MY NEW YORK STORY

By Charlotte St. Martin

From my first year as President of The Broadway League over eleven years ago, I’ve nurtured a dream to bring every student in a public high school in New York City to a Broadway show before they graduate. When a colleague of mine, Tory Bailey, who’s Executive Director of the Theatre Development Fund, said to me one day that it should be the inalienable right of every New York student to see a Broadway show I knew I wasn’t alone in wanting to make this dream a reality.

During seven weeks in the winter months and five in the fall, Broadway Bridges offers New York City public schools $10 tickets to select Broadway shows for 10th-grade students and their chaperones.

We started off small with a pilot cycle that ran from January to March of 2017 and brought 1,000 students to one of eight shows. Last fall, we launched officially, drawing 2,500 students and chaperones to Broadway for five weeks between October and November. This winter, we will bring another 4,000 students and chaperones. And next fall 2018 will see us bringing even more. Our partners, Peter Avery and Paul King at the Department of Education’s Office of the Arts and Special Projects Theatre division and now the United Federation of Teachers are crucial in helping us connect with schools, build relationships, and reach more students in each cycle.

Charlotte St. Martin

ENTER BROADWAY BRIDGES
This is an initiative that organizes commercial theater’s support of arts education and access while complementing the wonderful arts education work of our Broadway-based non-profit peers. Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company and Theatre Development Fund, all have robust, well-established arts education programs. Each one is unique and has its own approach to learning about different aspects of theater and reaches various demographic groups within the public school system. Taken together, they reach nearly 25,000 students. By supplementing their work with broader access to commercial theater, we bring in students who haven’t had the opportunity yet to attend a Broadway show and build on the excellent work our peers are already doing. Eventually, we hope to reach around 70,000 tenth graders by steadily bringing more students to Broadway each year.

Early on in Broadway Bridges’ development, colleagues at Theatre Development Fund noted that 10th graders are, for the most part, the oldest students who have to be enrolled in school by law. Since we want to reach students before they leave high school, it made sense to focus on this group of students. Plus, teachers and school leaders have noted that 10th graders can experience a “sophomore slump.” A trip to Broadway offers a way to build engagement and excitement among those students.

A PASSION FOR BROADWAY
I feel so passionately about this program for several reasons. We want to encourage the Broadway audiences of tomorrow first in New York City—and eventually around the country—because it’s good for everyone. Studies consistently show that students who engage in the arts—which includes attending live performances—have higher graduation rates and attain higher levels of secondary education. Of course, it’s also good for the theater business to have younger audiences who are from every background because we are building tomorrow’s audiences. I can tell you from the feedback we’ve received, that nothing inspires a young person to see a second Broadway show like seeing a first Broadway show!

Another important reason we want to bring high school students to Broadway is to encourage them to consider working in our industry. Broadway generates 89,000 jobs in New York City alone. To put on a one-man show can take up to 400 non-performing professionals. These are good jobs, many of them are union jobs, and students can pursue them here at home or with performing arts centers around the country.

Getting this program off the ground took a lot of work. To get it done, the League put together a task force of leading producers, theater owners, Broadway marketing professionals and our colleagues at Theatre Development Fund. The turning point in our planning came when one of our task force members (Damian Bazadona from Situation Interactive who runs the amazing Situation Project which works with high achieving middle school students) pointed out that students could use tickets for seats that haven’t yet been sold. We developed the program with the overriding philosophy that we should convert the equity in empty seats into an investment to help attract and nurture the next generation of talent, build future audiences, and encourage cultural equity for NYC schools.

Broadway is a seasonal business; even during a record-breaking season, Broadway houses have more inventory during certain weeks of the year. During those weeks, producers of participating shows generously offer us deeply discounted tickets for weekday performances, including evenings. With the help of grants and funding from New York City, The Broadway League covers half the cost of those tickets plus fees. We end up paying about $13 per ticket subsidizing schools so that they only have to pay $10 per ticket.

THE LIGHTS OF BROADWAY
Happily, Broadway producers understand how vital this program is to our industry and our city. Shows that have participated in the program include A Bronx Tale, Aladdin, Anastasia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Chicago, Come From Away, On Your Feet, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked to name a few. It’s an impressive list of productions that we’re so proud to be able to offer to students, and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of Broadway League members.

The theater is such a unique and powerful art form. When you’re sitting in the audience, you’re helping to make theater happen. Without an audience, our supremely talented performing artists and musicians are just people on a stage. To be able to share the magic of a live performance with young people is deeply gratifying. There’s nothing like getting a thank you note from a student who just attended their first Broadway show!