ICYMI: On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo
announced that arts and entertainment venues can reopen at 33 percent capacity, with a maximum of up to 100 people indoors and 200 outdoors starting on April 2.
And those numbers can go higher — up to 150 people indoors — if the venue offers a rapid COVID-19 test on entry.
Either way, all attendees must wear masks and be socially distanced.
Despite the positive step forward after a year-long closure, some venues said they would not be reopening just yet.
"Obviously any news about a path forward, even a limited capacity one, is great considering where we were just over a month ago," said Dennis Dennehy, spokesperson for AEG Presents and Bowery Presents, which manages bookings at Forest Hills Stadium, Terminal 5, Webster Hall, Brooklyn Steel, Music Hall of Williamsburg and more. "That said, we remain focused as of right now on fully reopening when we can do shows at 100% capacity. It just doesn’t make sense for us to do anything with limited capacity."
While he left open the possibility that some individual artists might decide to eat their losses to do a couple of one-off shows at big venues, he said it ultimately wasn't efficient for them to be back until they can play to full houses.
From the Times:
Michael Swier, the owner of the Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge, two of New York's best-known rock clubs, said that the state's order that venues require social distancing and mask-wearing means that the true capacity at many spaces may be much lower.
"Given that social distancing is still part of the metric, it brings us back down to an approximate 20 percent capacity, which is untenable," Mr. Swier said.
