When the pandemic struck America, Congress was quick to help out the airline industry (to the tune of $50 billion) and cruise ships – two businesses which were financially devastated by the coronavirus. But what about the performing arts? Theaters and music venues uniformly shut down in March, and are slated to be the last to reopen under the operating schedules of most states.
To address this dilemma, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D.-Minn) and John Cornyn (R.-Tx) have introduced the Save Our Stages bill, which would set aside $10 billion for grants to independent venues with five hundred employees or less. The program would be run through the Small Business Administration, which currently administers (among other responsibilities) the Paycheck Protection Program.
The grants would max out at the lesser of $12 million or 45% of the venue’s operating costs in 2019. The bill would require recipients to return any funds unused one year after disbursement, but would also leave open the possibility of supplemental grants if the initial grants prove inadequate.
Roger Williams (R.-Tx) and Peter Welch (D.-Vt) are co-sponsoring the bill in the House.
Klobuchar appeared this morning on National Public Radio’s 1A show, where she warned that without financial support from the government, music and theatrical venues would shut down, with a devastating effect on local economies. “There is going to be a day after tomorrow,” Klobuchar said, in which vaccinated Americans pick up the threads of their lives.
Klobuchar expressed optimism over the bill’s chances, notwithstanding the fraught nature of the current negotiations for additional COVID-motivated relief. She noted that the highly contagious illness had recently spiked in the South and spread to rural areas – both traditional Republican territories. In many small towns, she noted, “this [venue] is their one cultural place.”
“America is known for its freedom of expression,” Klobuchar said. “We need to keep the music strong, so the music doesn’t die.”
Cornyn, the Senate Majority Whip, asserted that “Texas is home to a number of historic and world-class small entertainment venues, many of which remain shuttered after being the first businesses to close. The culture around Texas dance halls and live music has shaped generations, and this legislation would give them the resources to reopen their doors and continue educating and inspiring Texans beyond the coronavirus pandemic” in a statement released to Rolling Stone magazine.
The NPR show, which is carried locally by WAMU-FM, also featured an interview with Audrey Fix Schaefer, the Head of Communications for the 2500-member National Independent Venue Association. Fix Schaefer, who strongly endorsed the legislation, stated that a NIVA survey revealed that 90% of its members expected to shutter their buildings for good in September unless they received government funding.
“We were the first to close, we have no idea when we will open again,” said Fix Schaefer. “and [we have] enormous overhead.”
If legislation is not enacted soon, Fix Schaefer said, any aid would be like “giving a liver transplant to a cadaver.”
Fix Schaefer also expects bipartisan support for the bill. She asserted that for every dollar spent on a ticket to a cultural event, twelve dollars gets spent on collateral businesses such as bars and restaurants, echoing a point Klobuchar made earlier in the show. During her presentation, the Kennedy Center tweeted that arts and culture accounts for 4.2% of GDP.
Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director Maria Manuela Goyanes also appeared on the show, endorsing the Save Our Stages legislation and the concept of government funding for the arts generally. “We should all be rallying behind the Save Our Stages legislation,” she said. “For us it would be absolutely essential to have access to that Federal funding.”
Goyanes said that Woolly Mammoth has fared somewhat better than other companies. “We feel incredibly lucky to get the PPP loan…without it we would be just as screwed” as many other theaters and artists, she observed. Because Woolly Mammoth is a relatively small theater with a high proportion of donor support, “we can be more nimble and a little more flexible.”
