The Public Theater, a leading Off Broadway nonprofit, provides small grants to several hundred freelance artists as well as so much effort with the impact of unemployment and expired benefits of unemployment.
The theater said it had given $ 1,000 “financial relief payments” to 368 people, including technicians and crew members such as carpenters, truck drivers, engineers and programmers; learning artists, who facilitate classes, workshops and talkbacks; and working group members, who support artists as they develop.
“Freelance theater workers are in total economic need, almost universal,” said Oskar Eustis, the audience’s artistic director. “It feels pathetic – this is not enough money – but it’s exactly what we can do right now.”
The public, like other nonprofits, has seen their ticket revenue disappear with the closure of theaters; the organization says it has a deficit of more than $ 10 million this year. Last month, the theater jumped 105 from its 232 full-time employees – it continues to pay its health insurance by the end of the year – and it has cut the salaries of all remaining staff members who make more than $ 100,000 a year.
Eustis said the initial round of payments went to freelancers working on shows at the public from September to March, when the coronavirus pandemic called for an end to appearances for individuals. The audience said they expected to give a second round of grants to actors, stage managers, designers and other creative team members later in the year.
“We try to let them see us,” said Eustis, “and we also hope that it will inspire other institutions to recognize that the preservation of the field is not only the preservation of our staff as our buildings, but the people. who do a great deal of work. ”
Several other institutions also made microgrants to theater artists during the pandemic. The public said it was inspired to act in part by Artist Relief, a coalition of grant makers funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which donates money to creative workers facing financial emergencies stand.
The League of Chicago Theaters is offering $ 500 grants to theater professionals in Chicago, and a new organization called the Philadelphia Black Theater Alliance is offering $ 200 each to 20 local Black artists.
