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      The Virus Cost Performers Their Work, Then Their Health Coverage

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeFall in Love: With TenorsConsider: Miniature GroceriesSpend 24 Hours: With Andra DayGet: A Wildlife CameraAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Virus Cost Performers Their Work, Then Their Health CoverageAs the entertainment industry collapsed during the pandemic, several major health plans made it harder to qualify for insurance. Thousands lost it.“You never think it’s going to be you,” said Robbie Fairchild, a star of ballet, Broadway and film who was one of many performers to lose their health coverage amid the pandemic. He started a flower company when live performances were halted.Credit…Amr Alfiky/The New York TimesMatt Stevens and March 9, 2021Updated 5:20 p.m. ETEllyn Marie Marsh was getting ready to appear in a new off-Broadway musical last year when the pandemic struck, theaters were shut and her work evaporated.Those months of lost wages carried another cost that only became clear much later: She did not get enough work to qualify to keep the health insurance she had been getting as a member of Actors’ Equity.She is far from alone. Haley Bennett was working as an associate music director on “Diana,” a musical that was in previews, when Broadway shut down. She became one of the hundreds of musicians in the New York area who are losing the insurance they received as members of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians.And in Los Angeles, Brad Schmidt, a television and film actor who was hospitalized with Covid-19 early in the pandemic, did not get enough work after he recovered to keep the insurance he had been getting through his union, SAG-AFTRA. He said that while he still did not feel fully himself, he had been skipping follow-up doctor visits because under his new insurance plan, he simply cannot afford them.“My lungs were shutting down,” he said. “Clearly I should go in and see how my lungs are now. And I will, hopefully, God willing, at some point. I just can’t do it right now.”Across the nation thousands of actors, musicians, dancers and other entertainment industry workers are losing their health insurance or being saddled with higher costs in the midst of a global health crisis. Some were simply unable to work enough hours last year to qualify for coverage. But others were in plans that made it harder to qualify for coverage as they struggled to remain solvent as the collapse of the entertainment industry led to a steep drop in the employer contributions they rely on.“To be dropped like this for my health insurance just feels like such a slap in the face,” said Mr. Fairchild, a former New York City Ballet dancer who starred in “An American in Paris” on Broadway. He appeared in 2019 at the Joyce Theater.Credit…Andrea Mohin/The New York TimesThe insurance woes compounded a year when performers faced record unemployment. Several provisions in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, which passed the Senate on Saturday and is expected to pass the House on Wednesday, offer the promise of relief. One would make it a lot cheaper for people to take advantage of the federal government program known as COBRA, which allows people to continue to buy the health coverage they have lost, and another would lower the cost of buying coverage on government exchanges.Many of the more than two dozen performers interviewed by The New York Times said that they felt abandoned for much of the year — both by their unions and by what many described as America’s broken health care system. Some are angry.“You never think it’s going to be you,” said Robbie Fairchild, a former dancer at New York City Ballet who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2015 for his star turn in “An American in Paris” on Broadway and later appeared in the film adaptation of “Cats.”“To be dropped like this for my health insurance,” said Mr. Fairchild, who started a flower company during the pandemic as a creative outlet and to try to stay financially afloat, “just feels like such a slap in the face.”As unemployment soared last year, millions of Americans lost their job-based health coverage. Unlike other workers who simply sign up for a health plan when they start a new job, the people who power film, television and theater often work on multiple shows for many different employers, cobbling together enough hours, days and earnings until they reach the threshold that qualifies them for health insurance. Even as work grew scarce last year, several plans raised that threshold.