Patterns & Paradigms | The Pattern Podcast
Patterns & Paradigms | The Pattern Podcast
Season 2 Episode 19 | The Future of the Arts and Small Theaters with Chris Silva
The Bardavon 1869 Opera House, Inc. operates the oldest continuously operating theater in the state, one of the oldest in the country right here in the Hudson Valley, as well as the region’s premiere orchestra, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and presents in venues including the Mid-Hudson Civic Center and Kingston’s Ulster Performing Arts Center. The organization offers affordable, world-class arts education programs, music, dance, theater, live in HD broadcasts, and classic films for the diverse audiences of the Hudson Valley.
This week's episode features Chris Silva, Executive Director of the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, exploring the challenges of small theaters during the pandemic and what the future holds.
We are experiencing a paradigm shift, a fundamental change in the way we usually do things. We are intentionally choosing to see the silver lining opportunity arises. We can shine a light on the things that weren't working well on those things that weren't really working at all, we can regroup reevaluate and re-engineer it's time to explore new patterns and paradigms those that inspire us to rise above the chaos and explore how the conditions of today and take us to a better tomorrow patterns and paradigms the pattern podcast from Hudson Valley pattern for progress. You're listening to season two episode 19, the future of the arts and small theaters with your host pattern, president and CEO, Jonathan Dropkin.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, and welcome to patterns and paradigms. We hope you are as inspired by the three newly elected state senators. As we were for those who are feeling a lack of optimism in the future politics, we offer exhibit a and hope you feel a bit better. Please remember to subscribe to our podcast at Apple or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. And take a moment to share an episode with a friend. This week's bubble trend, the arts. This one is complicated. If there is one sector that will take longer to come back, it is the arts and in particular live indoor events, such as the theater or concerts, think about it. They are based on hundreds, if not thousands of people being inside of a venue and pretty much sitting next to each other, will everyone have gotten a vaccine? Will everyone still wear a mask? The lobbies are not built in a way that can accommodate large crowds, let alone socially distance. Once outdoors should be better, but for this summer, here's how it works. Tours for the rock and country acts need to be assembled by now. And they have to be contracted with the venues. The venues have to say, well, how many people can we have? And then the venues need to sell tickets or the math simply doesn't work. Listen to our guests today for more on this. So far, this is a trend with hopefully a bubble that will burst and we will all get to enjoy, um, our favor rock act or Broadway show. Once again, I'm here with my partner at pattern Joe checkup. Hey Joe, what's your sense of the arts in the Hudson Valley and their need to come back?
Speaker 3:I think the arts play a critical role in the Hudson Valley, whether it's a large venue like Bethel woods, or if it's small little independent theaters like shadow land or the paramount theater in Middletown, the Bart Yvonne you pack, they all play a really important role, not just for tourism and for the hospitality industry, but for local people who are working in these venues. It's not just the person on the stage, but it's the person behind the curtain, the person selling the ticket, the person cleaning up afterward. They're their jobs. They're not super high paying jobs. You're not going to make a million dollars doing it, but it's important to the economy and it plays a role.
Speaker 2:I think for years, you've been telling me about, you know, how, when we think, what does a good main street downtown need? One of the anchor institutions has always been well, do you have a theater? You know, what do you have to draw people downtown?
Speaker 3:That's right. You know, the theater is a, uh, it's the, it's the nucleus, right? It's it's, you know, there's, there's so many activities that go on within the theater. That's not just the show. It's the, it's the energy, it's the vibe. It's the, it's the lifeblood of a main street. Um, you can have cafes and you can have restaurants and you can have bars and breweries centered in and around these places. And they all pull together and really, really create a life and creativity on the main street. And that that's the other aspect that the arts do is it, it makes people enthusiastic, um, to be creative and with, without that creative process. And without that ability to pull your creative juices together and act not only as an independent person and creativity, but as a group in creativity, um, you know, we're, we're not, we're not going to go anywhere fast.
