkably, to within 10 per- World Trade Center. cent of normal. The broad spectrum of disaster-related But this rebound was helped along to a sig- problems—the likely plunge in governmental, nificant degree by deep discounting of ticket corporate and foundation support; the curtail- prices, the League’s promotional blitz (for ment of public school theater trips for budget- which the State of New York kicked in $1 mil- ary and security reasons; the erosion of the lion) and voluminous press coverage. (The New service jobs that artists rely on for subsistence; York Times, for example, markedly stepped up and the public’s fear of anthrax and other dan- its theater-industry reporting in the weeks fol- gers—threatens the entire theater ecosystem in lowing the attacks.) And there were indications New York. that the recovery, like the aforementioned The industry has explored an array of efforts, might be temporary; producers feared public and private initiatives in its recovery that ticket sales would slump in the early effort. To reduce costs, producers received tem- months of 2002. Forty-two percent of

BEFORE AND AFTER SEPT. 11 WEEKLY BROADWAY GROSSES

2000

2001 $20

$15

$10

$5

(millions)

$0 Sept 2 Sept 9 Sept 16 Sept 23 Sept 30 Oct 7 Oct 14 Oct 21 Oct 28 Nov 4 Nov 11 Nov 18 Nov 25

Source: League of American Theatres and Producers

44 Wonderful Town INSIGHTS FROM THE CONFERENCE

“[In the nonprofit community], it’s as if politics is beneath them! And the fact is—whether it’s Rudy Public Policy Giuliani running on crime, whether it’s Ed Koch running on housing—politicians are going to pick issues that resonate with large parts of the public, that push buttons. And frankly, museums and theater ain’t it.” - Fran Reiter, former deputy mayor for economic development under Rudolph Giuliani

post–Sept. 11 Broadway ticket buyers said the Off-Broadway and off-off Broadway the- attack influenced their decision to attend a play, aters lacked the resources to mount a large- indicating that their motive may have been scale public relations campaign last fall. But to post-disaster sympathy.2 In addition, a far high- get arts back on the city’s radar screen, the er percentage of theatergoers than usual were Alliance for the Arts began a major post–Sept. walk-ups; fewer were buying advance tickets. 11 marketing effort called “The Arts Rebuild The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) New York,” with the goal of raising a million proposed some long-term solutions. With the dollars for research, promotion and briefing of support of Senators Charles Schumer and elected officials on nonprofit needs. The industry Robert Torricelli and other policymakers, Directly after Sept. 11, “I had fears that TDF chairman John Breglio plans to intro- had very little to do with ticket sales and a lot has explored an duce federal tax legislation that would give more to do with the ripple effects,” recalled array of public incentives to financial backers of theatrical A.R.T./New York’s Virginia Louloudes. productions. The initiative would be worth A.R.T./New York hosted a meeting Sept. 20 at and private roughly 10 percent of an investor’s stake in a which the chill likely to hit funders was a given show; it would go into effect only for major concern. (A report developed for the initiatives in its money-losing productions, and it would run New York City Office of the Comptroller pro- recovery effort. through the end of 2003 only. The tax credit jected a 30 percent drop in individual contri- is “a pittance when compared to the billions butions to nonprofit theaters over the next given outright by the federal government to nine months.3) A.R.T./New York provided the airline industry,” Breglio said. “But I more than a quarter million dollars in grants believe it would be an attractive incentive to and loans to its members. encourage investment over the next year or two when we may face a serious shortage of LOCALS FILL THE GAP potential funding for new productions.” CHANGE IN COMPOSITION OF THEATERGOERS AFTER 9/11 This proposal was part of a broader TDF post–Sept. 11 strategy, other aspects of which 100 (7%) (4%) include: (9.3%) Other country

● Other U.S. Expanding TDF’s currently existing tick- 80 et-subsidy program, designed to fill unsold (41%) (44%) (46.9%) NYC suburbs seats at struggling productions; 60 NYC ● Producing one play each year in which talent and goods would be provided at-cost, 40 (26%) (29%) with the proceeds going to a new Theater (24.4%) Relief Fund; 20 ● Using the Relief Fund to aid slumping (22%) (26%)

(percent) (19.4%) productions during unexpected future crises 0 or predictable business-cycle downturns. 1990-91 2000-01 Post-attack, Sept 2001 Source: League of American Theatres and Producers

45 National Arts Journalism Program In November, A.R.T./New York proposed that the TDF’s proposal will bear fruit. “If creating a cash reserve fund for small and mid- there’s going to be capital gains tax relief, we’d sized theaters as well as a matching campaign better make sure it applies to theatrical invest- funded by a major foundation or by city, state ment,” he said. “We’ve been advised that there and federal government. A.R.T./New York will be no specific industry tax relief.” also called on the city to add affordable facili- Though no long-term tax initiatives have ties for nonprofits to Lower Manhattan rede- yet been passed, Broadway received specific Public Policy velopment plans, and for the National financial relief nonetheless in mid-December, Endowment of the Arts to increase its funding when the Giuliani administration announced allocation toward New York State arts groups it would buy 50,000 theater tickets for $2.5 (currently, no single state may receive more million to help Broadway shows during the than 15 percent of the NEA’s total funding).4 two subsequent months. No off-Broadway In October, off-Broadway producer Scott tickets were purchased, according to the Morfee started a group called downtownNYC mayor’s office, and as of the new year, no city- to act as a marketing-oriented umbrella organ- supported off-Broadway stimulus packages ization for both commercial and nonprofit had been announced. ■ off-Broadway companies. A.R.T./New York represents only nonprofit theater companies, Morfee said; downtownNYC would give the 1 “New York City’s Not-For-Profit Theatres in the Post September 11th Era: Challenges and Opportunities,” oft-ignored off-Broadway commercial theaters Alliance of Resident Theatres, New York, 2001. an advocacy voice as well. 2 “The Broadway Industry After Sept. 11, Changes in Composition of the Audience,” presentation by the League Beyond TDF’s proposal for federal emer- of American Theatres and Producers, 2001. gency relief, Bernstein said in October that the 3 “New York City’s Not-For-Profit Theatres in the Post September 11th Era: Challenges and Opportunities,” League has been trying to plug into existing Alliance of Resident Theatres, New York, 2001. tax initiatives; he was less inclined to believe 4 Ibid.

46 Wonderful Town