Gothamist: NY Times Petitioned to Bring Back Arts Listings; Theater Producers P.O.'ed

charles

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 18:20:32 -0500

With over 1,000 performing arts events every week in the city, any publication with an Arts & Leisure section should be ashamed of itself for not doing listings. My understanding is that the NY Times is trying to be hipper with more global appeal, though you would think that 30 A&L editors could maintain some sort of local support.

Viviane

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:37:08 -0500

I sing with a large symphonic choir and the Times listings really, really matter.

Brian W

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 11:22:19 -0500

As the booking agent for a downtown club, Voice & Time Out listings/picks are our bread and butter but we get *enormous* response from listings in the Times. One of our ongoing weekly shows is a big band jazz group and we could always easily tell that the sales (or lack thereof) were directly linked to whether or not we had a listing in the Times. I've seen the same jump in sales thanks to the handful of times Choire has picked one of my shows, but the steady and more-complete listings page was always reliable since it was more inclusive and didn't ignore long-running events the way "picks" pages often must. I don't see why they can't have both (well, aside from page count and salaried-employees-who-compile-listings type problems)--the Voice and the Press both have critics' picks as well as listings, and Time Out is able to mix the two successfully.

Tim N.

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 10:52:37 -0500

I would encourage anyone in the arts to sign the petition. As someone who has had to mount their own work Off Off Bway, the adage is true: The Times is still The Times, and a two-line listing in the Times is still worth more than anything you can get in Voice Choices or (with apologies to my friend Dave) The Onion. Please go and sign it.

DOn

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 10:19:29 -0500

Choire Sicha must be smarting from Okrent's smackdown.....