Speaker 2:You know, there are those people that have always supported the idea of STEM, which is science, technology, engineering, and math. Correct. And then there is those people that make Stan and add an a in the middle for the arts. And so it becomes steam. And the belief has always been that the arts impact the way that your creativity, um, is allowed to evolve for the other four and that the need for the arts to come back is critical. And in fact, pattern is going to do their part. Um, this year we don't have our facility where we did our annual fundraising dinner to go back to anymore. It was an events location. We used to have 500 people from around the region, join us there. It's been sold actually to an arts entity deduction group, um, which is kind of ironic in the sense, but so we're taking our annual fundraising effort on the road and we're going to do seven small events. But one of the, the theme of those events is celebrating the arts. We're going to do our little share to try to help bring back the arts in the Hudson Valley.
Speaker 3:That'd be a great time. So I would encourage everyone to come.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they, they just have to start checking our website. It'll be great. Thanks, Joe. Thank you. Our guest today is Chris Silva. Um, patterns and paradigm has gotten to know Chris for over 20 years. The ultimate showman for that sun Valley, producer of concerts, events, guest speakers, and facilities, such as the bar Davon and Poughkeepsie, or you pack in Kingston. Chris is the only limitation to what Chris does in the arts is his own mind's capacity to say, what else can we do? I hope you'll enjoy this episode because Chris does bring up how the pandemic gave him the opportunity to think about programming involvement of others in that programming. And it really is special from a special person. We hope you enjoy the episode. Hey, Chris, good to see you again. I mean our guests, our listeners can't see you, but I can see you a little bit here as we record in zoom. How are you fairing during the pandemic?
Speaker 3:Hey, Jonathan, uh, uh, good to see you as well. Uh, you know, fine. I mean, you know, w we've been healthy, my family is all healthy. Um, uh, you know, we've been able, as we'll talk about to keep the, uh, the work aspect of my life pretty together and, uh, you know, frankly, um, you know, I've made a career working nights and weekends, and I haven't worked a night or a weekend for over a year and I don't it's okay. I don't mind,
Speaker 2:You know, for the people that don't know, you were talking about someone who spent decades working nights and weekends. So when, when Chris says, Hey, I don't mind for the past year, this is a guy that works really hard. So, um, so for our listeners, then why don't you explain just what you do, I'm very familiar, but you know, the facilities you manage and, and give, why don't you just give people a little background?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no happy to, yeah. Since 1994, um, I've been the executive director of the opera house in Poughkeepsie, New York, which is a 944 seat, uh, gorgeous old theater built in the 1869 oldest, continuously operating theater in New York. And we also, uh, own and manage the ulcer performing arts center in Kingston, New York, which is a 1927 vintage theater seats, 1500 people. And, um, and lastly we own, we don't own them. We manage them present the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, which is the region's oldest professional symphony orchestra, uh, celebrated 60th year in 2019. We're hoping to get 61 or two in there. One of these days for guys we've been stalled in the middle of 60 and 61. But yeah, we, we do about a hundred events a year, um, uh, bringing in about a hundred thousand people to our communities. And, um, including a lot of children, we do a big education program, which is 20,000 kids every year. So we're very, uh, active organization in two cities. And I work a lot of nights and weekends as a result of all that activity. I mean, a hundred shows, you know, it was only 50 weeks. So
Speaker 2:Yes. So do the math. I know. And it's like it is. And it's in a strange way. I will also say that my life was more complicated and yet not having to drive through nine counties to do my job, everything now done via zoom is actually been less wear and tear for me, but for many other people, you and I know they had to go to work every day and this has not been fun. So no,
Speaker 3:No, no, no many people had to go to work every day. And, uh, you know, I can't even, you know, people in grocery stores, for instance, you know, who are kind of like forgotten because they're not, you know, they don't work in the health industry. I can't even, you know, it's unbelievable what they've had to do. Um, but yeah, yeah, that's, that's my story. And, um, you know, I've been working, it isn't like I stopped work. It's just, uh, I stopped doing what I usually do, you know, which is put on a lot of performances. So, um, so that's been strange. We'll get to doing things. I mean, we haven't been putting on performances. They just haven't been live because we can't do them live so
Speaker 2:Well. No, you're, you're, you're one of those theaters and we'll get to that in a little bit. It's funny you bring up the, uh, the person who you know, is in, uh, you know, stocking food. I've made Dale, who is the guy in my little supermarket where I live in rock Hill and Sullivan CA I've made them into kind of a folk hero. He doesn't even know it yet, but the guy has not missed a day of work. Since this started, the guy's sitting there going my job is to make certain Jonathan that you have food and, and how under appreciated someone like that was plenty COVID and now you got to see how important he was. Of course, the healthcare workers, of course, you know, everyone else. But so Chris, what was the moment when the pandemic started for you? You must have had things booked every week.
