A Drop in the Bucket
By Harry Haun
02 Nov 2009
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Tom Viola
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| photo by Jay Brady | In the annual BC/EFA fundraiser, theatregoers' change can add up to big change this holiday season.
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Every year about this time, as regularly as "Silver Bells" at Christmas, comes the sound of collective drops-in-the-bucket made by theatregoers leaving the building.
This six-week fundraising event by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is in full swing until Dec. 6, culminating with the Gypsy of the Year Competition at the Palace Theatre on Dec. 7 & 8, when the results will be announced.
BC/EFA also has a sister event in the spring leading up to the Easter Bonnet Competition; for the past few years, each drive has raised around $3 million. Last fall, Daniel Radcliffe's Equus cracked the top three of biggest-earning shows. A big spring earner was Jane Fonda's 33 Variations.
"Without these two audience-appeal periods," says Broadway Cares honcho Tom Viola, "we truly would not be able to make our grant-making goals. Last year over $6 million was raised, allowing us to make the $3.6 million we sent to The Actors Fund and then distribute another $4.4 million through our national grants program."
Over $70 million has been raised since BC/EFA's audience appeals began in 1991. Among The Actors Fund outlets benefiting from these are the AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative, the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic and 400-plus AIDS and family service organizations nationwide — food banks, health clinics and housing programs that reach thousands.
Competition is fierce among the 60-something Broadway, Off-Broadway and national-tour shows. "It's the key component of the fundraising success.... They will do all sorts of things around the time of the appeals. Kevin Kline sold the nose off his face when he did Cyrano. Daniel Radcliffe offered up the jeans he wore in Equus. Hugh Jackman literally in one season raised $1.5 million with his audience appeals. That's very heavy-lifting. Between his auctioning and selling, it was almost like a third act to The Boy From Oz. He would wipe off his face and sell the towel."
Generosity on both sides of the footlights accounts for the success of BC/EFA fundraising. "This is an entire community's participation — the actors who make the pitch, the stage managers who manage it all backstage, the crew, the musicians, the wardrobe and hair personnel who wait the extra few minutes so that the cast members can run around and make the collections. Perhaps most important are the theatre owners — the Shuberts, the Nederlanders, Jujamcyn and Disney — and the producers, who let us do this. Without their permission, without the support of the other unions and guilds, these would absolutely not be possible."
So this holiday season, when the cast of the show you are currently enjoying steps out on stage and asks for your help…drop what you can in the bucket. As you can see, it goes a long way!
"BC/EFA is grateful for the entire community's support," says Viola. "And especially for the generous response of audiences on Broadway and in theatres across the country."
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