A coalition of upstate New York theaters is celebrating state arts funding.
$5 million in Alive Downtowns! grants was allocated to 13 theaters in the most recent state budget. Speaking Thursday, 109th district Democratic Assemblywoman Pat Fahy says the more than $1.5 million going to the Palace Theater in Albany, Schenectady’s Proctors Theater, and the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall is key to the continued survival of regional arts institutions, especially in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.
“Theaters and arts venues, our cultural institutions were shut down, some for over a year and more, that recovery is still ongoing. It is still something we are trying to turn around, especially with young people who stream way too much and forget to come out and enjoy these arts,” Fahy said.
Of the money, Proctors received nearly a million dollars, and the Palace and the Music Hall each received $300,000.
Fahy says each dollar spent on supporting the arts generates seven in economic activity. She adds the Palace is a community hub as well, hosting movie nights and giving discount admission to city families during the summer.
“Live performing theater is often very expensive for a family, so when they can do initiatives that give very cut rates, especially to students, it makes it affordable. I can remember when my son did a summer program at Proctors’ a number of years ago; he took a film course. It changed his life,” Fahy said.
Proctors also offers summer internships for interested students.
Proctors CEO Phillip Morris says the prospect of cities without the arts is bleak, and not something he wants to see happen again.
“Every one of these buildings that is now part of our group was empty, and so were the downtowns. Upstate’s downtowns died as suburbanization emerged throughout upstate New York,” Morris said.
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, a fellow Democrat whose 111th District includes Proctors says, as the son of immigrants, he didn’t discover the wonder of performing arts until he was an adult seeing “Happy Days” there.
“It was so interesting to me, because I always watched the TV series and then to see it on stage, it really, it had such an effect on me. And my daughter is so immersed in the arts, and she has taught me so much,” Santabarbara said.
Santabarbara agrees with Fahy; the effect of the venues is goes beyond the on-stage product.
“These venues are like magnets. They attract tourists, visitors into our upstate cities. People come for the show, but they stay for everything else a city like Schenectady has to offer,” Santabarbara said.
Deputy Albany County Executive Michael McLaughlin says during his 20 years in New York, he’s seen the positive impact arts organizations have on an area.
“Whether it's Palace Theater and the offerings that they have, whether it's Proctors, those are the two big names. But you know, Cap Rep [the Capital Repertory Theatre] getting a new facility, moving to a new facility, revitalizing a derelict building,” McLaughlin said.
Republican Mayor Carmella Mantello agrees, noting there are 70,000 visitors to the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall annually.
“That impact on not only our businesses, our restaurants, our boutiques, it creates investment into our community. The Troy Music Hall also is branching out into our neighborhoods and really getting into many of our lower income neighborhoods to expose that experience,” Mantello said.
Fahy says, even though the money is a good start, there’s never enough for the arts.
“What I [with] my magic wand, would say, every single student in this state [would] have a summer school program that includes the arts, includes sports, includes all sorts of summer enrichment and allows them to come on site here and learn how to build a set, learn how the music [works] or [how to] play music, or learn how to perform,” Fahy said.
Elsewhere, the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston was awarded $300,000; and the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie notched an over-$191,000 grant. Buffalo’s Shea’s Performing Arts Center received nearly $1.2 million; Jamestown’s Reg Lenna Center for the Arts was awarded close to $96,000; Rochester’s Broadway Theater League was awarded $900,000; the Smith Center for the Arts in Geneva was awarded $103,000; Elmira’s Clemens Center and Utica’s Stanley Theatre are the recipients of over $120,000 each.
