The city shines a spotlight on Broadway.

Broadway pumps $11 billion buckaroos into the NYC economy and provides 86,000 jobs to local residents . . . and the city just sent us a thank you card.

That card came in the form of a fascinating and fun new website called SpotlightOnBroadway, which, in the words of their press materials is . . .

. . . a project of the City of New York’s Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment designed to celebrate the history of Broadway by highlighting the theatres and people who contribute to Broadway’s unique cultural legacy.

Their plans for the site are to create a library of 40 short documentaries about each one of the 40 Broadway theaters and interview the players, both on and off those theaters’ stages, about the history of those famous houses.

Thankfully, the city has also agreed to do more than just park the material on a website (where it would be only found by the true fans like you and me).  These mini-docs will also be broadcast on Channel 25, and the more tourist-friendly Taxi TV.

The Spotlight Program also includes a set of yearly awards to major figures in our industry from different disciplines.  This year’s Spotlighters included Arlene Dahl, Nina Lannan, Matthew D. Loeb, James M. Nederlander, Chita Rivera, Charles Strouse and Nick Wyman.

But my absolute favorite part of this monster project was this . . .

 Designs are also in the works for a permanent installation in Times Square.

I’m hopeful that this design will be similar to the concept we discussed on this blog?

Click here to visit SpotlightOnBroadway.  You’ll love the vid and seeing all the cool folks they interviewed, from Nick Scandalios to Michael David to Tom Kitt and lots of other Most Powerful People on Broadway.  And do share it around the web (click here to share it on Facebook and Twitter).

And a big thanks to The City for spearheading this project.

Now, can we talk about getting a tax credit like the one you give to movies?

 

(Got a comment? I love ‘em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here then scroll down, to say what’s on your mind!)

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FUN STUFF:

– Broadway Investing 101 seminar coming up on 10/13!  Register here.

– Win a copy of Mark Thompson’s new business book Admired!  Click here to enter!

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Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.

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