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New York City Governor Says Live Events May Return Sooner Than Expected
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his excitement for a new public-private partnership called “New York Arts Revival.” New York Arts Revival is a three-phase plan focused on bringing back live shows to the city as early as Feb. 4.
Phase one of the project will consist of residents receiving free-viewings by way of state-wide pop-up concerts. Some of these concerts will be headlined by big names such as Hugh Jackman, Chris Rock, Amy Schumer and Renée Fleming, among others.
The second phase will kick off a pilot program addressing the proper ways to hold socially distant and safe performances for the near future. The partnership will work closely with the Mellon Foundation, a large supporter of art programs around the country, to fund artists, creatives and community art groups through grant programs.
Governor Cuomo believes New York City is not New York without Broadway. Therefore, this plan to find alternative ways to relaunch live events, comes with knowing a large part of New Yorkers still will remain unvaccinated.
As a result, the state will heavily rely on pop- up rapid testing sites, where residents would get a mandatory test before heading to a theater, sporting event or even a restaurant.
The plan will progress after the Department of Health completes its contact tracing results, from last week’s Buffalo Bills football game. The Bills game hosted and tested over 6,000 fans as an experiment to what the future might hold.
