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Foreshadowing?
NYSTI’s Jan. 2010 production of And Then There Were
None.
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Final
Act?
As
the New York State budget cuts continue to take their toll,
it’s looking particularly grim for the New York State Theatre
Institute. So grim, in fact, that it may very well be curtains
for NYSTI if funding needs aren’t met—and soon. NYSTI’s troubles
became very public with the publication, last April, of a
highly critical report by the Office of Inspector General,
a report that led to the resignations of the entire NYSTI
board and the retirement of founder and producing director
Patricia Snyder. As it stands now, the fiscal gap for NYSTI
is $200,000; state funding for the theater officially runs
out as of Dec. 31.
“We’re
riding on a wing and a prayer,” said David Bunce, the company’s
current producing director, when asked how prospects looked
for meeting their funding needs in such a narrow timeframe.
Bunce said that he is aware of the apprehension and cynicism
that’s been generated about putting any more funding towards
the theater, and how it has affected public perceptions. Bunce
added that he knows taxpayers don’t want to see their dollars
poured into an institution only to watch it go belly-up in
the coming months. However, he argued, if this is the attitude
taken by the public at large, NYSTI will be shut down for
good.
Bunce remains hopeful about the theater’s plight, though he
acknowledges the urgency of the situation. “Most importantly,
we need to get everyone on the same page about this; corporate,
public and private [donors].” In order to survive, NYSTI will
need community commitment as well as a show of support from
the state—a level of support that has not, to this point,
been forthcoming. It was now-lame duck Gov. David Paterson’s
administration that began the phasing out of state funds to
NYSTI almost two years ago when a re-merger with the Egg was
proposed, long before the IG report made NYSTI’s position
much worse. (The merger idea was subsequently dropped.) NYSTI
are currently utilizing every outlet they can to get the message
out about their need for support.
“NYSTI
has not received funds in the past because we are a theater,
[but because] we are largely centered around education,” Bunce
said. And, indeed the educational mission of NYSTI is unique.
“We work with teachers, see what books are being used in classrooms
and choose our shows one year in advance accordingly. How
many state agencies do that?”
Bunce also pointed out that the last chunk of funding NYSTI
received from the state was $1.5 million—about half of what
they’ve received in the past for a year’s operations—and that
if the theater tried to carry on the same way it has in the
past on that funding, it would prove impossible.
NYSTI has proposed that the state provide 50 percent of their
budget, and that the rest would be met by fundraising; there
has been no response to this proposal. Currently, the ranks
of NYSTI employes have shrunk from 28 to 15. Bunce added,
“All of these people . . . have taken on second and third
jobs, or have taken over the jobs of people who have left.”
In the event of the theater going under in its current incarnation,
Bunce suggested that there may be something else on the horizon.
“I’ve
talked with Philip Morris from Proctors, as well as the Sage
Colleges President, Susan Scrimshaw, about collaborating together,”
Bunce said. “We are ‘The Little Engine That Could’! I’m still
hopeful.”
—Dana
Kowalski
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