SBA head visits Tipping Point Theatre to discuss impact of shuttered venue grant program

“We’re learning to dance in the rain.”

James Kuhl, producing artistic director for Northville’s Tipping Point Theatre, said he’s beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as vaccinations increase, but admitted the pandemic has posed as a big challenge to the theatre and many other live performance venues and cultural institutions across Michigan that have yet to reopen.

On Tuesday, Kuhl was busy walking around the 15-year-old theatre, which has not hosted an in-person performance in well over a year, alongside Isabel Guzman, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) administrator, and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Rochester Hills) to discuss the SBA’s $16 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program. Through the program, the theatre received nearly $250,000 to support operations as the pandemic continues to halt in-person events.

Statewide, the program has already awarded over $190 million in assistance grants to over 200,000 Michigan theatres, cultural institutions, and other entertainment venues.

Stevens said providing federal assistance to small businesses throughout the pandemic has always been about getting people back to work and getting businesses through the pandemic. She added that this shuttered venue investment is “unprecidented” in terms of its scale and reach.

“There is the human capital element right here at the Tipping Point Theatre,” she said. “There are actors, there are technical professionals, and there are set designers who rely on these dollars. There is also a community that depends on these dollars for econpmic development purposes as well.”