From Lincoln Center to local groups, NYC’s arts community plans gradual comeback from COVID-19 Shant Shahrigian
Nearly a year after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted authorities to shut down performances and public gatherings, devastating the city’s world-famous arts sector, the show will go back on.
Venues from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to a jazz stage in Queens are cautiously planning their first live programming in the brave new world of social distancing and audience size limits.
As in the rest of the country, recent weeks have seen the city’s COVID numbers gradually go down the average positive test rate was 6.86% as of last Wednesday, according to city Health Department stats, down from a recent peak of 9.7% on Jan. 3. While concern about new variants of the deadly virus remains high, the sense of panic that pervaded when Gov. Cuomo shut down large venues on March 13, 2020, has faded.
How The City Plans To Help Its Artists By Anna Lucente Sterling New York City PUBLISHED 7:00 PM ET Jan. 19, 2021 PUBLISHED 7:00 PM EST Jan. 19, 2021
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NEW YORK Before the pandemic hit, the cultural sector was one of the biggest economic engines in New York City. Theater, dance, fashion, art galleries and more employed nearly 400,000 workers and generated $110 billion in total economic activity.
But on March 16, it all came tumbling down.
When the city shut down, venues closed. People couldn’t congregate. Workers lost their jobs and with that went many artists’ commissions.
“We lost probably 75% of our regular income,” said Karesia Batan, dancer and director of the Queensboro Dance Festival. “That usually comes from sponsorships, online fundraising. People just didn t have the money to give us that they usu