Speaker 3:Oh my God. It's I have a good story on March 5th, which as you may remember, was seven days before the door slam shut. We were in New York city with 50 Hudson Valley Philharmonic musicians stuffed into a recording studio that wasn't built for 50 musicians. We were arm-in-arm. I mean, it was barely room was six French performers. We were rehearsing for five hours in this environment, um, uh, for a show the next night at the beacon theater where we were back backing Jane Birkin, uh, Charlotte Gainsborough and Iggy pop of all people. Um, and that, and all we do, you know, it was a weird, it was a really weird combination. It was a great show, but it was weird. Um, you know, all we knew back then back whack away before it been closed was don't wash your hands, right. Um, you know, keep your distance, but wasn't, we hadn't gotten into the words of, you know, six foot distance. And none of that had happened. Social distancing wasn't even no expression yet. You know? And then we did a show for 2,500 people at the beacon theater and, uh, loaded it out, you know, as well. So here we are acting like everything is fine for 48 hours in New York city. We get back on the Monday and we're talking about what's we see happening and we go, Oh, I think it's going to be, I think we'll be okay. I think people are still doing shows. And then, you know, 24 hours later, I said to Steven, I think we're going to have to close. This is not sounding good. And then on the, uh, like the 11th, just before Cuomo announced it, I started a press release about closing and I, and we had a show on the 13th, Brit Floyd, a show, you know, a touring show from Europe, um, who called us and said, what do you mean you're not going to do the show and it's fine in Europe, everything's fine in England. And I'm like, Oh, really just wait. And, um, when you said,
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm so disappointed. I, I, there, there, there, there in Kingston,
Speaker 3:What was bad was in Kingston. Cause I think it was the day before. And I said, I'm sorry, I, I just don't see, this is not going to happen. And then sure enough, you know, by six o'clock that night Cuomo closed it down. So we had an inkling, but you know, a week before we're jammed in a teeny little room with 60 people rehearsing for hours and hours. And you know, what also is ironic about that? Just down the hall, there was another rehearsal of the almond brothers tribute that was going to be a massive square garden, jammed with musicians. We knew a lot of them and three of them got sick. Three of them got fired and one
Speaker 2:Of them is one of them is Larry Campbell who, you know, you
Speaker 3:Know, Larry Campbell from Woodstock. Um, he said, I I'm sure I got sick at that tribute because you know, it, it happens. But we were in the same building down the hall, you know, it's so weird. And Chris would be nobody, you know,
Speaker 2:You got to learn a little bit about this when I was working at Bethel woods, but you're booking for six months a year.
Speaker 3:Oh, easily over a year. Over a year. Yeah. Well we're actually, right now we have shows booked for a year from now because you know, obviously we had to move everything, but, uh, no, we'd book a year more in advance all the time. So it's been, it's been weird. The only positive about it, if, you know, in terms of my business is that we're all in it together. We all know this is happening. It isn't like I'm going to get some agent on the phone. He's going to be mad because I got a shovel. He knows he has to move the show. Everybody has to move the show. So it was, it was easier than it would have been if it was like, just my decision, you know, it was the world it's shut down. So yeah, it was, it was a, it was a lot of moments in the midst of this.
