Empress official reflects on a year gone bad
It was April when real, ticketbuying people last entered the Empress Theatre in downtown Vallejo.
And now, elevated to the “red tier” of Solano County, the 109-year-old venue can open at 25 percent capacity for a film.
Yes, easing out of COVID-19 at a snail’s pace has been difficult, said Renay Conlin, executive director of the Vallejo Community Arts Foundation, the Empress Theatre’s umbrella nonprofit.
Conlin did a Q&A with the Times-Herald earlier this week, reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the initial COVID-19 lockdown.
What’s been the worst part of the pandemic when it comes to the Empress?
The worst part of the pandemic is not being able to present live performances to the general public. Stay-at-home orders throughout California effectively shut down all in-person performances at the Empress Theatre since March 1, 2020. Ticket sales are critical to financial survival. While the theater is closed, our bills still keep coming in and must be paid. Even though we are a nonprofit, the electric bill still needs to be paid.
How did it impact sales and why?
There has essentially been no
ticket sales. We have been doing some online streaming and either selling tickets or asking for donations, but this only raises a small amount of money, usually just enough to cover the cost of offering these streaming events.
How did it impact how many employees you have?
It greatly impacted the number of employees we have. We had seven fulltime employees when the pandemic struck, we now have one full-time employee. We do hire some consultants for our streaming projects.
What do you predict for the rest of 2021?
I am hopeful that in the very near future we will be able to have people attending performances in the Empress Theatre. We are in the red tier now, which means we can show movies and have limited capacity seating in the theatre. I am hopeful that by the summer or fall we may be able to have live performances at the Empress Theatre.
How long until you get back to where you were before COVID?
It will take us awhile to regain the momentum we had made during 20192020. I think once we reopen it will be at least 6 months before we begin to return to where we were before the COVID pandemic.
What do you think the state has done right in dealing with COVID… and what has the state failed at?
I don’t think the State has failed in its efforts in dealing with COVID 19. I believe the only way to beat the virus was to impose strict guidelines until enough people were immunized to achieve herd immunity. So, I think the State has been on target in their efforts to defeat the virus.
Anything else? As participants in the City’s economy, the pandemic’s negative impacts on the Empress Theatre have been devastating. We provide more than performances to a paying public; we are also embedded in the City’s social and educational structures. Driven by our mission of community participation and engagement, we connect people through live performances. We are also an important producer of state and local taxes. Vallejo City leaders are seeking ways to make our City into a vibrant community and the arts are part of a larger set of tools to accomplish this goal.
The playwright and poet Oscar Wilde once said: “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”
We really can’t have a society without the arts. People want to gather together, to experience inspiring artistry and great entertainment, and, of course, artists want to create and performers want to perform. All of these are crucial to living a life of meaning and purpose.
For upcoming events, visit empresstheatre.org