Performing-arts venues took a beating during the global health pandemic and The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts was no exception.
It was forced to close its doors from March 2020, through Sept. 11, 2021.
David Fay, The Bushnell’s CEO since 2001, led the charge in urging state and federal policymakers to provide government aid to the industry. Congress, in fact, a little more than a year ago allocated $15 billion in grants to support theaters and other venues nationwide. Fay had given testimony to a U.S. Senate committee on the topic.
Days after the pandemic shut down theaters last year, the executives of Connecticut’s leading performing arts centers did something rare in the arts and entertainment industry: They were talking to each other in significant and wide-ranging ways.
“Before this, we worked independently,” said Frank Tavera, CEO of the Palace Theater in Waterbury. “One good thing that came out of COVID was the fact that we were now all talking to each other about the future.”