May 3rd, 2021

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo

New York State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo,

We write to you on behalf of nearly 300 independent venues across New York State. We believe local,
independent venues are vital to the health and survival of arts and culture in New York State. Since the
onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our venues have been the first to close and remain the last to open. We
thank the members of your reopening task force for taking the time to meet with us in recent months and
we are grateful for the ongoing work with your team. However, our primary concerns and requests remain
unfulfilled. The broad strokes reopening announcement at today’s press conference, which lacked any
substantive operational guidelines, further underlines the urgent need for us to clearly articulate these
concerns directly to you.

We respectfully request the following:

● A clear roadmap to reopening:

○ Most other states and many countries have released long-term reopening plans tied to
public health metrics. Our industry requires a 90-day onramp to a full and successful
reopening in a meaningful way. It takes time to do the work required to book tours, entice
audiences and tourists, and begin to ramp up the economic engine of New York State's arts
industry.

Unlike live sporting events, which rely on sponsorships and television viewership, our
industry depends on both live artists and live audiences. Booking regional and national
touring acts takes at least 6-8 weeks of lead time and requires certainty of market
conditions for artists and agents to sign contracts with New York venues. Neither of these
conditions are being met with the current short-term decision-making schedule.

As you personally have placed arts and culture at the forefront, essential to the state's
recovery, we ask for your support of our sector with a clear plan. This, in turn, enables us to
support the State and our fellow New Yorkers.

● Advanced notification of announced guidance and an explanation of the operational and scientific
logic behind it:
 ○ We ask that the decision-making process behind any new guidance involves our sector in a
more robust and transparent way. We are experts at solving complex operational issues and,
despite our collaboration with your team, we have not seen our feedback integrated in the
final guidelines. We are ready, willing, and able to contribute to these decisions in a
meaningful way.

Further, when new guidelines are reached, we need to be notified no less than 12 hours
before public announcements are made to allow for sector feedback, adequate preparation,
and planning. New York State's current pace and method of guidance release are creating
uncertainty in our industry and fostering a culture of confusion among members and
patrons. Most recently, we have been notified of several substantive operational changes via
press releases, which are accompanied by no operational guidance, forcing us to engage in
speculation until we are able to obtain verbal guidance from a member of your team, which
we then synthesize and relay to members. This is a process that can rob our members of
days of precious business operational clarity and can not continue.

● Allow us to support your vaccine initiatives:

○ NYIVA stands ready to collaborate with the State on vaccine efficacy and safety messaging
campaigns. We are aware that increasing the number of New Yorkers who are vaccinated is
good for New York State, good for New Yorkers, and good for our businesses.

Many of our members are eager to lend their spaces for pop-up vaccine clinics in our
communities and share the weight and credibility of our voices within those communities.

● Measured risk:

○ No activity, whether crossing the street or getting a vaccine, is a 100% risk-free endeavor.

We support science-driven public health policies and ask the State to form a risk
assessment metric that would allow venues and patrons to make reasonable, informed
choices rooted in transparent science. This public health assessment should be balanced
with the dire economic position our sector finds itself in and the prospects of culture in New
York.

A brief illustration of our economic situation:

● 44% of our venues will continue to lose money until 75% operational
capacity is surpassed. Much like Broadway, for some venues, opening
before 100% capacity is permitted is not financially viable.
● On average, each venue generates $5 million a year in economic output for
New York State.
 ● 46% of respondents to an internal NYIVA poll were not willing or able to
open up at a loss and may need to close.

Calculated risks have been made to enable the much broader opening of various
environments deemed to be culturally important, such as sporting events, restaurants, and
museums. Independent venues are no less culturally significant and should not be treated
as such.

● 12 feet of performer distancing brought down to 6 feet for tested/vaccinated performers:

○ With tested and vaccinated performers, 12 feet seems to be an excessive amount of

distancing. It is also crippling for smaller venues. We respectfully request for this guidance
to be amended to 6 feet.

New York State's independent venues are critical to the economic health and cultural viability of New York
State, both for-profit and non-profit. We are no more or less important than other cultural institutions or
businesses and we kindly ask that we be treated as such. We possess unparalleled operational expertise
and look forward to being respected, valued, and included in the State’s efforts to reopen in a model that is
safe and economically viable.

Respectfully,

The NYIVA Re-opening Task Force