Federal arts bailout totals $36 million locally

Over the summer, more than 40 arts organizations representing museums, theater companies, entertainment venues, live tours and more in the Capital Region's four core counties received about $36 million in federal assistance following what at that point had been 15 months of a pandemic-related shutdown responsible for all but canceling their business and devastating their income.

For many, the money was an invaluable lifeline. As a sector of the economy, live entertainment was affected by the coronavirus to a degree rivaled only by the cruise industry, according to government figures and independent analysts. A report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. put live entertainment at the top of a list of industries hit hardest by the pandemic and said it likely has the longest period to full recovery, potentially not starting until the second quarter of 2024 and stretching into 2025 if the virus continues to mutate. That is followed by accommodations and food services (first quarter of 2024 for full recovery), and educational services (early 2023).  

The relief money originated with a program called the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants. A pot of more than $16 billion allocated for the arts, SVOG was part of the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal government's nearly $1.9 trillion stimulus plan enacted in March to help revitalize an economy staggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the greater region, 22 entities in Berkshire County in Massachusetts got a combined $15.6 million. Around 100 entities in seven Hudson Valley counties were allotted approximately $35 million. Overall, throughout the greater Capital Region, Hudson and Mohawk valleys and the Berkshires, SVOG money totaling $88.3 million went to more than 160 recipients. Amounts ranged from $3,448 for Green Kill, a performance and exhibit space in Kingston, to $10 million, the maximum allowed under the program, to Mills Entertainment, a Saratoga Springs-based company that books a variety of live tours nationwide and in 2019 had an average of one performance every day of the year somewhere in the U.S.

Proctors in Schenectady received $9.4 million; its affiliates Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany and Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga, $710,000 and $324,000, respectively. The Saratoga Performing Arts Center, $2.8 million; Albany's Palace Theatre, $2.3 million.

For some, SVOG funds were essential to their survival.

"We had a 97 percent revenue loss," said Mike Mills, founder and owner of the 20-year-old Mills Entertainment. "Without question we would have gone out of business without it."

For others, the funds were minimal and not strictly necessary but welcome nonetheless, as at The Comedy Works in Saratoga, which used its SVOG grant of $33,484.81 to pay the comedians and staff who reopened the club in August after it had been dark for 17 months, according to owner Tommy Nicchi.

In between were scores of organizations, employing thousands and historically entertaining millions, for which the federal program provided money to rebuild and relaunch that they otherwise would not have had, arts leaders say. Under the terms of SVOG, organizations had to have fewer than 500 employees and were eligible for up 45 percent of their 2019 revenue, capped at $10 million.

"The SVOG grants have been ... absolutely essential and kept our industry — among the first to close and the last to reopen — from being utterly devastated for the long term," said Elizabeth Sobol, president and CEO of SPAC, in an email.

"We are certainly in a much stronger position than we would have been without the funding," Jon Elbaum, executive director of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, said via email. It received about $564,000, or $90,000 less than Elbaum believed it was eligible for.

Following SVOG guidelines, recipients have spent relief money on everything from performance fees to rehiring staff to mundane necessities like maintenance, utilities and insurance, according to representatives. More than half of the $900,000 in SVOG funds that went to The Egg in Albany is offsetting its revenue loss from 2020 and this year, according to its executive director, Peter Lesser. Proctors is able to bring back about half of the 130 people it laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, said CEO Philip Morris. Holly Brown, whose Albany-based Music Hall Arts Alliance presents at area venues, said the $264,000 she received in late July plugged big pandemic revenue gaps and positioned the company well for the fall and winter.

"It will enable us to continue booking shows and events," Brown said.

Like The Egg, other organizations received less than they believe they were eligible for, notably the Albany Symphony Orchestra, which has applied for additional funding worth two and a half times the $61,000 it received from SVOG. Proctors is appealing to reach its full eligibility of $10 million, or another $600,000, Morris said, and The Rep is seeking an additional $125,000 that the company believes it was due to receive.

"The federal funding has been a vital infusion as we rebuild our audiences and donations," Anna Kuwabara, executive director of the ASO, said via email.

She said, "We continue to feel the impact of the pandemic but are forging ahead with the musicians to keep on making and sharing music."