Hartford’s arts, entertainment scene is showing early signs of recovery.

The reluctance to attend live shows appears to have eased this spring Hartford But the push to get people off the couch and away from the TV is still months away, possibly a year or more away, as the pandemic recedes.

Even so, in Impromptu sea teaan underground comedy club downtown, and other venues around the city have seen encouraging signs of audiences queuing up for tickets again.

“I was terrified until around Christmas,” says Sea Tea founder and managing director Julia Pistell. “And then in January — which has been a busy month for us anyway — and then all of a sudden — it felt like really all of a sudden — people were like, ‘I’m done.’” So we just had There has been an influx, and it has been going on for months. so. I feel very positive right now. “

Before the pandemic, Sea Tea’s cast improvised from the audience, which at their 80-seat venue on Asylum Street typically saw performances of 40-50 people. Pistel said turnout was as low as 10 or 20 percent of normal attendance but had climbed to an average of 60 percent in recent weeks.

“It’s obviously not amazing, but it’s not what it was either, it’s much worse,” Pistel said.

Spread Coronavirus disease This was followed by the forced closure of stores, restaurants, arts and entertainment venues in Connecticut in early 2020, sparking a dramatic cultural shift that made the home the central focus of life and work. Many employers in the hospitality and entertainment industry have found themselves financially distressed and helpless as workers were lost after the state’s shutdown order was lifted.

Infinity Music Hall Hartfordthe city’s concert and comedy venue Front Street Entertainment District, closed for 18 months, its owners had to seriously consider reopening the concert hall. Infinity Hall was hailed as a mainstay of the Front Street area when it first opened in 2014, and a major driver of the city’s nightlife.

good work entertainment In 2019, just months before the pandemic hit, Infinity Hall Hartford and its sister venue in Norfolk were purchased. Dave Rosenfeld, one of the founders of GoodWorks, said Infinity Hall’s survival depends entirely on two federal stimulus packages, one of which is Grants for closed-door venue operators.

“We would never have succeeded without it,” Rosenfeld said.

Today, the outlook for the two-story Infinity Hall is more rosy. Ticket sales for shows so far this year have reached pre-pandemic levels, typically ranging from 250-300 tickets per show. What hasn’t returned yet, however, is Infinity’s show count. Now, there are eight shows a month, compared to an average of 10 shows in Hartford before the pandemic, a number that is likely to hit in 2023. “So we’re really adding,” Rosenfeld said.

“Our worldview is reflected in ticket sales,” Rosenfeld said. “There must have been a pick-up, which suggests there was activity in town.”

Infinity Hall sold 715 tickets two weeks ago Dark Stara Grateful Dead cover band, Rosenfeld said.

“That was on a Monday,” Rosenfeld said. “Well, that tells you something.”

“Building the City”

Few would argue that Hartford’s show and event attendance is still in the early stages of a recovery and uncertainty remains over its trajectory.

I am very concerned about this issue Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin Last week, when he urged businesses Metro Hartford Union Hold meetings to bring as many employees back to downtown offices as possible. The job doesn’t even have to be full-time, Bronin said, and can be as simple as changing a hybrid work schedule to work in an office one to three days a week, Bronin said.

Broening looks at the broader goal of reigniting the momentum behind an urban renaissance derailed by the pandemic. More workers in cities means more business for restaurants, and after hours: bars, entertainment venues, and theaters.

In a tight labor market where companies are vying for the top talent, employers are challenged by employees who want to work remotely. This gives prospective employees an upper hand when negotiating terms of employment.

At last week’s league meeting downtown, Broening didn’t limit his urging to return to the city to the workweek. Duncan Park.

“We really need everyone in this room to be involved in the work of building the city,” Broening said. “It means eating out more often in the city as a person, going out goats in the yard game, walk through Hartford Athletic Football games… spread the word about all things Hartford in your community. Go to Wadsworth, go to our theater, if you haven’t been to a theater in a while. “

Even as the pandemic recedes, the challenge of convincing the public to return to the activity patterns it was chasing three years ago remains. That will mean moving away from the more enclosed life at home that was so important at the height of the pandemic — with TVs and streaming services as entertainment hubs.

“I love watching TV shows, but I also know that going to a live experience is a completely different and rewarding thing, and I’m sure people will find it rewarding: Put your phone down, get out, do something with your friends, ”Cynthia Rider, Managing Director Hartford Stage Company. , explain. “We really aspire to that. We just got out of the habit of doing that.”

The Hartford Stage is still struggling to bring people back to the 490-seat theater on Church Street, a problem facing live performance theaters across the country. Rider said multi-series subscription packages were the main driver of revenue, but they were still down more than 50% from pre-pandemic levels.

A key indicator of the strength of ticket sales is the purchase of individual tickets outside of subscription packages, Rider said.

The Hartford Stage has sold 9,578 individual tickets so far this season, on track to surpass last year’s 9,940. But that’s still well below the 21,789 individual ticket sales for the 2018/2019 season before the pandemic.

Rider said she has high hopes for the remaining two shows of the season: Shakespeareof winter’s tale and Alice Childress‘ I have troubles in my heart.

Corporate bookings lag

On the banks of the Hartford River, the great Connecticut Convention Center Seeing a backlash in shows that are open to the public, fueled in particular by two events, beyond van gogh Exhibit and holiday light show Glow. The two events attracted approximately 120,000 visitors.

Another highlight was the annual Connecticut Flower and Garden Show, which drew 27,000 people over four days in late February, 2,000 more than in 2019 before the pandemic.

While the numbers are ostensibly impressive, convention center officials say bookings for meetings and corporate events were still lagging before the pandemic. Public performances are of course important to the city because they bring people into the city, and these people frequent the city’s restaurants. But multi-day meetings and corporate bookings have greater economic spin-off potential in terms of hotel stays and excursions to other Hartford attractions.

Convention center officials said one factor in the slow resumption of business activity is that employers are still dealing with a dramatic shift in the work environment, which now includes a greater emphasis on remote and hybrid options.

“In general, the public performance business is back, and it’s safe to say it’s back,” said Mike Costelli, general manager of the convention center. “I think the corporate market is still about a year away from really fully recovering.”

Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.