Speaker 2:Were you able to keep people employed? Did you have to apply for state or federal and H how did you,
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, we, we, we have 18 full-time people, um, and, uh, three of us has have remained full-time working because we're going after all those federal state corporate foundation grants, um, and 15 people have been furloughed, but they're all working. We're all paying, we're paying them all one to three days a week, depending on what they're doing, maintaining their health insurance, and because of the federal support and in particular, in the state, well between unemployment and the stimulus payments, everybody has been kept whole through this entire thing, you know, with some blips along the way, God knows, you know, the biggest blip, the orange blip that went away finally, you know, cleared the way for some clarity to return. And, um, you know, what, what Biden just did in terms of pushing, uh, allowing unemployment through labor day is just a gift. You know, I mean, we're, we're, we would be, we'd really be a bat. The, our employees would really be in bad shape. Now, obviously I have over a hundred part-time employees and unfortunately I wasn't able to help them. Um, I was able to find some money for the Philharmonic musicians, um, to about 30 grand to help cover their losses in March. Cause we had, you know, we've had to cancel their concerts so close in, um, to try and help, you know, and also allow them to maintain unemployment, you know, the payments were, were carefully made. And um, so, you know, honestly I feel that we've been very, very fortunate. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that, you know, the barred Yvonne, you pack the Philharmonic, there much loved institutions that have been around for, you know, part of one's 150 years old. Right. But, um, you know, I think that that, that has a lot to do with why for foundations, local foundations, corporations, and individuals, you know, our membership, we have like 2000 members. Um, they continue to up there, you know, to pay their membership dues, even though there's no shows, you know, they're not getting any advantage, you know, they're just supporting us cause they, you know, believe in what we're doing. So that's been huge. And I can't tell you the federal support, you know, those PPPs and you know, all those acronyms that we learned very quickly. I mean, that's almost a million dollars, you know, between all the government, things that have been made avail and the save our stages grant, which you know, is famously, was famously launched poorly. Uh, about two weeks ago, three weeks ago, it finally was launched successfully. This passed a week ago today actually. And we were ready, very ready for that grant. So we got ours in the first three hours of it opening. So we have a good chance of seeing a lot of money, you know, relatively speaking. Um, you know, if it holds out, you know, if there's still money left by the time our turn comes up, but I think there will be. So those things have been critical. Totally critical.
Speaker 2:So, so back up a bit, when you say the save our stages, um, I'm not familiar and maybe some of my listeners, what, what happened because a lot of the rollout during this whole thing was there's no playbook. There's nothing that people use. So what happened with save our stages?
Speaker 3:Yeah. We'll save our stages was created by, um, I can't remember where that, I think these in the Midwest like Cleveland, this guy moose is his nickname, um, which is an excellent name for somebody that's trying to find money. Um, he created, uh, he created a nonprofit organization called Neeva national independent venue association. Um, we've got about 3000 members, um, theaters, just like the and new pack across the country who were facing disaster as a result of this, you know, not every theater is as fortunate as the Bard of honor, you pack to have this great history and et cetera, et cetera. You know, some of them don't have that, you know, or have whatever or maybe they're newer or whatever it is. Um, so he created this organization and hired lobbyists and man, they worked the federal government and they got, um, what's her well besides, um, Chuck Schumer who was on board from the get-go Brandy, Jill Brown. I'm sure. I, I, she wasn't really directly involved, but, uh, Amy Klobuchar was, and she, she was very off cause he thought it was a national thing. She was very into it. Anyway, they brought it, uh, they, they made it a part of the 1.9 trillion. Um, it's a$15 billion package for venues. Now. It expanded into museums, uh, comedy clubs, uh, movies, theaters, as well as venues and promoters and booking agents, even of all things even can go to this thing. So it it's a big, big attempt, you know, honestly, since the WPA of FDR, there has been nothing like this ever, ever for arts organizations and individuals in America, not even close. And it, and it's it, it bodes well. I mean, if the, if Congress or at least most of Congress can, can see their way that 15 billion it's worth 15 billion to keep the, you know, performing arts venues in America open, that's good. That's a good acknowledgement, you know, to make. So, um, so anyway, they, they created this grant program through this SBA. Um, now the SBA, uh, you know, the small business association is not set up to give grants to arts organizations at all. You know, they don't say don't know anything about horse organizations. So getting the, um, guidelines written and the questions, you know, this again was part of Neeva, moose, Neva, and us. We were all part of it too, to get to, to give, send questions to the SBA about questioning how their guidelines are being written, because they have to understand how we operate, you know, and it was, it was fascinating, but you know, I have to say it all worked out or, I mean, nobody's gotten a nickel yet, but what the grant application that Emory just went through, it took her about three hours. Um, she said it was so much better than what she anticipated it being. Uh, and we had to download and I should say upload so much documentation, which makes sense. I mean, the SBA wants to see the dollars and cents want to see the contracts. They want you to prove that you do what you do, which is fine with me because I don't want that money going to fraud to fraudsters. You know, I want it to go to a performing arts center. So, so it it's, so that's just part of it. And they also created a$45 billion, uh, grant, uh, uh, application for restaurants across the country, which I think will disappear fast because there's a lot more restaurants and there are theaters. And, um, so these little, not little, these large grants have really been it's, it's going to save us. It really literally is going to save us. And also more importantly, put us in a position when we finally reopened that's stronger than we were when we closed, which is great because we all have to recover from this, you know, and it's, it's weird, it's it's disorienting, but we're focusing on the future in an optimistic way.
