COVID-19 Economic Impact
Since New York went on PAUSE in mid-March, we have seen the New York cultural community come together like no other time before, rallying support for each other’s organizations and tenaciously finding ways to continue to provide educational and essential services to their communities. Despite the fact that organizations have swiftly pivoted, providing essential services, ongoing cultural programming, educational resources and classes, the economic reality has been dire.
In a survey of the CIGs conducted in June 2020 (an updated survey is being conducted currently), we were able to grasp a picture of the circumstances facing culture and art in New York City. The financial impact for our members have projected losses of more than $345 million from this March through June 30, $250 million of which is earned revenue lost. Many organizations rely heavily on earned income ranging from 25-90% (average 39%) of their total income. Each organization has, to the best of their ability, pursued cost-saving measures and federal relief programs where eligible. We anticipate the losses to continue to accumulate in our upcoming survey. With reopening in the far-distant future for many performing arts organizations, the situation is challenging. For many reopened institutions, present visitation is not allowing them to break even.
The CIGs have a combined operating budget of over $1.47 billion USD. The CIG’s attract 23 million visitors annually, contributing one-third of NYC’s tourist visitation as well as billions to the economy and over 11,000 union and non-union jobs.
The CIGs are composed of 34 unique institutions who have had distinct experiences and reactions to the pandemic and the closures. All CIGs are unified by a desire to serve as good civic actors and members of their communities in whatever ways they can.
CIGs Supporting Their Communities
We would like to take the opportunity to showcase just a portion of the valuable public services the CIGs have continued to deliver:
Museum of the Moving Image served as a meal distribution service, staffed by their own personnel.
Staten Island’s Snug Harbor has continued to provide a safe space for their community to recreate, with their grounds open as an urban oasis.
The Bronx Zoo has served as an ambulance staging hub in conjunction with the Montefiore drive-through testing site.
Multiple in-person & online events promoting #Census2020 across the CIGs, including marketing to audiences and employees.
Participated in the #OpenLobby movement during protests happening across the city to provide restrooms and water: Brooklyn Museum, Public Theatre, MoMA PS1.
Lincoln Center partnered with the Food Bank For New York City providing fresh and shelf-stable food to over 500 families.
Ongoing Programming #CultureNeverClosed
CIGs have adapted to the needs of their community, delivering educational content for students, lesson-planning resources for teachers, health and wellbeing activities and so much more. Even when visiting a particular institution in person is not possible, #CultureNeverClosed. See below for some examples.
New York Botanical Garden has created “NYBG At Home” for kids and families, with educational activities, recipes, virtual botany lessons and tours. For adult learning, courses on landscape design, botanical art, gardening, crafts and wellness are just a variety of courses and lectures available as well.
Lincoln Center at Home, a free, one-stop, digital platform for new and archival performances, lessons, and more from the 11 constituent organizations that reside on the Lincoln Center campus. Lincoln Center at Home makes it possible to participate in live-streamed arts education lessons led by Lincoln Center’s dynamic teaching artists, learn to plié with New York City Ballet dancers, and enjoy a 1965 New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein without having to pay a dime. A highlight of their programs designed to harness the power of the performing arts to connect, uplift, and heal, each Sunday at 6pm, we release our weekly #MemorialforUsAll concert, an opportunity to honor our shared grief and take a moment to mourn together in a way that has been otherwise impossible during the pandemic. In partnership with the Mayor's Center for Faith and Community Partnerships and faith-based organizations from around the city, each week an artist, such as Wynton Marsalis or Yo-Yo Ma, leads a secular, musical service paying tribute to those we have lost to COVID-19, with names of loved ones submitted by members of the public displayed alongside video of the performance.
Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning has Daily Live-Streamed Pop-Up Classes (#jcalPOPUPclasses) Led by top professional teaching artists, JCAL’s daily live-streamed free classes over YouTube feature programs on dance, songwriting, music, drama, art, and more. While the programs are geared toward school-age audiences, they are produced with every age group in mind.
El Museo del Barrio (EMDB) is currently offering a Permanent Collection series featuring highlights from our Collection with information in English and Spanish; YouTube highlights on homepage and a partnership with New York Latino Film Festival to bring film content.
Staten Island Museum has released a new documentary film honoring the centennial of women's suffrage, Passing the Torch: Women Who Lead. Produced by the Staten Island Museum, the film was originally part of the exhibition Women of the Nation Arise: Staten Islanders in the Fight for Women's Right to Vote and interviews women leaders (on the local, city, and state level) to discusses their roles in public service, their earliest memories of voting, and why it is still so important today.
Historic Richmond Town's Arts & Culture in Quarantine is a free, online endeavor our staff has put together to continue to provide diverse programming and digital content to our audience. For the foreseeable future, we’ll be bringing audiences fresh, educational content to enjoy every day. There will be living history demonstration videos, staff interviews, blog posts, and even virtual tours and behind-the-scenes looks at our collection, buildings, and historic houses on-site.
A press release of upcoming Winter 2020 programming is available here.
Page Updated: 12/1/20