BUFFALO, N.Y. — Governor Andrew Cuomo says it's time to start helping New York's performing arts industry, which was one of the hardest hit industries by the shutdown orders he enacted in his attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The governor conceded his decision to close theaters and other performing arts venues nearly a year ago and keep them closed, has put those industries, and hundreds of thousands who work in them, on life support economically.
"We now have to nurture that industry to bring it back," Cuomo said on Monday.
This starts with a program he announced called "NY PopsUp," which he described as being 300 performances over the next 100 days throughout the state involving several well known artists who have agreed to participate.
While the performances will be free and in person, there will be limited capacity and there the state won't provide a lot of lead time in announcing the "who" "where" and "when."
"We're trying to thread a needle here," Cuomo said. "They are 'pop up' performances and are not designed to be pre-scheduled and draw a crowd because we don't actually want the crowd."
According to Cuomo, the effort to eventually reopen performing arts centers like theaters and concert venues will draw largely from what the state learned by allowing a limited number of fans to attend Buffalo Bills playoff games in January.
"We let 7,000 fans in who first had to have a negative test for COVID-19," Cuomo said, also noting it was at an outdoor venue. "But there was no evidence through contact tracing of any increased spread as a result."
The success of the pilot project at the Bills games also in part lead him to allow wedding receptions of up to 150 people to resume in March (provided all guests test negative for the virus prior to the event) and may eventually allow - if conditions are right - for the curtain to rise in Buffalo's theater district and on Broadway once again.
"Would I go see a play and sit in a playhouse with 150 people? if they were tested and all came back negative, then yes," explained Cuomo. "And with social distancing, and the proper air ventilation systems in order... this is part of our overall effort which is heading toward reopening with testing."