Speaker 2:All right. So, so you had your weekends and evenings back a little bit. Did it give you any time to reflect a little bit about the, the future of programming, the future of theaters, you know, and, and, and, you know, for our listeners, let, I, I just can't say enough good things about the bar Davon and you pack and how they are. They are anchor institutions for the communities in Kingston and Poughkeepsie, but press, I mean, has this given you an opportunity to say, Hey, maybe we should do something a little differently?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's funny, I mean, or I should say it's odd. You may know this, uh, Randy Fleischer who was the conductor of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic for 28 years, um, died very suddenly. And hor was horrible here for all, you know, rural crushed by it, uh, last August of 2020. And it was not COVID related. He had a, uh, uh, undiagnosed heart attack. I mean, it just, boom, he was dead in a minute. And, um, and he was loved, I mean, 28 years, he was the conductor. So, so that was a shock and it really made us take a deep breath and a step back, for instance, how do you proceed? You have to replace the conductor, but generally speaking, you replace a conductor by, um, you know, going through a long process, including a lot of in person beats and stuff with potential and, you know, national search. And we just were not prepared to do that, especially all on zoom was only three full-time people. So we met with the orchestra and decided to hire five, uh, guest conductors and our focus with those guests conductors that there are, would that day be either women or people of color, except for one guy who's a member of the orchestra who is going to conduct the opening, uh, concert, the principal of, uh, uh, percussionist. But he's also a conductor in New York city and a great guy because the first concert it's going to really reflect on the last year and on Randy's death and on COVID I on know black lives matter on everything that we can jam into this opening concert. And we wanted to have a member of that orchestra conduct that concert so that it was all just in the family, so to speak. But the other four, uh, we currently, we have a black man, a black woman, an Asian woman, and a white woman set to go to conduct these concerts. Now that's the tip of the iceberg, the 10 or 11 soloists for whether they're singers or violin players or cellos or whatever they're doing. They're also people of color or women. All of our programming is very focused on women. Composers works that deal with socially relevant themes, et cetera, and that, and we were going in that direction or with Randy at all times. And we were doing a lot of very, uh, um, exciting programming, but now we just feel such an urgency. This is the one part of our business that we can kind of control. You know, we, we decide on the repertory, you know, it doesn't just come in the door. So it's been, so it's exciting. And, and it's, you know, it's kind of risky, but not really completely. We're still going to give the audience Beethoven and Mozart and those people, but they're going to see a lot of new faces of different hues than they're used to. And I think that's really important. And we're also going to do, you know, we do that anyway with our programming because it's the nature of the beast. You know, I mean, artists are come from everywhere. Um, but we are, we are, we are focusing on that, Jonathan, um, on trying to be as relevant as we can be with everything we do. And you can't, you know, you're not going to do that with Brit Floyd, you know, the pink Floyd light show, rock band. It's just going to be fun. Okay, fine. That's okay. I can't figure out how to make that socially relevant, but, um, uh, like for instance, we're, we're, we're looking to bring in, like, we're bringing pretty sure we've got Patty Smith's coming now and, and doing a sync call. She calls words in music and we've encouraged him let her speak from now. She doesn't have to read a book. She wrote two years ago. She can talk about what's happening right now. It'd be fine with us. Uh, David Sedaris is going to be coming again in the fall. He always talks about what's happening right now. So, you know, we're, we're hoping to have, you know, to be more of a focal point for the community to, to get, you know, besides the uplift of beautiful music and rock and roll or whatever you like, you know, whatever, the kind of thing, dance, whatever it is, film, if we can add some, you know, coherent, socially relevant programming, we'll, we will, that's our goal and that's, what's changed.
