Nonprofits struggling as financial setbacks hit New York's performing arts community
NEW YORK -- New York's struggling performing arts community is facing financial setbacks.
From theatre to dance, we're seeing cuts and changes, with nonprofit organizations among the hardest hit.
Many theaters are empty with seasons slashed and workers laid off.
The Public Theater paused its prestigious Under the Radar Festival then announced layoffs for 19% of its staff.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music laid off 13% of its staff, and BAM's Next Wave Festival will shrink.
Broadway show ticket sales have softened for all but the biggest breakout hits.
"There is a crisis," said Howard Sherman, theatre writer and managing director of the Baruch Performing Arts Center. "Is this simply that people have shifted how they wish to consume their entertainment?"
"We're part of this economic engine that makes this city what it is," said Robert Battle, the artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Battle announced Thursday his prestigious company return for a full five-week season at City Center starting Nov. 29.
"Certainly we've been very fortunate," Battle said. "But we have to always be vigilant."
"So it is troubling to see the demise of so many companies," said Nancy Umanoff, with Mark Morris Dance Group.
The arts are often risky endeavors, but right now, it is especially bad, Umanoff says.
The Mark Morris Dance Group is beginning a run at the Joyce Theater starting Aug. 1.
The cost of doing business goes up, threatening to one day bring down the curtain on an industry.
"We all experienced unprecedented government support in this sort of bailout during the pandemic, which helped us ride out the worst part of the shutdowns, but we are all now facing a cliff," Umanoff said.
Arts organization administrators say another injection of federal support is desperately needed right now before it's too late.
"They have the wherewithal if we as a society start to value the arts," Umanoff said.
"We need support as we still continue to come back," Battle said.
This industry always ebbs and flows, they say, and with audience support and federal funding, we can get it flowing again.
