Reopening Letter to State Senator Serrano
The following letter was drafted by the League of Independent Theater to be submitted to State Senator Serrano to ask for a hearing on the reopening process moving forward for arts and culture in 2021. If you are interested in co-signing this letter, please read and use the form at the end of the letter!
Dear Senator Serrano,
We the undersigned independent arts and culture organizations and workers call for a hearing about the future roadmap of reopening for the cultural industry in the face of COVID-19.
We understand that the future of New York State under the pandemic is uncertain, and there are many unknowns facing our community in the year ahead. However, we have been given no insight into the approach to reopening being used by public health officials. Without guidance, the arts and culture organizations in New York State are facing a disastrous reality with no means to generate revenue in the present and no way to plan for the future.
When reopening began, businesses were informed of four phases, each based upon specific health metrics. When schools reopened in the fall, decisions about opening or closing were centered around the publicly understood 3% positivity rate.
Meanwhile, cultural venues remain closed without any publicly communicated phase or reopening criteria. A hearing to ask specific questions about the health metrics and criteria used to make decisions is necessary for cultural venues to understand what to expect in the months ahead, and to make a plan to keep the arts and culture alive in New York State.
We understand that some activity may not be possible until vaccination is widely available. However, we do not yet have insight into what a roll-out of vaccination would mean for the restoration of our industry. As vaccines have become available, now is the time to understand how they will change in the upcoming months.
Specifically, we would like to hear testimony from the relevant government agencies to answer the questions:
1) What public health criteria are being used to determine when indoor rehearsals without audience members are allowed?
2) What public health criteria are being used to determine when outdoor performance with audience members is allowed?
3) What public health criteria are being used to determine when indoor performance is allowed?
4) Will these criteria be applied to all cultural activities regardless of the size, scope, or scale of the planned activity or cultural organization?
5) Does the State of New York consider all art and culture activity to fall under the category of “entertainment,” or will art and culture fall under its own rubric for reopening?
6) Will the State of New York release re-opening guidelines specific to indoor and outdoor rehearsals and performance?
We appreciate scheduling a hearing on this subject. Our goal is not to push activity beyond the recommendations of appropriate guidelines to keep our communities safe. We simply need to know what to expect as our arts and cultural organizations attempt to plan for survival in 2021 and beyond.
Yours,
The League of Independent Theater
Arts and Democracy
Dance/NYC
Fourth Arts Block
The Indie Theater Fund
IndieSpace
Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts of New York
Bristol Valley Theater
CenterStage Theatre, Rochester, NY
The Drama League
Co-Op Theatre East
Molloy Studios
Chain Theatre
Hook & Eye Theater
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
The Gene Frankel Theatre
The Brick
The Exponential Festival
Title:Point Productions
The Wild Project
Seven Loaves DBA GOH Productions
FRIGID New York
QED
Kairos Italy Theater
Ego Actus
The Onomatopoeia Theatre Company
HP Productions
JMTC Theatre
ART/NY
Alleyway Theatre, Buffalo, NY
West End Theatre
Reel Works
American Candy
Cortland Repertory Theatre
LEIMAY
The Alchemical Theatre Laboratory / Alchemical Studios
Triskelion Arts
Three Phase Center, Stone Ridge, NY
Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance
Hudson Valley Performing Arts Library
The Tank
The 52nd Street Project
Dance Entropy
American Tap Dance Foundation
Dance Projects, Inc.
Beth Soll & Company
The REV Theatre Company
Theater 2020, Inc.
Kinesis Project dance theatre
The Artist Co-Op
J CHEN PROJECT
NYC Artists Coalition
White Horse Theater Company
Theatre Now New York, Inc.
Project Y Theatre Company
General Mischief Dance Theatre
Pulse Ensemble Theatre
AMiOS
Fitz&Startz Productions, Ithica, NY
Annebritt duChateau
Michal Mendelson
Guy Yedwab
Aimee Todoroff
J. Stephen Brantley
David Lawson
Rachel Tamarin
Kent Nicholson
Vicki Oceguera
Ashley Adelman
Lauren Cordes
John Hagan
Peter Michael Marino
Britt Goodman
Jane Gennaro
Karen Watson
Mindy Pfeffer
Joan Kane
Bruce Kraemer
Patricia Brantley
Linda Buckley
George Woolston
Thomas Gordon
Elizabeth Rimar
Catherine Porter
Valeria Orani
Christina Perry
Stephanie Bok
Liam Riordan
Connie Perry
Bob Brader
Greg Cicchino
Jon Harper
Karin Bowerstock
Katelyn Machnica
Chris Harcum
Kirk Gostkowski
Chris Handley
John Clancy
Randi Berry
Valerie Green
Beth Soll
Jesse Phillips-Fein
Suzanne Bachner
Olympia Kazi
Patrice Miller
Nicole Touzien
Emily Vartanian
Rachel Lampert