Thanks to Don Aucoin for reminding us of the importance of Boston’s performing arts scene (“Time to get in the act,” Sunday Arts, March 13). He’s right that this is a good time for us audience members to step forward and buy a few tickets.
But Boston’s performing arts also need a lift from other community sectors that over the years have withdrawn much of the support they once gave.
I was a member of the Next Move Theatre Company in the late 1970s. On opening nights, we would head home to see our shows reviewed on TV as part of the 11 o’clock news. Reviews in the Globe and Herald would appear the following morning. We made appearances on local daytime variety shows and received grants from Boston-based corporations.
Nowadays, our TV stations have time to interview people on the street about the Red Sox’s chances this year, but there is an almost complete blackout on local arts coverage. The Globe and Herald have reduced their arts coverage while maintaining their sports coverage.
I thank Aucoin for mentioning that Boston is as much an arts town as a sports town, economically as well as in every other way. Boston’s media organizations seem to have forgotten that.
Andy Gaus
Boston
Read More: Boston media used to shower the arts with coverage. Not anymore.