The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing layoffs, pay cuts at Miami’s closed Arsht Center
With performances dark at least through the summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts is making deep budget reductions that include layoffs, furloughs, reduced hours and salary cuts affecting all full-time employees.
The publicly subsidized Arsht, closed since mid-March, had been able to stave off large cuts thanks to a $2.1 million payment protection payment from the federal government.
Given the cancellation of more than 160 shows, a revenue loss of $11 million and continued uncertainty over reopening, Arsht administrators had no choice but to slash the center’s $42 million budget by half and its payroll by 58 percent, CEO Johann Zietsman said in an interview on Wednesday. Miami-Dade County provides the center $11.65 million annually for upkeep, educational programs and other services to the community.
Before the reductions, the center had 108 full-time employees in areas ranging from management and programming to ticket sales, venue rentals, maintenance and fundraising, among others. It also had another 200-plus part-timers, such as ushers, who are paid an hourly wage only when performances take place.
“We are talking about people’s lives and livelihoods,” Zietsman said. “It is tough. In the end, it is painful and devastating but sadly inevitable at this point. We have to prepare ourselves for potentially a tough year ahead.”
Right now, Zietsman said, administrators are planning a reduced schedule for fall, including the Second Presidential Debate on October 15, reset for the Arsht last week after the University of Michigan backed out of hosting it.
They anticipate resuming the full season’s schedule of classical, jazz and Broadway performances as well as educational programs in January, although that could change depending on the pandemic’s course. Arsht administrators are also working on a backup plan that would not see operations back in full swing until April, Zietsman said.
Even if they’re able to resume most programming, Zietsman said, it’s still unknown whether safety protocols in place then would require reduced seating, and thus bring in less revenue than normal, or whether audiences will feel safe attending shows.
Given the massive financial and scheduling commitments required by touring Broadway shows, he said, the Arsht must decide by the end of July whether it’s going ahead with that programming in January.
The cuts instituted this week should leave the Arsht solvent under those scenarios but also allow the center to ramp up operations quickly if the pandemic outlook improves by calling back furloughed staffers and scaling up work hours, Zietsman said.
“We have to be nimble,” he said. ”We are doing everything that we can now to provide for any contingency.”
Zietsman said eight percent of the Arsht staff is being laid off permanently, while 14 percent is being furloughed — meaning those workers remain technically employed without pay but continue receiving benefits. The full executive team of 10 people including Zietsman, remains in place, but everyone will see a salary cut, he said.
Pay reductions range from about 24 to 36% percent, with Zietsman at the high end, the Arsht said. Zietsman’s pre-COVID salary was $566,500, an amount that’s split between the Arsht Center Trust and the Arsht Center Foundation.
The center will continue producing the Arsht@Home free live online performances weekly. Its summer AileyCamp Miami will go on, but virtually.
The Arsht closed temporarily on March 13 during a run of the musical “Hamilton” under a broad shut-down order issued by Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez in response to the spreading outbreak of novel coronavirus.
One of the largest performing arts centers in the hemisphere and a South Florida cultural linchpin, the Arsht depends heavily on ticket sales, venue rentals and other earned revenue to support its operations.
Its last available federal tax return, for the fiscal year ending in 2018, shows the Arsht earned nearly $26 million in revenue from ticket sales and other sources out of gross receipts totaling $43.7 million. It also received $17 million in contributions and grants and spent $12 million on salaries, the form shows. Last year’s salary, wages and benefits amount was $13.2 million, the Arsht said.
The Arsht is only one of scores of nonprofit cultural institutions and organizations suffering significant financial losses and cutting staff and salaries because of the pandemic, though it’s one of the last to tackle staff adjustments. News of the Arsht reductions comes as coronavirus cases are again surging in Florida and Miami-Dade, raising new doubts about when theaters will be able to reopen.
A Miami-Dade report put total financial losses for the county’s cultural groups as of the end of May at nearly $43 million, with 5,377 arts and cultural jobs lost permanently or temporarily out of a pre-pandemic workforce estimated at 44,000.
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts opened in 2006 and was named after a banker and philanthropist who made a $30 million gift to stabilize its finances after the facility ran into economic troubles early on. It consists of two separate buildings on Biscayne Boulevard, a concert hall and a combined ballet and opera house with a black-box theater.
Zietsman was hired in November 2018. His predecessor, John Richard, was making $754,500 when he retired in February 2019. At the start of this year, the center said its endowment stood at $12.1 million.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 4:00 PM.