Speaker 2:That's pretty impressive. And that's pretty incredible the way that you've pivoted to incorporate the, the moment in time that we're in. Um, what will all the facilities open or do you still, I mean, so let, let's talk about the two principle ones. So there's you packing Kingston? Are you still under seventy-five percent or 50% for a while, and then yeah. How, how is this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I actually, I think Cuomo just today, you know, he just said everything's open fully except theaters or like, yeah. Um, but, but I think I, I didn't read the fine print. Uh, I think he went up to 33% or something today, you know, except for, I dunno, it doesn't matter. He hasn't, we have to be full that little attached to your question. We have to open it a hundred percent because, um, for a lot of reasons, but not the least of which being that I can't pay the artist's fees unless I can sell enough tickets, not to endure all the other expenses that come with, um, would putting on a show, you know, if an artist costs$50,000 and you can only sell 500 tickets, you know, what are you going to do? You know, you can't charge$150 for every ticket. So, you know, it's so, so we're proceeding as though both venues will open fully in August. Um, we're booking accordingly. We have a bunch of shows booked August, September, October, right into next year. Um, and we're actively doing others, you know, including the Philharmonic opening the end of September. Again, the Philharmonic is another, you know, we have to be able to fit 50 or 60 musicians on the stage. So if we can't, aren't allowed to do that. We can't do a concert. So, you know, we're, so we're just acting what I've been seeing. And we've all been seeing since January or January 21st let's say is, um, is a rapid, uh, you know, an, uh, a rapid increase in people getting vaccinated, um, in, in restrictions being pulled back. I mean, there's a real, real push to reopen and, you know, hopefully enough people will get vaccinated. I hate seeing the time story today that we doubt will hit her community. I'm like, why do you even have to say that? Why can't you just be a little more positive? You know? Um, so, you know, we're going to have to live with this forever. I'm like, okay, thank you for ruining my day. Um, so, you know, look, if everybody has to wear a mask, you know, until they sit or whatever the heck the deal is, we'll do it, but we can't really open halfway. It's just, it's not possible. And so if they push us, if that doesn't happen, you know, and I'm not speaking alone, I I've talked to colleagues up and down the East coast every week, we have a meeting, uh, especially the guys up North who do Broadway, national tours of Broadway. They've been told that, um, Hamilton and lion King will be on the road as of September, because if necessary, those shows can work to reduce house because they're paid for 15 times over, they've already made their money. So they're willing, they're willing to lose a couple of bucks to get on the road. Um, but all the shows on Broadway, they can't do that. I mean, the expense is way too much. So, so it's interesting, you know, there's also look at the South of our country. If you're, you know, if you want to go to Florida or Texas, you probably can fly, play a full house. You know, I mean, they've been, they've been pretty much 50% open since December. We have a colleague in Florida, um, who who's been running his 1800 seat theater with 900 people. And I'm like, wow, that's just seems terrifying to me. But, um, you know, at, before vaccinations, this was before vaccinations even hit, you know, you know, I, you know, Florida is one of those States that says like, I, yeah, Texas, you know, what are you people thinking? Um, anyway, so yeah, we have to open fully and we're going to open both of them and hopefully it'll be fine. All right. So let, let's broaden the discussion a bit about, um, because I think you've alluded to it several times and, uh, you know, I I'll talk a little bit later at the conclusion of this, about what pattern's doing this year, um, to try to help the arts out. But, um, what I would like to say since I've known you for years, that the arts are people underestimate the importance of the arts to children, to adults, to communities, and the presence of you pack the bar, Davon the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, but I'd rather hear it from you. How important are the arts
Speaker 4:Pretty,
