Raising the curtain: How NJ theaters, live venues fared with SVOG relief

Ninety-one venues in New Jersey pummeled by the COVID-19 pandemic received a combined $52.2 million in federal relief from the Biden administration.

That’s part of $3.2 billion awarded to 4,220 venues across the nation by the U.S. Small Business Administration under a relief program known as the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant program.

The Biden administration set up the SVOG – a $16 billion pot of money – to assist establishments like theaters, museums, concert halls and performing arts centers that had to close their doors during the pandemic, followed by months of capacity restrictions after reopening.

They depend on ticket sales and large turnouts to generate a profit, but a months-long stay-at-home order and virtual state of lockdown, followed by limits on non-essential retail and indoor dining further slammed arts, culture and tourism, causing those profits to crater.

“The situation was dire, and our research showed 90% of independent venues would be shuttered forever without this relief,” reads a June 1 statement from Rev. Moose, who heads the National Independent Venue Association.

The program moved forward with fits and starts over the spring, and NIVA warned that the SBA’s “repeated errors and delays have endangered the very businesses and organizations the program was designed to help.”

“If we had gotten it six weeks earlier, I could have maintained and kept my employees,” said Sean Gilday, chief executive officer of talent agency Blue Raven Entertainment, which was awarded a $745,982 grant.

Those employees were let go, Gilday said, and have found employment elsewhere. The funds, nonetheless, will be useful to scale staff back up to pre-COVID levels.

“Everybody’s starting to open up and people feel confident,” he continued. “Eight months ago we were operating at about 0% of our income. Now we’re at 45%.”

Kelly Ryman, managing director at the George Street Playhouse based in the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in its namesake city, agreed. The theater moved into the NBPAC in 2019, and  got a $495,113 SVOG award.

“It helps us to have cash to produce the fall season,” she said.

The theater did virtual plays over the winter, but lacked any ticket revenue during what would typically be peak season.

“The ticket sales from the previous season helped you produce the next season, so not having the ticket revenue that we would have had in a regular season, it makes it a big challenge to be able to produce the next season,” Ryman said.

The New Brunswick Cultural Center, one of the owners of NBPAC, was awarded a $709,336 grant, while the Princeton Ballet Society, which performs out of the NBPAC,  was awarded $970,798.

Up north, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark was awarded an $8 million federal grant. The Summit-based talent agency Work Light Productions was awarded a $2.4 million grant, while AM Productions – an entertainment agency that provides “live concert events” and “breakthrough entertainment” – was awarded $1.9 million.

The South Street Theater Co., which owns the 1,319-seat Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, was awarded nearly $4.3 million in federal relief.

“It will be multiple years before we return to full financial health,” said Allison Larena, president and CEO of MPAC, who estimated that the theater suffered a $15 million hole in revenue over the past year. She said the funds would “assist us in rebuilding our theater after the devastating losses due to the pandemic.”

Count Basie Center for the Arts, a 1,568-seat theater in the Jersey Shore town of Red Bank, was awarded $5.3 million, while the 1,300-seat Bergen Performing Arts Center was awarded $3.2 million.

“Thanks to this grant, we are now preparing to welcome patrons back to our theater on Aug. 15,” reads a statement from Dominic Roncace, the bergenPAC president and CEO, who said the grant was “essential” for the nonprofit to continue its functions.

ELITE Casino Marketing Group, which handles entertainment for the state’s brick and mortar casinos, was awarded $1.2 million. 107 Productions, another entertainment agency, was awarded $917,267 from the SBA. McCarter Theatre, a 1,100-seat venue in Princeton, was awarded $1.9 million.

A similar program to SVOG was rolled out for pandemic-hit bars and restaurants, under which the federal government approved $924 million for 3,086 eateries – only 40% of the New Jersey businesses that sought funding. Under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, another flagship SBA program, the federal government approved 157,405 forgivable loans totaling $17.3 billion in 2020 for New Jersey businesses, and in 2021 approved 134,362 loans totaling roughly $8 billion.

At the state-level, the Murphy administration rolled out a litany of grants, low-interest loans and other COVID-relief for businesses.