“I’m 42 years old and I just feel like I should be able to take care of myself,” said Matt Wilkas, an actor who has starred on Broadway but fell short of the earnings he needed for health coverage in 2021. “I just want to be an adult. And instead I feel that devastating feeling you have when you’re not where you want to be in life.”The Equity-League Health Fund, which is run by trustees appointed by both representatives of the Actors’ Equity union and producers, cited the financial strain caused by the shutdown of the theater industry when it raised the number of weeks of work needed to qualify for coverage.Many lost it: While 6,555 actors and stage managers were enrolled in the plan at the end of 2019, officials said that fewer than 4,000 were still covered at the end of last month, and that the number is expected to drop further.Making it harder to qualify for health insurance during the pandemic is “insane,” said Tyler Hardwick, an actor who stands to lose his coverage in July.Credit…Amr Alfiky/The New York TimesTyler Hardwick, an actor who was on the national tour of “Once on This Island” when the pandemic shut down the show last March, was told he would lose his insurance in July. Acting is already one of the “hardest industries in the world to be successful and consistent at,” he noted. Increasing the number of weeks actors must work to qualify for insurance in this climate, he said, is “insane.”“I know how the medical system treated me when I had pretty good health insurance,” Mr. Hardwick said, recalling the expenses he incurred after a rollerblading accident when he had coverage. “How am I going to be treated with a health insurance that I’ve never had before, that I don’t know how it works?”Many performers could not get enough work last year to qualify for coverage: Mr. Hardwick was on a national tour of “Once on This Island” when the pandemic closed the show.Credit…Joan MarcusOthers will be able to keep their coverage, but will have to pay more. James Brown III, who appeared in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” said that his quarterly premium had spiked to $300 from $100.“When you’re only really making unemployment, $300 quarterly is kind of a big deal,” Mr. Brown said.Musicians are struggling, too. Officials at Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, the New York local that is the largest in the nation, estimate that when changes to its plan take effect this month, roughly one in three musicians will have lost coverage: It will have shed more than 570 of the roughly 1,500 people who had been enrolled a year earlier.“Nothing has kept me up at night more and weighed on me more heavily than the health care question,” said Adam Krauthamer, the president of Local 802 and a trustee co-chair of the union’s health fund.Perhaps the most public, acrimonious battle over coverage has broken out at the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Health Plan, which insures 33,000 actors, singers, journalists and other media professionals. That plan raised the floor for eligibility to those earning $25,950 a year, from $18,040, effective Jan. 1, and also raised premiums in response to deficits projected to be $141 million last year and $83 million this year.Officials at the plan have estimated that changes they are making will remove 10 percent of its participants from coverage. But a class-action lawsuit filed by Ed Asner, a former president of the screen actors union, and other mostly older actors and union members charges that at least 8,000 retirees will also lose some of their coverage. (Many companies have dropped retiree health coverage in recent decades.)The plan’s new rules effectively strip many older members of what is often their secondary insurance. An online advocacy campaign features Mark Hamill, Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freeman and other stars who say they feel betrayed by the union.“So many people, along with me, feel robbed of our health care benefits,” Dyan Cannon, 84, said in a statement provided by lawyers for the plaintiffs in the class-action.Michael Estrada, the chief executive of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, emphasized in an interview that the older members are insured by Medicare. And although some were required to switch to secondary insurance run by other providers, he said that they were not left without health care. In interviews facilitated by the health plan, three people whose plans were affected said that they were pleased with their new coverage.Still, Mr. Estrada acknowledged that “this is a huge change” for some people who have been covered by SAG-AFTRA health plans for decades.Insurance plan officials said they were left with no choice but to make painful changes to ensure their funds survive. Health care costs have been rising at rates that have outpaced the contributions that union members and their employers pay into their plans. When the pandemic essentially ended live performance, employer contributions to many health funds slowed or stopped entirely.“There is no money to squeeze out of the stone, and that’s the thing that nobody understands,” said Doug Carfrae, an Actors’ Equity representative on the board of trustees of the health plan.For many, losing coverage is not an option. Some have bought coverage through the Affordable Care Act. The Actors Fund has helped more than 4,000 performing artists navigate their health insurance options. Many have had little choice but to pay more.When Kristina Klebe, a 41-year-old actor and voice over artist, discovered that she no longer qualified for the new SAG-AFTRA plan, she knew she had to do something: she has a gene mutation that puts her at a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer and requires periodic preventive checkups. So she is now paying almost double what she had been to continue her care under the COBRA program.