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 The move to promote theater and music across the state, known as
"New York Pops Up," comes amid a steady improvement in the measures
of the spread of the coronavirus, and after many Broadway and other
performers have been idle since last year. In October, Broadway
theater owners extended their closures to May 31, hoping to reopen
in June.
"When you shut down Broadway, when you shut down movie theaters, you
stopped an entire industry," Cuomo said at a news briefing.
"Everybody understands why, but we have to now nurture that industry
to bring it back."
The first of 300 pop-up arts events over 100 days, a precursor to
the eventual reopening of Broadway's darkened theaters, will begin
on Feb. 20 at Manhattan's Javits Center with a special performance
for healthcare workers, Cuomo said. The convention center has been
used during the pandemic as a temporary hospital and vaccination
site.
Among the many entertainers who have joined the project are
musicians Patti Smith and Jon Batiste, and actors Matthew Broderick,
Sarah Jessica Parker, Alec Baldwin and Hugh Jackman.
All performances will be free, with little advance notice and virus
testing of spectators, and will be available for viewing online,
Cuomo said.
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 "We want the performances," he
added. "We don't want mass gatherings, we don't
want large crowds." Cuomo also
moved up the date on which New York City restaurants may reopen
their indoor dining rooms at 25% of capacity to Friday Feb. 12 from
the previously announced Sunday Feb. 14, which is Valentine's Day,
one of the industry's busiest days.
The thousands of New York City restaurants that have survived the
pandemic-induced shutdowns since last March have done so by relying
on takeout business and makeshift outdoor pavilions.
The statewide rate at which residents tested positive for the
coronavirus has steadily trended lower, dropping to 4.42% on Sunday
from 7.94% on Jan. 4, as measured over a seven-day average, Cuomo
said.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely, Editing by Bernadette Baum and Rosalba
O'Brien)
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