Coconino News

Flagstaff’s historic Orpheum Theater and 20 other Arizona venues joined a newly-formed national venue association appealing for federal lawmaker's help to keep their industry alive amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Orpheum Theater has joined the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), which recently sent an open letter warning that their industry's future is in doubt.

"As a major economical anchor for downtown Flagstaff and as we struggle to cover our base utilities and rent, as are so many venues across our country, we need every bit of help we can get," Orpheum Theater General Manager Susan Walter was quoted in an Arizona Daily Sun news report.

While venues such at the Orpheum Theater are small businesses, their estimated direct annual economic impact pumps almost $10 billion into the economy, NIVA said its open letter to key U.S. House and Senate lawmakers.

"Our passionate and fiercely independent operators are not ones to ask for handouts,” NIVA Board President Dayna Frank said in the April 22 letter. "But because of our unprecedented, tenuous position, for the first time in history, there is legitimate fear for our collective existence.”

The Orpheum Theater, formerly known as the Majestic Opera House, is housed in a building first constructed in 1911 and was rebuilt and expanded six years later, according to information on the theater's website. The Orpheum closed in 1999 and underwent a thorough renovation to reopen in 2002 and a concert venue.

Though shut down in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the Orpheum Theater's website still includes bands and events on its "coming soon" page, many of which are postponed or cancelled.

The NIVA letter calls on Congress to provide legislative and regulatory help to give independent music venues across the U.S. a fighting chance to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic life in the industry all but ceased after state governors imposed bans on mass gatherings, including entertainment venues.

NIVA, founded earlier this month, has more than 800 member independent live music venues and promoters to provide a lobbying voice to speak to leverage federal and state governments.