File #: Res 1152-2005    Version: * Name: Last week of each January to be known and celebrated as “Live Theatre Week” in NYC.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 9/15/2005
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution designating the last week of each January to be known and celebrated as “Live Theatre Week” in New York City and calling upon the Mayor, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting to recognize and celebrate such week.
Sponsors: Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., Maria Baez, Charles Barron, Gale A. Brewer, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., Lewis A. Fidler, James F. Gennaro, Vincent J. Gentile, Alan J. Gerson, Robert Jackson, Letitia James, John C. Liu, Michael E. McMahon, Michael C. Nelson, Annabel Palma, Christine C. Quinn, Philip Reed, David I. Weprin, Melinda R. Katz, Miguel Martinez, G. Oliver Koppell, Hiram Monserrate, Eric N. Gioia
Council Member Sponsors: 23
Attachments: 1. Committee Report 9/21/05, 2. Hearing Transcript 9/21/05, 3. Committee Report 12/7/05, 4. Hearing Transcript 12/7/05

Res. No. 1152

 

Resolution designating the last week of each January to be known and celebrated as “Live Theatre Week” in New York City and calling upon the Mayor, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting to recognize and celebrate such week.

 

By Council Members Recchia, Baez, Barron, Brewer, Comrie, Fidler, Gennaro, Gentile, Gerson, Jackson, James, Liu, McMahon, Nelson, Palma, Quinn, Reed, Weprin, Katz, Martinez, Koppell, Monserrate and Gioia

 

Whereas, Beginning with the world’s first dramatic performance held on the banks of the Nile River in 2000 B.C., live theater has established itself as an indispensable form of human expression; and

Whereas, Live theater in New York City dates back to well before the 1800’s; and

Whereas, In 1891, the first electric marquis lit up a theatre located at the current site of the Flatiron Building, and ten years after this event, the theatre district in Manhattan would be so illuminated by white lights that O.J. Gaude would refer to it as the “great white way;” and

Whereas, The construction of theatres during the early 1900’s would concentrate New York City’s currently world-renowned theatre district, formerly spread out over more than 30 blocks, in midtown Manhattan; and

Whereas, During the 1940’s, New York City saw the birth of Off-Broadway productions, with the growth of small theatres in Greenwich Village; and

Whereas, According to livebroadway.com, Broadway theatergoers purchased approximately 11.6 million tickets in the 2003-2004 season, which generated more than $770 million in gross revenues; and

Whereas, According to livebroadway.com, from June 2002 through June 2003, Broadway as an industry contributed $4.3 billion to the economy of New York City, comprised of $2.60 billion in impact from ancillary spending by Broadway-motivated visitors, $1.66 billion in impact from expenditures made to produce and run shows, and $42 million in impact from capital investment to the theatres; and

Whereas, Currently, there are approximately 1500 Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in New York City, selling about 7 million tickets per year; and 

Whereas, Live theater has also found its way to New York City’s outer boroughs, with performances taking place at institutions such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Flushing Town Hall and Queens Theatre in the Park; and

Whereas, Live theater is an important community resource, enriching the cultural fabric of New York City by bringing to life ideas representing the complex diversity held by this region and the world and serving as a powerful force to dissolve misunderstandings and dispel stereotypes; and

Whereas, Live theater is a cherished art form within this community, one deserving continued public and private financial and moral support; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York designates the last week of each January to be known and celebrated as “Live Theatre Week” in New York City; and, be it further

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the Mayor, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting to recognize and celebrate such week. 

 

LS#3456                     

RA

9/12/2005

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