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She was furious and terrified and bewildered how was theater going to survive?
Why didnt people understand the existential threat?
The best of those is, say, raising $30,000, she said.
The need for these workers is so much much greater than that!
There needs to be serious government advocacy!
On day fifteen, we know.
We have an advocacy team of one!
(It also means conference calls of staggering length.)
Regardless of membership, in the current crisis, TCGs constituency is now … all of American performance.
Its not that TCG and the PAA are the only ones fighting for theatermakers.
Thats the work theyve always done, says Salter, and now that whole department has ramped up.
(A further $25 million goes just to the Kennedy Center.)
Although $150 million isnt chump change, its only 3.75 percent of the original ask.
(Germany is giving its arts sector $52 billion, for a fun comparison.)
Look at a recenttweetby Nikki Haley, for instance.
Salter suggests turning your activist energies to state and local politicians.
Those are state sessions of the assembly where many of those unemployment insurance decisions are made, Salter says.
Local things happen faster.
The allowances in the current bill for loans through the Small Business Administration also look promising.
Its also not money that can be used to get that little business back on its feet.
How, the government consultant asks, will we pull people back into civic life after stay-at-home orders expire?
I dont want to paint too rosy a picture, Baskin says.
The package doesnt solve the problem.
I dont want to minimize whats going on.
All I am trying to suggest is that its not just the $75 million.
There are other opportunities beyond that.
Activism can be a mighty shield against helplessness and fear.
Certainly the advocates that Ive spoken to have more vigor in their voices than most.
I understand the web link and the ecology of the theater because of this work, Salter says.
And seeing how it intersects with government structures has given me perspective, given me hope.
I think its because I know just how many people are working to provide the net to catch us.
In a moment when everything breaks down, theres also a possibility to build something new.
The not-for-profit model is riddledwith its own hierarchies and assumptions, and it could use an overhaul.
Corinna Schulenburg, TCGs director of communications, chimes in from a personal perspective.
We can find joy.
Were looking at 20 percent or higher unemployment!
So what lessons can we find in the Federal Theater Project?
Schulenburg has dreams for that money.
And oh, oh, oh a new New Deal is a heady thought.
Maybe a new one could bring it back.
