Open Jar Studios' Broadway Relief Project Donates Proceeds to The Actors Fund

The Broadway Relief Project, headquartered at Open Jar Studios, is a coalition of Broadway professionals who came together at the height of the NYC COVID crisis to create over 51,000 medical gowns for the New York City public hospitals. While simultaneously creating over 400 jobs for the Broadway community, many of those workers, in turn, donated their pay to The Actors Fund. The amount donated is $32,948.

In partnership with the NYC/EDC (Economic Development Corporation) the Broadway Relief Project brought together costume designers, stitchers, stage managers, casting directors, directors, choreographers, musicians, and actors from the Broadway community to create the much-needed gowns.

"We had over 231 stitchers working around the clock," says Jeff Whiting, Project Director, "to ensure we could make the gowns as quickly as possible." With an introduction from Broadway Green Alliance (Molly Braverman) and Broadway star Javier Munoz (Hamilton), Ernest Winzer Cleaners provided the transport of the materials across all the Boroughs of New York.

An elaborate drop off system was developed, in which the stitchers would drop off completed gowns at a designated location in their neighborhood and pick up a new batch to work on each week, to be packaged and shipped from Open Jar Studios in Times Square.

The Actors Fund is a national service organization which provides emergency services including financial assistance, affordable housing, health care and counseling for the entertainment community.

"It was just so nice to be able to contribute something during this crisis," said Jeff Whiting, owner of Open Jar Studios. "In fact, the Studios never really closed down. Overnight, we became an essential business as we transformed our Broadway rehearsal space into a gown factory."

Open Jar Studios features 50,000 square feet of rehearsal space for productions of all sizes, and provides support for all steps in the development process. For bookings: www.openjarstudios.com