36 Venues Across Connecticut Have Received Shuttered Venue Operator Grants Thus Far

Several venues across Connecticut, including The Bushnell in Hartford and Bridgeport's Bijou theater, are beginning to receive funding from the Shuttered Venue Operator grants, The Hartford Courant reports.

"Since June, we have seen many successful SVOG awardees and more to come," says Catherine Marx, the district director of the Connecticut District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. "As of the latest report, the amount requested from SVOG applications was $11.6 billion. Therefore, with over $16 billion allocated for the program [nationally], there is enough funding for all the qualified applicants that we have at this point."

Two rounds of grants have already been announced this month and applications are still being accepted.

The initial group of recipients, announced June 21, were for those considered "Priority 1", which were companies that might go out of business without the funding.

The recipient receiving the largest sum from the SVOG program thus far, with $5,750,724, is The Bushnell. The venue was considered "Priority 2," and was part of the second group of grants, announced on June 28.

According to The Bushnell's executive director David Fay, this grant is "a huge step in the right direction. It's a good sum of money, when combined with two PPP grants we've received. Our private donors and corporate folks have really stuck with us. Our Annual Fund exceeded $2 million dollars in donations in the year we were closed. We've raised $2.2 million for our COVID relief fund. If you add all that all together, we're not going anywhere."

The full list of recipients thus far is as follows:

• The Bushnell: $5,750,724
• Fun Music Productions, a booking and music/video production company in Redding: $1,000,107
• The Wall Street Theater concert hall in Norwalk: $882,583
• Toad's Place in New Haven: $748,343
• Downtown Cabaret Theatre Company in Bridgeport: $540,333
• Spotlight Theatres, Hartford (which has been sold and will soon reopen as the Apple Luxury Dine In cinema): $467,959
• MOMIX (the modern dance/movement troupe) in Washington: $453,752
• Gallery Cinemas in Colchester: $430,921
• Norwalk Seaport Association: $399,769
• The Metro Movies 12 cinema in Middletown: $396,275
• The Brad Simon Organization (a production company that handles national theater tours including "Wild Kratts Live") in Oxford: $342,303
• Lion's Cathedral Productions in Mystic (which produces the "Imbible" series of cocktails/theater shows): $291,952
• Niantic Cinema Corp. (a five-screen moviehouse in downtown Niantic): $284,148
• Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury: $277,926
• The Curtain Call, Inc. community theater complex in Stamford: $254,502
• Concert promoter Ross Elias Atamian in Stamford: $243,209
• The Parkade Cinemas & Entertainment Inc. in Manchester (six indoor screens plus a drive-in): $227,415
• Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven: $207,181
• Simsbury Performing Arts Center: $171, 570
• Music Theatre of Connecticut in Norwalk: $153,511
• The Submarine Force Library & Museum Association in Groton: $137,247
• Spinning Reels, which is renovating the Bantam Cinemas building into an arts center, in Bantam: $116,313
• The 200-seat, 110-year-old Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport: $115,960
• Charitable Hands Foundation in Bethany: $95,885
• The Square Foot Theatre Company in Wallingford: $76,720
• The live entertainment production company Heart And Soul Ent LLC in Bethel: $65,744
• Shakespeare on the Sound in New Canaan: $60,282
• Cast, Inc. in Manchester: $59,844
• The concert production company Hartstone Productions in Bloomfield: $59,728
• Thrown Stone Theatre Company in Ridgefield: $37,721
• Westport Community Theatre in Westport: $27,565
• Northway Restaurant Enterprises (which runs the Pacific Standard Tavern karaoke bar) in New Haven: $25,939
• Norwalk International Cultural Exchange: $20,065
• Sarah Hawkey's "vocal arts instruction" studio in Redding: $18,687
• Main Street Ballet Company in Woodbury: $15,581
• Music promoter Fernando Pinto Enterprises in New Haven: $5,566

Read more on The Hartford Courant.

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