Partner Ethan Krasnoo Discusses Safety and Health Guidelines for NY PopsUp in New Quartz Article

Last March, New York shut down Broadway theaters, concert halls, and museums due to how quickly Covid-19 spreads in indoor venues. Because of these closures, the New York arts sector has suffered 280,000 job layoffs and lost $26.8 billion in sales. In order to remedy the tragic loss of the performing arts scene in New York, a new six-month festival called NY PopsUp was implemented. On February 20th, the first series of 1,000 live performances kicked off and as it continues, the festival will make stages of unusual locations such as “transit stations, parks, subway platforms, museums, skate parks, street corners, fire escapes, parking lots, and storefronts,” according to a statement released by New York governor’s office. Not only will this program allow artists to improve their craft, but it will also give out-of-work performers a source of income. Partner Ethan Krasnoo was quoted by Quartz in their article entitled, “Inside the six-month experiment to revive New York’s performing arts scene,” on the topic.

Ethan says that the optimism around NY PopsUp should be tempered with caution. For one, making sure all venues follow health guidelines is crucial. He continues, “The state should make sure that the pop-up spaces for performances are inspected for general safety, and should require caps on audience members as each location warrants based on its size. For example, a subway platform should have a smaller cap than a park.” He states that venues should also figure out a non-discriminatory script for turning away patrons who test positive for Covid-19. “This is unchartered territory. Venues should disclose such requirements at the time of any ticket purchases and be sure to apply the procedure of turning anyone away uniformly in an attempt to avoid claims of discrimination.”

To read the full article on Quartz, click here.