$50 million in COVID relief to LI entertainment venues
The Paramount, Tilles Center among venues that won COVID-19 relief
Among Long Island venues, The Paramount in Huntington received the most funding in the first round: $7 million. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Among the list of local entertainment venues that won federal COVID-19 relief grants was The Paramount in Huntington, which secured $7 million — the largest Long Island grant from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, Newsday's James T. Madore reports.
The program was established to help concert halls, playhouses, independent movie theaters and producers of live entertainment that shut down for months during the crisis. It was funded with $16 billion by Congress and then-President Donald Trump in December 2020.
Besides the Paramount, grants were received by Northport's Engeman, $2.6 million; Tilles, a performing arts center on Long Island University's Brookville campus, $2.3 million; Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, $2.1 million, and the Argyle Theatre in Babylon village, $1.7 million, according to the analysis of data from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
New York received the largest share of funding with $1.4 billion for 1,297 venues. Long Island accounted for 4% of the funding statewide.
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Erin Serpico is an assistant web producer who joined Newsday in November 2018. Originally from New Jersey, she now covers community events and produces local content for newsday.com while also helping run the homepage.
