Aid seen as key
Save Our Stages aid called key to pandemic rebound
Performing arts venues are relieved to know help is on the way.
Local performing art venues are relieved to know help is on the way after Congress incorporated a $15 billion grant program for art and entertainment venues struggling financially from the pandemic into the most recent COVID-19 relief package.
“(These funds are) critical to ensuring that when all of this over, that our creative economy bounces back, you know, stronger than ever,” said Kristen Holler, director of Albany Barn Inc. and Schenectady’s Electric City Barn Inc. — two venues that provide low-cost housing and creative workspaces to artists as well as performances.
A number of owners of area performing art venues that have largely been closed since March already have long lists of what they need to reopen safely when that time comes and welcomed the federal funding.
“I’m so grateful that folks organized and got together to say, ‘Hey, when we get a handle on this pandemic, we’re still going to need our arts and cultural venue,’” said Holler. “We have to do something to support them.”
The Grants for Shuttered Venue Operators, also known as the Save Our Stages Act, that provides funding for local arts venues across the country affected by the pandemic was sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-minn., and co-sponsored by more than 200 members of Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. President Donald Trump signed the $900 billion relief package on Dec. 28.
Cornyn said he looks forward to seeing “future generations of Texans learn our history through music at the world-class venues and dance halls that call the Lone Star State home.” Klobuchar said the grants “will get small entertainment venues the help they need to make ends meet and serve our communities for generations to come.”
Theaters, movie theaters and other artistic places are already eligible for federal funding under the Paycheck Protection Program, but those funds are provided through loans, while the new $15 billion program provides grants that do not have to be repaid.
According to the Small Business Admin
Tiffany Bedian, general manager of Boca Bistro, at 384 Broadway, said plenty of people
were ordering to-go bowls of their roasted pork belly and poblano pepper chowder.
“We’ve sold a decent amount of it today,” Bedian said.
For more information, see the Discover Saratoga website.