U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) was in Burlington on Wednesday to recognize the value of nonprofit theaters in Vermont and the continued struggle they face to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. He pledged his support in the form of a bill that would provide $1 billion to the industry annually over five years.
Theaters, he said during a news conference in the Flynn lobby, were among the first institutions to close when the pandemic hit. “And then they were the last, in many ways, to come back,” because many would-be audience members didn’t feel comfortable coming back. Welch was the lead sponsor in the House of the Save Our Stages Act of 2020, which helped performing arts organizations stay afloat during the pandemic.
Earlier this month, Welch introduced the Supporting the Theater and the Arts to Stimulate the Economy (STAGE) Act of 2024 with U.S. Senators John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.). U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) signed on as co-sponsors, and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.
The grants, Welch told the handful of Vermont nonprofit theater representatives in attendance Wednesday, will “help make sure you get to the other side of this because you’re still struggling without being guilty of it.” .
His appearance came just days after White River Junction and New York-based JAG Productions announced their closures, citing the same post-pandemic pressures.
On Wednesday, Welch was joined by Flynn Executive Director Jay Wall, Vermont Secretary of Commerce Lindsay Kurle, Vermont Arts Council Executive Director Susan Evans McClure and Northern Stage Artistic Director Carol Dunn.
While some talked about the intrinsic value of the arts — Wall called them “the oxygen of humanity” — Kurle put numbers to their economic impact.
Citing a national report from the nonprofit Americans for the Arts, Kurrle said that in 2022, 1.4 million people attended arts and culture events organized by nonprofit organizations in Vermont. One million of them were residents of the state.
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“When we look at spending by patrons,” Kurle continued, “the breakdown shows that Vermonters attending cultural events spent $36 million in addition to admission.” Out-of-state spends more per capita than Vermonters , Kurle said.
More than 10,000 Vermonters worked in the arts and culture sector in 2022, a figure from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis that includes for-profit employers, Kurrle said. “The same study found that the creative sector contributed … $1.1 billion to Vermont’s economy, which is nearly 3 percent of our state’s GDP.”
Nationally, the nonprofit arts sector generated $151.7 billion in direct spending by organizations and participants in 2022 and $29.1 billion in tax revenue, according to a statement from Welch’s office. It supported 2.6 million jobs.
Northern Stage director Dunne noted the growth of her White River Junction theater. It started in 1998 with $5,000, she said, “and maybe 100 people came to see seven plays.” The budget has grown to $4 million, Dunn said, and in 2019, more than 50,000 people attended Northern Stage productions.
COVID-19 caused a drop in donations and a 40 percent drop in ticket sales. “We’ve been asking ourselves for the last few years in the theater: Is there an existential crisis upon us? Are we going to disappear? Or do we need a longer runway to appear here?”
Because of the support she’s seeing, including potentially from the STAGE Act, Dunn said she’s come to the conclusion, “It’s a track issue.”
“I have to say, there’s a new hunger in our company lobby this year,” Dunn continued. “People want more live shows and I can see it in their eyes. And I feel it because they won’t leave the theater when we all want to go home and lock the doors.”
If approved, the STAGE Act grants will be administered by the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce. Grants can be used to pay rent and salaries, hire artists and support professional staff, attract new audiences, invest in industry workforce development, and research how best to sustain the industry’s long-term success.