“I don’t even know how to really put this in words,” she said. “It just feels very lonely.”Bill Jorgensen, a 93-year-old former news anchor and occasional voice-over artist who has been a member of the union for decades, is among the older people who is unhappy with the SAG-AFTRA changes.Mr. Jorgensen, a diabetic who takes 21 medications a day, said he is paying more for his insurance and for his medications under his new supplemental health insurance plan: a $2,400 deductible; a $47 monthly premium; plus another $370 just for blood thinning medication.“I can’t do voice overs or anything else at age 93 — I wish to hell I could,” Mr. Jorgensen said. “We’re going to be hurting bad because of this.”Sarah Bahr, Reed Abelson and Michael Paulson contributed reporting. Jack Begg contributed research.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      The American Academy of Arts and Letters Unveils Expanded Roster

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe American Academy of Arts and Letters Unveils Expanded RosterFor the first time in more than a century, the society is adding new spots for members, with a diverse group of cultural figures.From left, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Joy Harjo, Wynton Marsalis and Betye Saar, who are among the new members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.Credit…John Lamparski/Associated PressMarch 5, 2021, 5:19 p.m. ETThe American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honor society of leading architects, artists, composers and writers, announced 33 new members on Friday as part of an effort to expand and diversify.Among them are the painter Mark Bradford, the poet Joy Harjo, the artist Betye Saar and the composer Wynton Marsalis and the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.Founded in 1898, the institution had capped membership at 250 since 1908; members are elected for life and pay no dues. In addition to adding 33 members, the academy announced it is going to grow to 300 by 2025. Its move to diversify comes as the arts reckon with issues of race, inclusion and social justice.“The board of directors is committed to creating a more inclusive membership that truly represents America and believes that expanding the Academy’s membership will allow the Academy to more readily achieve that goal,” the organization said in a statement.Early on after its establishment, the organization — which now administers more than 70 awards and prizes, totaling more than $1 million — was mainly made up of white men, like Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Singer Sargent and Mark Twain. Previously, new members could only be elected after the death of existing members.“That the doors of the institution have opened to a more representative membership is symbolic of a cultural shift that is long overdue,” Harjo said in an email to The New York Times.“Every culture has contributed to the restoration, remaking and revisioning of this country,” she added. “Together we are a rich, dynamic story field of every shade, tone and rhythm.”The academy is ushering in its most diverse group as institutions across the nation have reckoned with racial justice, equity and inclusion in the last year. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced a $5.3 million program to distribute curated collections of books to prisons across the country last June and later pledged $250 million to help reimagine the country’s monuments and memorials to include the histories of people who have been marginalized. In January, the Library of Congress also announced a Mellon-funded initiative to expand its collection and encourage diverse outreach for future librarians and archivists.Employees at other arts organizations are also airing their issues with the gatekeepers of high arts: a coalition from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and other New York-based cultural institutions issued an open letter on social media regarding the “unfair treatment of Black/Brown people” last year, demanding “the immediate removal of ineffective, biased Administrative and Curatorial leadership,” among other requests.The academy only includes American architects, artists, writers and composers. Among the new additions, who are not in these categories, are honorary members, like Mikhail Baryshnikov, Spike Lee, Unsuk Chin and Balkrishna Doshi.All of the new members will be inducted on May 19 via a virtual award ceremony.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      'Diary of a Song': Behind the Making of the Hit Series

