Mixed season outlook for central Ohio arts groups, with some returning to stages and others waiting until 2021

In Ohio, the state’s audience restriction for performing arts presenters is “the lesser of 15% of capacity or 300 people,” writes Ken Gordon in Sunday’s (9/13) Columbus Dispatch (OH). “The Columbus Association for the Performing Arts, which owns the city’s major theaters … relies on ticket sales and venue-rental income for 90% of its budget. CAPA President Chad Whittington said national touring companies are not coming to Columbus—or any other city—unless theaters are allowed to be 75 to 100% full. He said CAPA has laid off 45 full-time staffers…. CAPA provides back-office management support to several area arts groups, including CATCO [theater company], the Columbus Symphony and Opera Columbus.… The Columbus Symphony … managed to maintain a balanced budget in the 2019-20 fiscal year… It has organized a series of outdoor concerts, also is one of the very few groups that will perform in front of a live audience in CAPA-owned theaters this fall…. It has helped that the level of giving from patrons has remained strong…. ProMusica Chamber Orchestra has stayed busy as well, recently completing a series of seven outdoor shows. Most other groups are planning a 2021 return to live shows.”