Cultural centers in Arkansas took big financial hits from the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and the Pine Bluff Convention Center was among those that felt the impact.
"When covid shut down the whole country, budgets were cut," said Joseph McCorvey, the center's executive director. "Our budgets were cut. During that time, Congress looked into starting that PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] for businesses. We applied for it, but we weren't eligible."
The Convention Center wasn't eligible because it is city property and doesn't have articles of incorporation like a standalone business, McCorvey said.
But a conference call with a U.S. senator, he said, has led to his and other venues across America recovering some of their losses.
Last month, the Convention Center was awarded $869,610 in the form of a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. According to a news release, the agency offered more than $7.5 billion to more than 10,000 "hard-hit" live entertainment small businesses, nonprofits and venues.
"The ... program is designed to assist in getting the nation's cultural institutions, which are critical to the economy and were among the first to shutter, back on track," the Small Business Administration wrote.
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., was among 55 senators who signed a bipartisan letter, dated June 15, that was sent to Isabella Casillas Guzman, the small-business agency administrator, urging her to take steps to ensure applicants who qualify receive funds through the Save Our Stages Act, now known as the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
McCorvey said venue directors across Arkansas spoke with Boozman, whom he credits with petitioning senators to assist them.
The grant provides $699,897 to go toward personal service, $23,437 toward supplies and $146,276 for "other" needs.
"We spent money and we had to cut back where we could in order to save money with the loss of business and revenue for events for pretty much the year of 2020," McCorvey said. "We had to file reports."
McCorvey said it's hard to determine whether any of the grant money can go to technology upgrades, which he has pushed for at his 45-year-old venue.
"We have to get permission or get that approved," he said. "We did spend money for covid [on personal protective equipment], so we have to kind of do it the way they're asking us to.
"It may be a possibility of going back and asking for supplemental money, if there is some left available."
As of June, the Civic Auditorium Complex Commission, the city panel that supports the Convention Center, was within its 2021 budget revenue to date by $65,979 but spent over the actual revenue by $42,845. The commission took in $610,562 for the year to date, shy of the $657,100 budgeted revenue.
A year earlier, the commission had outspent its actual revenue to date by $11,072. McCorvey said the Convention Center lost about $200,000 in revenue from cancellations of events during the pandemic.
"We did have some events, but we lost quite a bit," he said. "2020 was going to be a banner year for us, because we had a lot of business on the books. We had to cancel concerts and all of that."
But the recent grant, McCorvey pointed out, "filled the gap in there for organizations like ours."