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat Goes Into ‘Diary of a Song’Nearly 20 episodes in, the making-of video series is popular with viewers and artists alike, thanks to a collaborative team’s approach to breaking down a hit.See how the singer-songwriter and actress wrote her chart-topping first single — after a good cry and with TikTok in mind.CreditCredit…The New York TimesFeb. 26, 2021, 9:07 a.m. ETNearly three years ago, Joe Coscarelli, a pop music reporter for The New York Times, created the video series “Diary of a Song” with a team of video and graphics journalists as a way to find out what shapes an artist’s work. So it was revealing recently when Mr. Coscarelli interviewed Olivia Rodrigo to talk about her No. 1 single “Drivers License,” and she said she was a fan of the series herself.“I watch these religiously,” she told him in a FaceTime call in January, when they discussed the single.Such is the impact of “Diary of a Song.” Now 19 episodes in, the collection of making-of stories featuring artists including Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift has been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube. The latest installment, with Ms. Rodrigo, debuts Friday.“I’m gratified that whatever we do, people seem to be into it,” Mr. Coscarelli, the host, said.The series offers viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the year’s top hits go from shower thoughts to chart toppers, with emoji-filled episodes that feel more like conversations among friends than interviews. Which was the intention from the beginning.“Not every artist’s story can be told perfectly in a profile,” Caryn Ganz, The Times’s pop music editor, said. “But a ‘Diary’ may be the way to bring them to our audience and break down what they’re doing.”Before “Diary of a Song” became an actual series in 2018, Alicia DeSantis, a deputy editor for visuals and multimedia, worked with the Culture and video teams to produce two videos that elaborately analyzed a track’s creation: “Where Are Ü Now,” by Diplo, Skrillex and Justin Bieber, and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” Together, they drew millions of views, but the production requirements in time, cameras and lighting were not sustainable.As team members sought to find a way to make more regular episodes, they came up with a novel idea: What if they conducted the interviews via FaceTime? The low-tech, familiar platform would be relatable for viewers — and low-stakes enough for artists that it would encourage them to open up in a way they would not normally.“Because these were ‘simple’ FaceTime calls, most artists let their guard down,” Antonio De Luca, the art director and a senior producer for the series, said. Today, artists dial in from backstage, their bed, even the beach.Using FaceTime also eliminated travel costs, opening up new possibilities for interviews. “We could expand beyond the marquee stars and showcase the fuller constellation of creative talent that helps shape these songs — the vocal coaches, producers and other figures who provided crucial elements to the track, and thus our story,” said Alexandra Eaton, who has been the series showrunner and was instrumental in its development.The core team of Mr. Coscarelli, Ms. Eaton, Ms. DeSantis and Mr. De Luca also includes Mike Schmidt, an executive producer who directs video features at The Times, with assists from Ms. Ganz.The heaviest lifting, Mr. De Luca said, is editing the interview footage and supplementary material, which includes everything from voice memos with melodies or guitar riffs to text messages with bits of lyrics, and then creating the graphics. “Only after all the interviews are conducted does the real work begin,” he said.But that is not to discount Mr. Coscarelli’s skill. Ms. DeSantis said he’s a “fabulous” interviewer. “When you’re watching, it just seems like anyone can ask these questions and get these answers,” she said. “But Joe gets people to say things in this that you don’t hear in regular radio interviews, and that comes out of a space of deep knowledge and experience.”One of the inspirations for the series, Mr. Coscarelli said, was Ms. Swift’s meticulous documentation of her songwriting process — she has included demos, voice memos and studio videos as extras with her albums. That spirit of sharing was on display when the artist herself was eventually featured in 2019, in an episode devoted to “Lover.” “When an artist realizes you just want to talk about the details of what they’re best at — like, why they chose this chord and not that one — they’re into it,” Mr. Coscarelli said. “It’s not hard to get them to open up.”Still, he said, over the years he has honed his interviews to spur more revelations. Some of his favorite questions: What was the first part of the song that came to you? What were the crucial moments and decisions? How did you know the song was done?