Coronavirus: Pandemic hits Dayton’s arts community hard

DAYTON — The fine and performing arts in Dayton have taken a massive financial hit since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dayton Live, formally known as the Victorian Theater Association, has had to lay off more than 200 people and has cancelled performances for months.

“It’s had a massive impact on the organization and not just our organization but all of the companies that use our facility,” explained President and CEO Ty Sutton.

Dayton Live also supports the Dayton Opera, Ballet and Philharmonic.

They have had to cancel or postpone 300 events in the past two months.

They were also one of the first organizations to close down due to the pandemic and they fully anticipate they’ll be the last industry to come back.

“We’re hopeful that maybe smaller events that include some social distancing will start coming back first," explained Sutton. "But long term the model for Broadway and larger events is that we need to have people in spaces in order to make those work so we don’t anticipate those events will be back anytime soon.”

Sutton says the harsh reality is some local arts organizations might not survive the economic pain the pandemic has brought with it, but Dayton Live remains optimistic about the future.

“We know that the Spanish Flu was followed by the Roaring 20s and the Golden Age of Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance, some of the best artistic periods in this country’s history,” said Sutton.

Dayton live has cancelled all shows through September 1.

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