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www.HartfordBusiness.com • July 13, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 9 to depend on donor support to ride out the pandemic, which has cost Hartford Stage about $1.4 million in lost revenue so far. "I think [the question] for all of us is how do we really keep fulfill- ing our mission to the community when we can't perform live?" Rider said. "I think it's going to take a lot of philanthropic support." Hartford's largest nonprofit the- ater, The Bushnell, doesn't produce its own plays, but presents shows, often Broadway productions like 2018's "Hamilton" run. So with Broadway closed for at least the rest of the year, The Bushnell postponed all shows scheduled for the spring and summer, said Paul Marte, The Bushnell's director of marketing. The Bushnell furloughed about 50 employees, Marte said. For now, staffers are trying to figure out how they can put on school education programs this fall, either online or in-person. Additionally, state officials and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin's administration have been working with them and other arts organiza- tions to keep them afloat, Marte said. "The arts are really this lynch- pin in the redevelopment of these downtown areas, and we do not want that to backslide," said Marte. The Bushnell will use public health guidelines and member polling to decide when to start holding live performances again, and what kind of social distancing measures to enact when they do, Marte said. But with a $25-mil- lion endowment, The Bushnell isn't in danger of shuttering before perfor- mances resume, Marte added. Rise of digital content Theater- Works, which usually operates on a $2.5-million annual budget has upped its engagement with patrons, Market- ing Director Freddie McInerney said. It has aired a weekly music series online for the past 15 weeks, and started an Instagram series called "Get Sauced," featuring Artis- tic Director Rob Ruggiero and cast members from past performances, McInerney said. The effort appears to be paying off, McInerney said, as TheaterWorks, which has a 188-seat venue, has sold about 1,200 subscriptions for its to-be- announced 2020-2021 season. Right now, staffers still working — about half of TheaterWorks' 22 employees are on furlough — are looking at different possibilities for how to host live performances, and will announce plans in mid-August, McInerney said. McInerney is confident Theater- Works will survive the downturn, she said. She also sees a possible lon- ger-term benefit in figuring out how to offer content online, which would allow patrons unable to physically go to any given show to stream it. "Theatergoers are typically a little bit of an older demographic," McIn- erney said. "We want them to be able to access the programming." FOCUS: NONPROFITS Our 2020 Municipal Pension & OPEB Report brings the pieces together. hhconsultants.com/muni2020 Hartford Stage has lost $1.4 million in revenue since the pandemic struck Connecticut in March. The Bushnell received between $1 million and $2 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds. THE BUSINESS NEWS YOU NEED DELIVERED EACH BUSINESS DAY FROM YOUR TRUSTED, LOCAL SOURCE VISIT HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM/ENEWSLETTERS TO SIGN UP MORNING BLEND POWERED BY HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL & NEW HAVEN BIZ HARTFORD BUSINESS.COM TODAY HARTFORD BUSINESS.COM TODAY Every day by 7:45 A.M., our editors pull the top news sources in the state and nation to provide you with the must-know information you need to start your business day. Every business day, our award- winning reporting and news staff canvases the market for breaking news and sends it to your inbox by noontime.