Meghan Finn

Theaters in NYC have been on the decline for some time, but since the pandemic, theaters have struggled to bounce back to an already tough state - attendance is down 17% and ticket sales 14%. A number of trends underpin this shift: changing lifestyle (to digital), aging audiences, location of theaters (public safety concerns), and increasing overhead costs (labor). Meghan and her organization, The Tank, have experienced the opposite. The Tank puts on hundreds of shows and works with over 3000 artists each year. Space to rehearse and perform is free and artists are supported with tasks they otherwise have to do on their own (e.g. box office, marketing, insurance and liability, set design and execution). Box office sales are split between The Tank and artists. 

Building on the success, Meghan’s idea to add fuel to NYC theaters is to ‘white label’ The Tank’s model and offer it to other theaters - big and small - where they are dark most of the time. Think like Restaurant Week, but for theaters to have a new kind of initiative that allows for different artists, new audiences, and a higher volume of work in a time bound way. The perk? Meghan thinks it will not only generate revenue during times the theater was otherwise dark, this model will bring in more artists, new audiences more often, inject new life into lobbies, and broaden the aperture of what gets to be seen in NYC.