“The things they consider inconsequential to the narrative are gold for us,” he said.Ms. DeSantis said the series aimed to persuade viewers that chart-topping pop songs are masterpieces of craft as worthy of being dissected and analyzed as a symphonic composition. “We take what seem to be throwaway pieces of culture that you hear at the bodega,” she said. “And we show you the accomplishment it takes to create them.”Mr. Coscarelli said that, now that FaceTime “is everyone’s thing,” the team is eager to continue experimenting with the format. But fans can expect one constant: Mr. Coscarelli’s familiar black crew neck sweater — the exact same one every episode — which he wears in front of a roll of red background paper. “It’s been demanded of me by the video team to never switch outfits, so we maintain a consistent character,” he said.Static wardrobe aside, the show’s identity will remain all about trial and error, not unlike songwriting. “One reason I think the series has been successful is that we don’t do the same thing over and over again,” Mr. Coscarelli said. “People get antsy, and it’s so easy to click away, so we always try to be ambitious and make it a little more difficult.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Lincoln Center Will Head Outside Its Closed Theaters to Perform

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeWatch: ‘WandaVision’Travel: More SustainablyFreeze: Homemade TreatsCheck Out: Podcasters’ Favorite PodcastsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyLincoln Center Will Head Outside Its Closed Theaters to PerformOfficials announced plans to create 10 outdoor spaces for pandemic-era performances and rehearsals, and to work with blood drives and food banks.With its theaters closed by the pandemic, Lincoln Center plans to create create 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces this spring. Here is an artist’s rendering of one.Credit…Ceylan A. Sahin Eker, via Lincoln CenterPublished More

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      California Lost 175,000 ‘Creative Economy’ Jobs, Study Finds

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesRisk Near YouVaccine RolloutNew Variants TrackerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCalifornia Lost 175,000 ‘Creative Economy’ Jobs, Study Finds“There is no economic recovery in our area unless a working creative engine is driving it,” said Representative Karen Bass of California.The Broad Museum in Los Angeles. Job loss in the “creative economy workforce” reached 24 percent in Los Angeles County, according to a report released Thursday by the Otis College of Art and Design.Credit…Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated PressFeb. 25, 2021, 4:44 p.m. ETArts advocates and elected officials in California called on Thursday for additional government spending to avert what one organization leader called a “pending cultural depression” brought on by the pandemic.“There is no economic recovery in our area unless a working creative engine is driving it,” Karen Bass, a U.S. Congresswoman representing part of Los Angeles, said in a video prerecorded for a panel discussion.“Congress must provide additional assistance to the creative economy and its million of employees,” she continued, saying that her district could not fully recover unless the arts community there led the way.The calls for more aid were aired during a video conference hosted by Otis College of Art and Design, which released a report it commissioned on the creative economy. Two economic impact surveys Thursday by the advocacy group Californians for the Arts were also discussed.The Otis College report said that between February 2020 and December 2020, total job loss in the “creative economy workforce” reached about 13 percent statewide and 24 percent in Los Angeles County.During that period, the state lost 175,000 jobs in that economy, which was said to include architecture and related services, creative goods and products, entertainment and digital media, fashion and fine arts, the report said.The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      Report: New York City’s Arts and Recreation Employment Down by 66 Percent

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeBake: Maximalist BrowniesListen: To Pink SweatsGrow: RosesUnwind: With Ambience VideosAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyReport: New York City’s Arts and Recreation Employment Down by 66 PercentThe New York State comptroller’s office details the effects of the pandemic’s devastation and says a full recovery would be made only with government assistance.The arts, entertainment and recreation sector had seen the largest drop of all the parts of the city’s economy, the report says.Credit…David S. Allee for The New York TimesFeb. 