Nonprofit Talk: Serving the community and staying afloat during the COVID pandemic

Queens Theatre Executive Director Taryn Sacramone provided response for the first installment in the Eagle’s Nonprofit Talk series. Photo courtesy of Queens Theatre

By Taryn Sacramone, as told to the Eagle

Taryn Sacramone is the executive director of Queens Theatre, a performance venue located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. In the first installment of our new series, Nonprofit Talk, Sacramone discusses the challenges that Queens Theatre and other nonprofits are facing during the pandemic. 

How has your organization navigated the pandemic? 

We are fortunate to have a really committed board of directors led by Gary Kesner, executive vice president at Silvercup Studios. They have been incredibly supportive and available to the staff. We've looked to identify new sources of support, such as the COVID-19 Impact Fund from the New York Community Trust and the new SBA PPP loan program. With so many unknowns, we stay centered by focusing on our mission and our community. 

How are you now serving your constituents/clients/program participants? 

Very quickly, we created content that we could make available online: our longtime Director of Operations Jay Rogers became an expert at Zoom in about five minutes! Director of Community Engagement Dominic D'Andrea launched three series: weekly cooking sessions, Queens Storytellers online, and QT Story Circles. 

 At the start of March, we were starting our annual education programs in schools and senior centers. Our Director of Engagement Richard Hinojosa worked with our partners to bring those programs online. ALL of our staff members are working on new ideas, from calling community members to ask how they're doing, to developing new works of theatre specifically designed for Zoom.

How are you balancing the needs of your clients with the level of risk to your employees? 

Queens Theatre staff members are working remotely. These are incredibly difficult times, and we want to make sure that we're both serving our communities, but also setting realistic expectations; Some have children at home, others personally affected by COVID-19, all of us are navigating through anxious times and uncertainty. 

What types of support do you most need support now?

We need unrestricted funding; as there are so many unknowns, we are going to need to be able to be very flexible with our programming over the next few months and may need to make investments in technology or pursue new partnerships. 

What programs/services have you had to cut or scale back on? 

We do not have any onsite programming at this time. We are working with teaching artists, theatre artists, and film editors on various projects and are open to hearing ideas from people who we may not have an opportunity to work with before.  

What do you think the future holds for your sector as a result of the pandemic? 

In mid-March, I started daily phone calls for the leaders of the 34 members of the Cultural Institutions Group; Queens Theatre is one of those institutions. By the end of the week, other institutions began to participate. The calls have continued, every weekday, ever since. We now have hundreds of cultural leaders checking in with each other, sharing resources, and offering support of all kinds.  

The cultural sector is facing unprecedented challenges, but are also working through this together, which has been critically important, energizing and inspiring. Our sector is intertwined with every other sector in New York. 

Learn more about Queens Theatre at queenstheatre.org