Cultural organizations shaken by the coronavirus
Auditions had taken place and the cast for Little Lake Theatre’s production of “Amadeus” had been chosen.
Rehearsals were just a day away from starting when the venerable McMurray community theater company decided that it had to pull the plug on Peter Shaffer’s tale of intrigue and jealousy in the classical music world because of the coronavirus. It had been slated to open Little Lake’s 72nd season next month, and all the preparations that had been made for it had to be shelved.
Little Lake Theatre is hardly alone in having its plans for the next several weeks upended. Just about every arts and cultural organization in the region, from the largest and wealthiest to the smallest and most threadbare, has had to cancel events and performances, bring a premature end to exhibits, lock doors and turn off lights. It will be a financial body blow to many of these institutions, particularly those that rely heavily on paid admissions to support salaries and programming.
Andy Masich, the president and CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center, believes the pandemic poses “an existential threat” both to the History Center and other cultural institutions.
“We will all be changed by it,” he said.
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, located outside Washington in Arden, had been due to open next weekend. Now, its annual Easter Bunny Trolley and a weekend built around the cartoon character Daniel Tiger have been nixed. Regular admissions, tour groups and birthday parties have all fallen by the wayside. It will cost the Trolley Museum $60,000, according to Scott Becker, its executive director, and “if the closures go longer than May, the number will be higher.”
He continued, “Since we are a nonprofit institution, we would appreciate donations to help with these losses.”
On the other end of the spectrum is the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, a sprawling operation that includes the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the Andy Warhol Museum and the Carnegie Science Center. The doors of all four museums have been shut since March 13, and it was announced early last week that they would be closed for “an extended period.”
“In light of the grave forecasts we are receiving, we expect our museums to remain closed for another two months, and perhaps longer,” Steven Knapp, president and CEO of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, said in a statement. “We’re committed to doing our part, both to protect the health of our staff and visitors and to help slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. At the same time, to sustain our museums for the duration of the closure and beyond, we are making some very painful decisions that we would never have imagined making only a month ago.”
Those decisions include furloughing staff members who can’t work from home or whose jobs are not necessary during a lengthy shutdown. Deficits totaling $1.4 million per month are expected, and, to offset these, staff members will be taking a pay cut and $1.5 million is being drawn from the institution’s unrestricted investment funds.
Officials believe these steps will put the museums “in the best possible position to reopen once this terrible pandemic is passed,” according to Bill Hunt, chairman of the board of trustees for the Carnegie Museums.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has had to cancel scores of activities and events. Among the casualties have been classes, workshops, exhibits, the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, the Banff Mountain Film Festival, “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” and performances by Mandy Moore, Sergio Mendes, the Mavericks, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and more. Like other groups, the Cultural Trust initially announced everything would be closed until April 6. That date has now been extended to May 10.
The cessation of programming means the Cultural Trust could have its first operating deficit in its history when the year ends, perhaps totaling $1.5 million or $2 million.
“The financial angle of this is giving us pause,” said Kevin McMahon, the president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. “We’re fiscally very careful. We’re not going to disappear, assuming things get back to normal in a reasonable period of time.”
A deficit of $2 million is actually “a better-case scenario,” McMahon said. About $12 million of the Cultural Trust’s roughly $80 million annual budget comes from philanthropic contributions, and if those should fall due to an economic recession, “that would be enormous.”
Even though the Cultural District is quiet, employees of the Cultural Trust are still at work, handling cancellations, refunds and rescheduling. Preparations are still being made, for instance, for the Three Rivers Arts Festival, one of the premier events on the Cultural Trust’s calendar. It’s coming up in June, and no one is sure if it will come off as planned, or have to be canceled or postponed.
“It’s right on the edge,” McMahon said. “I don’t have a crystal ball. So far, we’re continuing to plan for the festival.”
Nevertheless, the Cultural Trust is attempting to strike a note of optimism, calling this interregnum “just intermission” on the marquees of its theaters and in messages to patrons. It is going ahead with plans this week to announce its 2020-21 Broadway series, which is expected to include a return to Pittsburgh of the musical “Hamilton.” Going ahead with the announcement is a way to remind people “there is something to look forward to and hope,” according to McMahon.
“We felt that is exactly what we need,” he said.
The Senator John Heinz History Center, which also oversees the Fort Pitt Museum in Point State Park, has had to make tough decisions. It has put a hiring freeze in place and is furloughing staff. Masich explained that 35% of the History Center’s revenue comes from admissions, event rentals and shop sales and “we’re already experiencing a cash crunch.”
“We are now projecting financial needs based on several scenarios involving prolonged facility closures,” Masich said. “Our staff and board are exploring many options with government agencies, foundations, banks, donors, and creditors, and are crafting plans that will enable us to continue to deliver History Center resources and educational programs remotely while planning for the future.”
The Washington County Historical Society is trying to remain visible through social media and other means through an extended shutdown, said Clay Kilgore, its executive director. But, “we’re like every other organization. We rely on people coming through the door to support us.”
Noting that his organization exists to teach and preserve structures and artifacts, Kilgore said the historical society’s work can’t stop even if the rest of the world is closed.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re doing the best we can,” he said. “We’re taking it one day at a time. This is our second pandemic. We went through the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and came out on the other side. And we’ll do it. One hundred years from now, people will want to know about this pandemic.”
Masich echoes those sentiments.
“This pandemic emergency is not unprecedented,” he said. “The History Center has survived (in one form or another) the Great Fire of 1845, the Spanish Flu of 1918, and the St. Patrick’s Day Flood of 1936.”
He continued, “As Pittsburgh’s oldest cultural institution, it is our duty to ensure the memory and legacy of our community is preserved for future generations. I believe we can do it.”