Equity in the News

NEW YORK — Every weekday at 3 p.m., leaders from across one of the world's great cities for the arts join a conference call to talk about an ever-expanding catastrophe. Made up of organizations as grand as Carnegie Hall and as small as Queens Theatre, the Cultural Institutions Group discusses everything from staff furloughs to now-vacant spaces that could be lent to hospitals overburdened by the novel coronavirus.

Streaming and video-captured options for shuttered shows could be more than a stopgap solution.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate finally passed the largest emergency aid package in U.S. history in a 96-0 vote. And today, that $2 trillion stimulus bill (which you can read in full here) was subsequently approved by the House of Representatives. It will now head to President Donald Trump’s desk, where it is expected to quickly be signed.

Entertainment industry union leaders are applauding Congress for today’s passage of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill, part of which expands key benefits for hundreds of thousands of industry workers who have lost jobs because of the coronavirus shutdown of film, TV and theater productions across the country.

The House of Representatives passed the $2 trillion stimulus package on Friday, even as lawmakers said another rescue package would be needed.

Mary McColl, Executive Director of Actors' Equity Association, the national labor union representing professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, released the following statement following regarding the CARES Act, which has now passed the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The $2 trillion stimulus bill passed by the Senate amid the coronavirus pandemic includes a boost in unemployment pay, but a key provision of the bill covers those with a firm promise of employment, and that is expected to help Broadway, which went dark two weeks ago.

Actors’ Equity, the union representing actors and stage managers in live theater, is praising the $2 trillion Senate bill for the expansion of access to unemployment benefits that the bill will afford to arts and entertainment workers. The bill, which gives unemployed workers an extra $600 a week on top of their regular state benefits for four months — and $1,200 to most tax-payers — is expected to be approved by the House shortly.

As hundreds of thousands of people today in New York City endure from the coronavirus and its devastating economic results, one particular of the hardest-hit places has been the legendary Terrific White Way.

Some smaller arts institutions may not survive the economic effects of prolonged closures as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen.