"Curtains Up NYC" Grant Aims to Jumpstart Theatre Programs Impacted by COVID-19

Photo courtesy of NYC.gov

A new grant will provide up to $15 billion in financial relief to revive theater programs across New York City, although most college programs will not be significantly impacted, officials said. 

The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant will provide eligible organizations with 45 percent of their 2019 gross revenue or up to $10 million. Eligible organizations include theatrical producers, public universities with theatre departments, movie theatres and other performing arts venues. 

The grant, known as "Curtains Up NYC," will attempt to revive performing arts in New York after the pandemic forced venues to close in March 2020. 

In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “New York City’s live performance venues, theaters, and nightclubs are the best in the world, and they’ve been hit hard by this pandemic. Their city will help them fight for every federal dollar they deserve to get back on their feet and better than ever.” 

While many organizations in New York will receive the financial aid as a result of the grant, the program will not affect all of the city’s colleges. State colleges, for example, are eligible provided they can prove their theatre departments lost revenue because of the shutdown.

The King’s College will not receive any financial relief, since it is a private school.

Frank Torino, who manages the college's finances, also said King’s is "definitely not eligible because they did not make any money off of their theatre program.” 

The relief package isn't likely to directly affect King’s students, although it could provide jobs for those who graduate in May.  

Kaitlyn Walker, a senior, hopes to work as a stage manager once she graduates. The virus, she added, hasn't been kind in terms of job search.

“I was thinking, guess that cancels all my plans, and I did not look for a job for months," Walker said. "Now I’m about to graduate, so I feel like a lot of my job options are going to have to be Zoom shows.”

"Curtains Up NYC" was designed to help people like Walker survive by providing a boost to the small businesses in the entertainment industry that would potentially hire her. 

 But Walker isn't optimistic the grant will help her. 

“They have the money to start hiring again, but the question is are they going to be putting on any shows or are they going to be using it to pay actors that they already had? I’m not sure that this will impact me because I didn’t have a job pre-Covid,” Walker said.