24, 2021, 1:59 p.m. ETEmployment in New York City’s arts, entertainment and recreation sector plummeted by 66 percent from December 2019 to December 2020, according to a report released on Wednesday by the New York State Comptroller’s office that detailed the economy’s devastation from the coronavirus and the serious obstacles to recovery.The report from Thomas DiNapoli’s office said that the sector had seen the largest drop of all the parts of the city’s economy. A full comeback, it said, would depend upon significant government assistance.The sector “is a cornerstone of the city’s ability to attract businesses, residents and visitors alike,” the report said. “Yet the sector relies on audiences who gather to take part in shared experiences, and this way of life has been significantly disrupted by the pandemic.”Although nearly all business has been affected by the pandemic, its impact on arts, entertainment and recreation entities has been particularly striking.From 2009 to 2019, employment in the sector — which in this report includes performing arts, spectator sports, gambling, entertainment, recreation, museums, parks and historical sites — grew by 42 percent, faster than the 30 percent rate for total private sector employment.In 2019, according to the report, more than 90,000 people in 6,250 establishments were employed in the arts, entertainment and recreation. Those jobs had an average salary of $79,300 and provided $7.4 billion in total wages. In addition to businesses with employees, the report said, there are a large number of people who were self-employed, including artists and musicians.In February 2020, just before the pandemic shutdown in New York City, nearly 87,000 people were employed in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector there, the report said. Many major institutions announced closures on March 12. A statewide stay-at-home order went into effect on March 22. By April, employment in the sector stood at 34,100 jobs.Budgets at arts and recreation establishments have been “decimated,” the report said, and some organizations and facilities have struggled even as they were able to reopen, saying reduced revenues because of capacity restrictions, as well as diminished ticket sales, have limited income and necessitated budget cuts.Many performing arts venues are still closed. Most Broadway theaters do not expect to reopen until June at the earliest, the report noted, adding that the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Ballet announced they would not be reopening until September.“Arts and recreation face an uphill climb to recover from the damage wrought,” the report said, adding: “The challenges facing the arts and entertainment sector require direct and impactful support from policymakers to maintain the city’s extensive cultural offerings.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      New York’s Pop-Up Concerts Kick Off With Jazz at a Vaccination Site

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeBake: Maximalist BrowniesListen: To Pink SweatsGrow: RosesUnwind: With Ambience VideosAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyNew York’s Pop-Up Concerts Kick Off With Jazz at a Vaccination SiteThe musician Jon Batiste led a band through the Javits Center to begin half a year of unannounced performances throughout the state.Jon Batiste (center) and his band Stay Human march through the Javits Center during the first NY PopsUp event on Saturday.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesFeb. 21, 2021It seemed at first like a small, no-frills concert in a carefully controlled environment: The jazz musician Jon Batiste sitting at a piano in an auditorium at the Javits Center on Manhattan’s West Side, performing for an audience of about 50 health care workers seated in evenly spaced rows — some wearing scrubs, others Army fatigues.The dancer Ayodele Casel began tapping, with no musical accompaniment except a recording of her own voice, her amplified cramp rolls filling the room. And the opera singer Anthony Roth Costanzo performed “Ave Maria” in a countertenor’s angelic tones.Ayodele Casel tapping.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesAnd an appreciative audience of health care workers.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesBatiste on melodica as the indoor parade passes by.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesBut about half an hour in, the performers stepped off the stage and exited the room, turning what had begun as a formal concert into a rollicking procession of music and dancing that grooved through the sterile building — the convention center was turned into a field hospital early in the pandemic and is now a mass vaccination site — where hundreds of hopeful people had come on Saturday afternoon to get their shots.Batiste switched to the melodica, a toylike, hand-held reed instrument with a keyboard, and the troupe of musicians — which had expanded to include a horn section and percussionists — paraded up the escalator and through the convention center, eventually reaching a high-ceilinged room where dozens of people sat waiting quietly for the requisite 15 minutes after getting their vaccinations.This concert-turned-roaming-party was the first in a series of “pop-up” shows in New York intended to give the arts a jolt by providing artists with paid work and audiences with opportunities to see live performance after nearly a year of darkened theaters and concert halls. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced plans for the series, called “NY PopsUp,” last month, declaring that “we must bring arts and culture back to life,” and adding that their revival would be crucial to the economic revival of New York City. The shows are getting underway as he finds himself under fire for the state’s handling of Covid-19 deaths of nursing home residents.Health care workers and vaccine recipients provided and audience for the surprise concert on Saturday at the Javits Center, the first of a series called NY PopsUp.