Speaker 3:Pretty, pretty darn important, but they're, well, you know, just the, The economics, I mean, we spent off about 11 on top of buying a ticket and it's, and it's, uh, that, so, so just the economic benefit alone is huge. And, you know, we feel every single restaurant in town whenever we have a show, I mean, that's just wonderful, but our education are again, about 20 years ago, we made a really concerted effort to make sure that our program for kids we're the most sophisticated, uh, intelligent that they never spoke down to children, but they only spoke up to them. And, and, and so those programs have been super important to teachers in terms of how they can relate to their children. For instance, we just did a sugar skull that we just did this, uh, stream, uh, cause that's all we can do. Now. I have a show called sugar's call, which celebrates the day of the dead Mexico's day of the dead. We had 4,000 kids watch this thing and the teachers were writing us letters of divert were practically crying. They were so happy that there was finally some programming for their Hispanic classwork classmates. So that the kids who, who speak Spanish as a first language, actually had a program that was about them, you know, that spoke of their traditions and their, you know, heritage, et cetera. And we do that kind of thing a lot. And that's kind of vital to, you know, there's another show that we put out called step Africa, which is about stepping, which is a traditional African-American dance form created out of, um, uh, fraternities and sororities and clubs and black and all black colleges, um, you know, like a long time ago. So that had an immediate impact on, on African-American audiences, uh, kids in school, stuff like that is, um, you know, you can't, you can't replace it with something else. I mean, it's gotta be a performing artist, but it's going to give you that experience. And, um, so we're very proud of it, you know, and that's, and that's kind of encapsulates the, the importance besides just the spiritual aspect of it that, you know, when you go to hear your favorite artist, whether that's, you know, Tony Bennett or Carlos Santana, you're going to get a huge, huge, spiritual uplift from having that experience. And that's the advantage of my job really is that I get to have those experiences every week to have some great artists do an incredible performance that just moves you in different ways for different reasons. You know? So, um, that's, that's really
Speaker 2:Chris, wasn't it in the beginning of the pandemic that in Italy that was so hard hit that there were people opening up their windows and singing like opera outside in the street just to boost morale. I,
Speaker 3:It was beautiful. It was beautiful. You've made you think like everybody in Italy knows opera. Wow. And they're singing in a champion. No, I know it's hilarious. Well, you know, that happened in a city in New York city too. Um, cause that wonderful Broadway performer, um, I can't remember his name now. Uh, uh, he lived like, uh, on the same block as one of the hospitals. So when workers would leave, he busted his window open and sing, you know, acapella, um, you'll never walk alone, you know, that's awesome, you know, or climb every mountain or whatever. And, you know, just as he did every night. And as a matter of fact, we're playing a, um, one of the pieces of the orchestra is going to be doing this season is called seven o'clock shout, which is all about, you know, opening the doors and windows for the workers, the essential workers going home and having a community, give shout outs, bang their pots and pans together. And, you know, yeah. And that's one of the beautiful things that happened, you know, obviously during this whole nightmare is, you know, humanity.
Speaker 2:Well, I always thought it was interesting that, you know, there were people that believed in STEM education, which is science, technology, education, math, I think, or engineering and math. And then there are people like me and Leonardo DaVinci who are actually steam guys where you insert the a for arts, right? Because it just causes the mind to think very, very differently about science and technology and everything. There's something about the presence of the arts, which you have been so, so relevant, so important in the Hudson Valley in terms of ensuring that there is that component. And I think that's part of bringing us back is your time. And hopefully the money you were describing enables you to do this. Um, if you ha you have this chance to, you know, we don't want to, I don't want to go back to the way it was. I want to think about the way it could be. And I think, you know, the arts and, and let's interpret that very broadly so that it could be painting. It could be music. It could be, uh, the re the spoken word as a form of art. Um, I think there's this amazing opportunity for us to think differently about the arts and, um, you know, it, it, it, I'm, I'm glad you cleared this up for me, because I had heard that the lion King wicked Hamilton, we're going to be able to open, but the point is that they'd been paid for many times over, I think what you said earlier, but that newer productions, how, how did they do this? I mean, whether it's a new musician or,
