Broadway Pitches In To Preserve Cultural Heritage Of Haiti

(New York, NY) - In conjunction with The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, and various agencies, the Broadway community has decided to contribute funds to a very special project to protect and preserve the cultural heritage of Haiti.

Following the devastating earthquake in January, The Broadway League and several of its members including theater owners, shows, and producers have contributed $276,000 to a special Haiti fund. The collective desire is to help insure that the artifacts from theatres, museums and libraries be preserved for all time. This project aims to develop a site where artifacts from theatres, museums, and historic buildings can be stored and protected during the rainy season and until new sites are built or old sites are restored. At the present time, many of these artifacts will be lost without this effort.

Paul Libin, Chairman of The Broadway League and Vice President/Producing Director of Jujamcyn Theatres, said, “Theatre is the experience of a peoples’ art, music, poetry, their myths and experience; what better way to help the Haitian People than provide assistance for them to save their art, music, books and artistic record in order to preserve their cultural heritage thus enabling them to create the new. The Arts community is a family; it is our duty to help so all cultures and art can prosper.”

Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League, said, “When the earthquake hit Haiti, the Broadway community immediately reached out within hours and asked how we could be a part of relief or restoration. We are pleased that Broadway can support the restoration and help save a small part of the Haitian culture.”

"The Broadway League and the Broadway community stepped in at a crucial juncture for this project. It would not have been possible to make it happen, especially on this timeline, without their generous support," said Rachel Goslins, Executive Director, The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Plans are being made to send a delegation to Haiti to collaborate and find out how to best help this project.

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The Broadway League is the official trade association for the Broadway theatre industry, operating under the “Now THAT’S Broadway!” banner, which signifies genuine Broadway productions and events. Founded in 1930 as the League of New York Theatres, the League is a membership organization whose 600-plus members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, general managers, and suppliers of theatrical goods and services. Each year The Broadway League and its members bring Broadway theatre to nearly 30 million people in more than 240 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Visit www.BroadwayLeague.com.

League programs include the Broadway Concierge & Ticket Center, Broadway’s centralized full-price ticket outlet and customer-service headquarters located in the Times Square Visitor Center; co-presentation of the Tony Awards® with the American Theatre Wing; ILoveNYTheater.com, a multilingual Internet source for show tickets and information; the Touring Broadway Awards®, the first awards program recognizing excellence in touring Broadway productions; Broadway on Broadway® (with the Times Square Alliance), an annual outdoor concert in Times Square; Internet Broadway Database® at IBDB.com; and Kids’ Night on Broadway®, a national audience development program.