" I trust her," Klobuchar told NPR over Zoom. Frank explained that she couldn't do virtual concerts which meant they had no revenue and might have to close. A phone call from Dayna Frank – the proprietor of First Avenue, one of the Minneapolis music venues where Prince began his career – made Klobuchar leap into action. Klobuchar said that, in many ways, it was a love of the late artist Prince that awakened her to the importance of supporting local venues. That's the reality that brought Klobuchar and Cornyn together. It is important for theaters to stay open not just for arts' sake, but because they have a profound effect on their local economies, helping support local restaurants, tourism, and other businesses. "When audiences are shrinking, temptation to try to produce much more popular shows, which could keep us from producing some of the new work." Theaters are also going to have to be much savvier about their long-term growth, Eyering said, which doesn't necessarily mean just repeating the same old classics. JerSean Golatt for NPR Rehearsal of "Trouble in Mind" at the Dallas Theater Center on Oct. Eyering said that in order to keep doors open now, theaters need to keep innovating on their stages and as part of their business model. But that infusion of government money was key, and tied to the worst days of the pandemic theaters know they can't rely on that sort of funding happening again. Theaters also helped themselves during that time, creating innovative virtual performances and other programming that kept audiences invested in their work. Without that federal money, non-profit theater as we know it would have died, said Teresa Eyering with the Theater Communications Group "There were a slew of government programs – I call them the alphabet soup." Woodward listed them off: "Payroll Protection Plan or PPP. "The federal government has been a huge partner in this,'' said Jeffrey Woodward, managing director of the Dallas Theater Center. Their partnership resulted in $16 billion for theaters, music venues and other cultural institutions as part of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, run by the Small Business Administration. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, likely saved hundreds of regional theaters across the country from closing as a result of the pandemic shutdowns. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, and Sen. In one of the big surprises of the pandemic, the "let's put on a show!" spirit from Sen.
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