Speaker 3:You know, they have to, you know, it was like the metropolitan opera, you know, how do you get that gigantic machine? I mean, they have 150 people on the stage, you know, together, uh, you know, the football field size stage there. Right. So, um, but yeah, I mean, all the unions in New York city are trying to figure this out, you know, from the actors to the stage, hands to the musicians, they're all trying to figure it out. The bottom line is vaccination is key of course, first, uh, I'm sure that will be a given in terms of all performers period, but you're not gonna be able to do that necessarily with the audience. So, you know, showing, uh, showing a pass at the door that you've been vaccinated, I suppose, could be a way that's the slowest possible way to get people animals into theater is to make them stop show me this thing. That's got print this small on it, but at any rate, um, and I know New York state has created an app. Uh, that's could hopefully expedite that. And you, you know, Ticketmaster will probably come up with some app for, you know, enter if you're vaccinated, you know, or something. I have no idea. Um, yeah, I mean, I don't, you know, I don't know how Broadway is, is a really hard, you know, Broadway, the worst, the hardest part. I mean, look at those lobbies Broadway, there is no lobby. It's like a past, you know, and so what do you do during an admission? You know, everybody stands up and goes to a bar that's Cheney, you know, I mean, it's like, so, uh, you know, it's almost as though everybody's going to have to sort of take their chances. I mean, if we open fully and you're vaccinated, then you could feel some more secure, but if you're not vaccinated, why would you go anywhere? Why would you, why would you go into a crowded lobby? It just makes no sense, but you know, what can we do
Speaker 2:For those listening that was Chris silvers, uh, uh, plead with people to go get vaccinated, which we all should do. Um, Chris you've over the years, you have taught me a lot about like the touring acts like live nation, you know, so it's a venue has to rely, it may have its own idea of who it wants, but if you're relying on live nation, which controls so many of the touring acts, then don't, they have to first back up and go, who's even willing to go out on tour.
Speaker 3:You're absolutely right. You're absolutely, who's going to get on the bus, you know, with 20 other guys, you know, uh, I mean, like I said, you know, you don't see Bob Dylan announcing any dates. I mean, you know, and he is one, he's a road warrior. I mean, he does a hundred shows a year. And when he turns 80 in two weeks, I think, and, um, and he's going to go out again. So it would really duct Jonathan would Bob Dylan announces dates, then probably things are happening again. But yeah, I mean, Bethel woods totally is a live nation venue. And so it's back up in Saratoga. So they completely are booked for the most part. I mean, I think Bethel does some of their own shows, but, um, by, by live nation, we are not, I mean, we are not controlled by any, any major industry. All the, you know, we make our own choices. We have book shows with live nation and with Bowery presents and with AEG, with all the big companies that are out there, but that's not, we don't have to depend on that, but you're so right. Um, you know, the beach boys, how are they going to all get together? They don't want you to old guys. They can all get together in the bus. You know? I mean, all those acts young act doesn't even really matter who it is. It's like, you have to, you know, it's not even just getting in the bus, you have to get out, go to a hotel that you've never been in. Hope that it's clean, you know, go, go to the venue, hope that there's food. That's good. And that, you know, hope, hope, hope. I mean, before it it's always hard. The touring is one of the hardest things. Period. Some people romanticize it like, Oh, it's so romantic. It's not romantic. It's, it's hard, hard work going to a different town in a boss. You know? I mean, some artists having a little better, a little more luxurious, but it's still a grind. You know, it's still getting into a new space almost every day, going through this routine, staying up late, eating food that you don't know where it came from, et cetera, et cetera, you know, and that's why we treat our, or try to treat ours like absolute gold so that, you know, I we've had artists take pictures of our hospitality to say, send us to the next venue. This is what we want it to look like. You know, stuff like that. We really bend over backwards. Cause we really do know how hard it is and you want them to be happy. You know, when they're in your venue, you don't want them to be off. You know, it's just, these people treat me great. So, well, yeah, it's hard. Thanks for spending some time with us. I know that half of the entire Hudson Valley, we do hope you're 100% back at 100% open, um, the arts, um, all that you do and all your facilities and thinking about it contributes so much to why people want to live and visit the Hudson Valley. So thanks again, Chris. You're very welcome. You're very welcome. Take care. Thank you for tuning into patterns and paradigms the pattern podcast. For more information about this episode, visit our website pattern for progress.org/podcast.
Speaker 1:[inaudible].