Kelly-Strayhorn Theater partners with East Liberty arts organizations for virtual fundraiser

The only tax dollars many music and performance venues get are from amusement taxes levied on ticket sales, but that money has dried up since the halls have sat empty since mid-March.

Before the pandemic, the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty was partnering with restaurants in the neighborhood to host what executive director Joseph Hall called their “Neighborhood Happy Hours.”

“In partnership with a number of mostly restaurants in the area, we’ve had activities like lunchtime dance parties,” Hall said. “Eventually that changed into our Neighborhood Happy Hour, where we also partner with local businesses.”

The Neighborhood Happy Hour has gone virtual in its two most recent iterations, and the theater was the recipient of a recent $50,000 grant from the R.K. Mellon Foundation, aimed at boosting its partnerships and helping jump-start regional economic activity.

The theater and six other local arts organizations are also hosting a July 16 virtual fundraiser, “Hotline Ring.”

The theater, 1Hood Media, BOOM Concepts, Braddock Carnegie Library Association, Dreams of Hope, the Legacy Arts Project and PearlArts Studios will all serve as hosts during the event, which will be livestreamed from 5 p.m. to midnight.

“As small arts organizations, we are experiencing the impacts of the pandemic as individuals and institutions,” Hall said. “Our planning, our markers of success, our funding and our daily operations have been interrupted – creating space for all of us to evaluate how we continue to achieve our missions.”

Part of the group’s vision is to present a model for equitably distributing arts funding.

“We are committed to providing Black femme-led organizations with a greater portion of our shared fundraising as an explicit way to address this inequity,” Hall said. “Instead of only considering the bottom line of each individual organization, this fundraising effort will create shared resources that will benefit the interdependence of all of us.”

“Hotline Ring” will include archived performances, testimonials, new digital artwork from local and national artists, and a virtual dance party to close out the night.

Hall said theater staff is also working with other Pittsburgh-area venues on how best to reopen, once it’s possible.

“We’re working on a plan so we’re all going into this with safety at the top of our minds when we’re welcoming back patrons, staff and artists,” he said.

For more on “Hotline Ring,” see Kelly-Strayhorn.org.