New York Post: ”NY to host ‘pop-up’ performances to boost ailing arts industry”

Andrew Cuomo announced that New York will host a series of “pop-up” arts performances across the state. (Photo credit: Matthew McDermott)

NY to host ‘pop-up’ performances to boost ailing arts industry
New York Post
By Bernadette Hogan and Kate Sheehy
February 8, 2021

New York City and state are finally trying to help jump-start the ailing local entertainment industry by bustin’ out a few new moves. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a program Monday that will produce star-studded “pop-up” performances everywhere from subway platforms to local parks — saying it’s a way to pump money into entertainers’ pockets while lifting New Yorkers’ spirits amid COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is offering a new free permit for outdoor street performances by struggling groups like theaters.

“When you shut down Broadway, when you shut down movie theaters, you shut down an entire economy,” the governor said at a press briefing.

“So we’re going to accelerate [their] reopening with 300 pop-up arts [performances] across the state,” he said of his administration’s plan, called NY PopsUp.

The events will not be publicly announced beforehand and will last only about 20 minutes to try to keep down crowd size, state officials said.  

They will be mainly outdoors, making “stages out of New York’s existing landscapes, including iconic transit stations, parks, subway platforms, museums, skate parks, street corners, fire escapes, parking lots [and] storefronts,’’ the state said in a statement.

Participants will include Hugh Jackman, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Rock, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kenan Thompson, Matthew Broderick and Patti Smith, the state said.

The performers will be paid with public and private funding, and the events will also be streamed online, the state said.

Asked why the state waited till now to offer this kind of help to the industry, a spokesman for the governor told The Post on Monday, “We’re getting to that point where we’re trying to accelerate the reopening while we’re getting vaccines into arms.”

The program will produce the performances over the next 100 days starting Feb. 20 at Manhattan’s Javits Center, a state vaccination hub, the governor said.

Asked about the potential reopening of Broadway, the governor did not give a timeline. But he said the state may eventually set up a system where performers and audience members are tested and cleared before heading through the doors, although still limiting theater capacity.

“There are venues that we want to start to reopen with testing and capacity limitations,’’ Cuomo said.

“And then yes, theaters, arenas — why can’t you do it with Broadway? … You can open a Broadway stage with a set percentage of occupants where people have [been] tested prior to walking into the theater, both from a public point of view and a practical point of view.”

Meanwhile, de Blasio announced that the city will begin issuing new “Open Culture” permits starting March 1. The permits, good for one day only, will allow for 50-person events and will be given to qualified “art and cultural institutions” such as theaters that receive arts funding. 

The city identified scores of street blocks in the five boroughs that will be eligible for events, including West 51 Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan and Sackett Street between Nevins Street and Third Avenue in Brooklyn. 

It will cost $20 to apply, but the permits themselves will be free, the city said.

“As you see the city come back to life, culture will lead the way,” de Blasio told reporters at a separate press conference. 

“Now, we will be bringing our cultural community back to the greatest stage in the world, the streets of New York City.”

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