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesBatiste, getting serious.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesThe band, appropriately masked, propels itself through the center on Saturday.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesBecause the program is wary of drawing crowds, most of the performances will be unannounced, emerging suddenly at parks, museums, parking lots and street corners. The idea is to inject a dose of inspiration into the lives of New Yorkers — a moment in which they can pause their scheduled lives and witness art during a pandemic year that has limited human contact and imposed tight restrictions on people’s activities.“We need more spontaneity; that’s what the beauty of this is,” Batiste said in an interview. “You don’t know what’s around the corner.”As the troupe of musicians moved through the Javits Center, the audience of health care workers followed them, clapping to the beat and recording the spectacle on their phones. Batiste, who is the bandleader on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” propelled his musicians through the space (most of them have played with the show’s house band, including Endea Owens on bass, Tivon Pennicott on saxophone, and Joe Saylor and Nêgah Santos on percussion).Bre Williams, a 35-year-old nurse in blue scrubs who had come from Savannah, Ga., to help out in New York, looked on wide-eyed.“Y’all do this stuff all the time up here?” she said, laughing.Shortly before the music ended, some of the health care workers rushed off to continue their work day (this concert was happening during their break time, after all).The series is put on by a public-private partnership led by the producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal, along with the New York State Council on the Arts and Empire State Development. Zack Winokur, the director and interdisciplinary artist in charge of the programming, said the group is aiming to put on more than 300 pop-up performances through Labor Day, in every borough and around the state. The performers are chosen by a council of artists — among them Batiste, Casel and Costanzo — who are each asked to tap into their own networks to find participants.“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a live performance,” Winokur said in an interview. “It’s a profoundly needed experience right now.”A pop-up parade with free drinks from a coffee truck.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesOnlookers, some appreciative, peeked out of doorways and windows. At one point, however, objects were hurled at the musicians from an upper-story window.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesThe NY PopsUp parade takes over a lane in Brooklyn.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesAfter the first performance at the Javits Center, the musicians headed to Brooklyn, where they began another flash-mob-style street jam, starting from Cadman Plaza Park and winding their way through Dumbo to end up at a skatepark, where teenagers stared at them curiously before hopping back on their skateboards. The free, mobile concerts are called “love riots” by Batiste, who has previously planned them on social media. This one traveled along sidewalks and slushy snow, sometimes slowing traffic.Prevented from tap dancing on the street, Casel banged out rhythms by clapping the metal plates on her tap shoes together with her hands; Costanzo danced along with the band and at one point grabbed the megaphone to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”While the music was intended to provide a spontaneous display for passers-by, the march itself was as tightly regulated as any pandemic-era event. Security personnel directed members of the musical entourage around uneven terrain and dog waste. Another employee asked onlookers to spread out when they started to break social distancing guidelines.Despite the logistics that went into it, the plan succeeded in being a spontaneous curiosity for the dozens of people who unexpectedly encountered the music. Moving down narrow alleyways and commercial streets, the band caused people to stop, stare and sometimes groove a little bit. Children peered through windows along Washington Street; a doorman darted out of an apartment building to see what all the noise was about; pharmacy employees leaned out of the doorway to film the procession down the sidewalk.Not everyone seemed to appreciate the music, though. At one point, someone inside an apartment building began throwing objects at the marchers from several floors up (one of the security staffers said he thought he saw an orange juice container and a trophy hit the snow).Accustomed to improvising, the band simply dodged the flying objects and marched a bit more quickly, the music never stopping.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Cuomo Announces Pop-Up Performances Across New York

