The AT&T Performing Arts Center is the latest Dallas arts organization forced to take the unfortunate step of furloughs and pay cuts, amid the ongoing crisis of having revenue reduced to zero during the coronavirus.
Debbie Storey, the president and CEO of ATTPAC, which oversees five resident companies in the Dallas Arts District, said Monday that the organization will be forced to invoke by July 1 what she called temporary furloughs and salary reductions — but no layoffs. The furloughs will affect 31 full-time employees, which, paired with 33 furloughs of part-time employees in April, now extend to 58% of the ATTPAC staff.
Storey said the salaries of all remaining staff members will be reduced to 80% of regular pay. Back in April, however, she cut her own salary in half, with the rest of her leadership team taking “varying levels of pay cuts” in May.
The furloughs and pay cuts that take effect July 1 are, she said, “completely driven by the fact that we continue to have no revenue since March 13 and are facing an uncertain fall, but certainly, a few more months without revenue.”
She added: “You can’t afford to carry your full expense load. We’ve done a lot to reduce expenses. Payroll is a big part of our expense, so you can’t afford to continue carrying full expenses without revenue.”
Those being furloughed will, however, be able to retain full medical coverage and other benefits.
“We don’t know at the moment how long it will last,” Storey said. “It depends on how the outlook for national tours evolves over the coming weeks and months and how the outlook for Broadway evolves. When we can get back to revenue-generating performances on our stages, then we very much look forward to bringing them back as soon as possible.”
Storey hopes that can be as early as September, when ATTPAC is “looking at a soft opening that will present local performers,” who can at least perform in its outdoor venue known as Annette Strauss Square. Under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent directive, outdoor spaces are far less restricted than indoor spaces.
Storey said ATTPAC hopes to attract “local arts groups across the city of Dallas whose performance spaces might not be open or that need outdoor spaces or a larger venue in which to spread out.” Such groups, she said, could be “music, comedy or other local performances. We’re working to develop pricing or a cost that is affordable to them during a challenging time.”
As for indoor events, ATTPAC doesn’t have any booked until October at the earliest, when TITAS opens a new season. The Dallas Theater Center may reopen at the Wyly Theatre in October, but local theater companies continue to be affected by the ongoing national moratorium declared by the Actors’ Equity Association. Texas Ballet Theater is scheduled to perform at the Winspear Opera House in November. Author Jenna Bush Hager is scheduled to speak at the Winspear in October. The touring production of Oklahoma! Is booked for the Winspear in December, “so we still have some performances scheduled, and if things improve, we expect more performers to be willing to get back out on the road again. So, yes, we hope that happens.”
Despite flickers of optimism, Storey called the ongoing crisis “absolutely horrible. For me, in 34 years at AT&T, I never cried. But when I got on the phone and had to talk to our staff about these furloughs and pay reductions, I cried. It is by far the single hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my now-more-than-38-year career.”
Storey said that ATTPAC received $1.2 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, known as PPP, and that allowed “us to meet payroll through June 16.”
So, what’s the long-term impact?
“It will,” she said, “cause every arts organization to reexamine their fundamental cost structure and business model. We simply were not prepared to face something like a global pandemic. We need to strengthen the fundamental economics of the business. Across the board, it will drive us to look at things like shared services — consolidations — working together to build a more effective cost structure. We will have to, to be able to survive.”
CORRECTION, June 23, 2020 at 9:44 a.m.: AT&T Performing Arts Center received $1.2 million from the Paycheck Protection Program that allowed them to meet payroll through June 16, not July 16.
