The season tentatively begins Sept. The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts reopened June 12 by making use of its innovative flexible seating system to guide patrons in socially distanced seating, and by innovating the types of shows it would put on. A series of outdoor mystery theater events have been held, with local actors stationed on the Tobin Center grounds giving clues and misdirections to roving audience groups.
Locals have also been invited to play the main stage inside, including Doc Watkins, the popular owner of the Jazz TX music club. Watkins will be in concert Tobin Center April 23 with the string players of the Classical Music Institute , which restarted their season at the Carlos Alvarez Theater with a live concert on April 3. The Tobin is also making use of Audience Outlook Monitor , an ongoing international survey among cultural organizations.
Results have not yet been reported publicly, but CEO Mike Fresher has said the survey is helping guide decisions on reopening, with several questions around audience readiness to return to indoor performances and large public gatherings. Under the leadership of new Executive Director Yadhira Lozano, Luminaria San Antonio sent out its own survey to learn more about its audience, including one question on when they might feel ready to return to a large public gathering like its annual Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival held in November.
A statement on the website says the festival is currently scheduled for Nov. Lozano said Luminaria has also recently conducted focus groups with artists and stakeholders that along with the survey asked about readiness to return, and whether people might accept a hybrid half-virtual, half-in-person event. I think the desire is there … that nothing beats in-person, live performance. Due to his ongoing advocacy work for music venues in San Antonio and throughout Texas, the name of The Mix music club owner Blayne Tucker appeared in the recent New York Times article about the glitch in the Shuttered Venue Operators grant application system.
Tucker said he personally knows of at least 10 venue owners who have taken out loans to float their businesses through the pandemic shutdown, and are now behind on loan payments. Prior to that he taught college fine arts, curated a university contemporary art program, toured with an indie rock San Antonio venue owners can attest that the live performance industry has been among those hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bans on large gatherings shut venues down in the spring, and when they were later allowed to reopen by state governments, it was under crippling capacity restrictions. Tucker owns The Mix music club and bar on the St. The first round of federal coronavirus relief included the employee-focused Paycheck Protection Program PPP , but with performances still impossible in many cases due to a lack of the touring acts many venues depend on, it made little sense to keep people employed.
Tucker and other venue operators throughout the country recognized the specific problems faced by live performance venues early on and banded together to seek solutions as the National Independent Venue Association NIVA. Their work produced the Save Our Stages SOS Act introduced to Congress in July, an emergency relief funding program with provisions specific to the live performance industry.
A wide range of venues, organizations, and individuals will be eligible for the new grant funds, including live performance venue operators and promoters, performing arts organizations, theatrical producers, talent representatives, movie theater operators, and some nonprofit museums.
Tucker pointed out that potentially months of uncertainty remain, with already-suffering venues nearing the brink. Stipulations intended to focus on smaller, locally based venues include a limit of or fewer full-time employees and locations operating in no more than 10 states. Applications are not yet open, though the SBA is preparing workshops in advance of opening its two-tiered application process, expected to roll out in early- to mid-February.
The end to the pandemic seems to be in sight. More people are getting vaccinated every day. There are cars on the roads -- people out and about. Restaurants are starting to fill up again. And slowly, the lights are coming back on in performance venues here in San Antonio. But the past year has taken a toll. Turns out passing the legislation was just the first hurdle to overcome.
Watch the full episode in the video player above. When city and state mandates forced venue owners to cancel shows and close their doors in March , it meant immediate consequences for those working in the live music industry.
Jaime Ramirez is one of the countless musicians who lost work in San Antonio. Ramirez has been a local musician for 20 years. He plays keyboard and accordion for local singers and bands, including The s. He also plays piano for theater productions around town. But last summer, he saw his work for the season disappear in a day.
He says he was able to get through the summer, thanks in part to a position playing piano at a church. About three miles northwest of N. And like Ramirez, he has a marker in his memory of the moment the pandemic wreaked havoc on the industry.
Blayne Tucker is a local attorney and owner of The Mix, another St. He became one of the lead voices lobbying on behalf of the National Independent Venue Association. Tucker was able to get U.
According to Tucker, Texas has played a big leadership role in getting aid to independent venues across the country. Both Sen. Cornyn and U. Roger Williams, R-Texas, wrote a letter to congressional leadership last May.
In the letter , they urged immediate relief for performance venues. During that time, many venues across the city remained dark and empty.
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