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeExplore: A Cubist CollageFollow: Cooking AdviceVisit: Famous Old HomesLearn: About the VaccineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCuomo Announces Pop-Up Performances Across New York“NY PopsUp” will kick off Feb. 20 and run through Labor Day.A festival celebrating Little Island, the parklike pier being built downtown in the Hudson River, will coincide with the last days of “NY PopsUp.”Credit…Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesFeb. 8, 2021, 3:18 p.m. ETGov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, who has made it clear that he sees the return of art and culture as key components of the economic revival of the state, announced Monday that a series of more than 300 free pop-up performances, “NY PopsUp,” would begin Feb. 20 and run through Labor Day.Mayor Bill de Blasio, meanwhile, announced details of the city’s Open Culture program, which will permit outdoor performances on designated city streets this spring.The state’s pop-up events are part of a public-private partnership, New York Arts Revival, and will feature more than 150 artists including Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Mandy Patinkin, Renée Fleming and Hugh Jackman.Since the state does not wish to draw large crowds in the pandemic, many of the events will not be announced in advance.“We’re trying to thread the needle,” Mr. Cuomo said. “We want the performances. We don’t want mass gatherings, we don’t want large crowds.”The events, the state said, will take place in parks, museums and parking lots, as well as on subway platforms and in transit stations. People can follow a new Twitter and Instagram account, @NYPopsUp, for details about upcoming performances. Many will be shown online.The series will be spearheaded by the producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal, along with the New York State Council on the Arts and Empire State Development. It is part of an arts revival plan that the governor had announced during an address in January, when he had said the state would organize the pop-up performances beginning Feb. 4.The series will begin Feb. 20 at the Javits Center in New York City with a free performance for health care workers that will feature Jon Batiste, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Cecile McLorin Salvant and Ayodele Casel. The performers will travel across the city to all five boroughs, performing in parks and street corners, as well as at the footsteps of Elmhurst Hospital and St. Barnabas Hospital.Mr. Cuomo said some of the events would use flexible venues that do not have fixed seats, and could therefore be reconfigured to allow for social distancing, including the Shed, the Apollo Theater, Harlem Stage, La MaMa and the Glimmerglass Festival’s Alice Busch Opera Theater.In June, the opening of Little Island, the parklike pier being built downtown in the Hudson River by Barry Diller, and the Tribeca Film Festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary, will add to the expanding arts programming in the city.Little Island plans to hold its own festival from Aug. 11 to Sept. 5, which will coincide with the final weeks of “NY PopsUp” programming.Mr. de Blasio announced on Monday that the city would launch a new program to help some of the city’s cultural institutions apply for federal grants. The city’s effort, called “Curtains Up NYC,” will offer webinars and counseling to businesses and nonprofits that are connected in some way to live performances.“We have to make sure that New York City cultural institutions get the help that they need,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference.Asked whether any Broadway theaters could be allowed to reopen as his arts revival plans continue, Mr. Cuomo expressed hope.“I think that is where we are headed, right?” he said. “The overall effort is headed towards reopening with testing.”He announced last week that the state planned to issue guidance to begin allowing wedding ceremonies for up to 150 guests if attendees were tested beforehand.“Would I go see a play and sit in a playhouse with 150 people?” he said. “If the 150 people were tested and they were all negative, yes, I would do that. And the social distancing and the air ventilation system is proper? Yes, I would do that.”Commercial producers have repeatedly said that economics of Broadway preclude reopening at less than full capacity.New York reported at least 177 new coronavirus deaths and 9,923 new cases on Sunday. While the number of new cases has fallen from a post-holiday high last month, the average number of new daily cases and deaths is still far above where it was last summer and fall.Mr. Cuomo said that government had to take an active role to help the city and the state recover from the economic pain wrought by the pandemic. “It’s not going to be a situation where the economy is just going to come back,” he said. “We have to make it come back.”“New York leads,” he added. “And we’re going to lead in bringing back the arts.”Michael Gold contributed reporting.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More