When Broadway went dark in March of 2020, there was still hope that the shutdown would be short-term. Now, nearly one year later, the pandemic rages on worldwide, and the Great White Way hasn't turned a single light back on.
The last update came in October of last year, when The Broadway League, the trade group representing theater owners and producers, made the announcement that Broadway's shutdown would last through at least May 2021, with shows possibly returning in the fall of this year. There have been no updates on a reopening timeline since, though Governor Andrew Cuomo has signaled that restarting that sector of the economy is a priority. Ahead of a recent launch of pop-up events around the state, he noted, "There are venues that we want to start to reopening with testing and capacity limitations," including theaters, arenas and Broadway.
A new report from the New York State Comptroller's office reflects the urgency, showing how devastating a toll the shutdown has taken on Broadway and the entire New York City creative sector.
Overall, the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector had the biggest decline out of all sectors in NYC, according to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. (This includes performing arts, spectator sports, museums, amusement parks, casinos, and fitness centers.) Between 2009 and 2019, the report says that jobs in arts, entertainment, and recreation grew by 42%, outpacing the 30% growth in total private sector employment—but, in 2020, employment fell by 66%.
NYC Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Employment, 2020
About 93,500 people in arts, entertainment, and recreation were employed by 6,250 establishments in NYC in 2019, according to the report, which estimates that the total wages were around $7.4 billion for an average salary of $79,300.
“There isn’t a city in this world that offers a more dynamic or deeper array of venues and museums for arts and entertainment than New York,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The COVID-19 outbreak has had a profound and negative impact on the industry. It has forced facilities to close, thrust thousands into unemployment and pushed businesses to the brink of collapse."
DiNapoli recommends:
- Extending unemployment relief commensurate with need, including extended relief for freelancers and self-employed workers;
- Providing establishments with defined and achievable milestones for reopening that are aligned at the city and state levels;
- Enabling the use of outdoor space with flexible guidelines and simple permitting processes as the weather warms;
- Facilitating the flow of federal funding to firms and not-for-profit organizations through outreach and technical assistance; and
- Delivering healthcare supplies, including rapid tests and personal protective equipment, so that venues can reopen safely.
Aimee Todoroff, the League of Independent Theater's Managing Director, called the economic study "vital," and said it "could not have come at a more critical time—“We know our indie theater sector is in peril, yet we are hopeful the data in this study will generate real policies to ensure the survival of the artists who make New York the cultural capital of the world."
