Tuesday 6 September 2022 10:44 PM Elite venues including the Met Opera and Carnegie Hall say they have NO plans ... trends now
Many elite venues - including the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall - are still requiring patrons wear masks, despite many Broadway theaters axing the mandate entirely, or offering special masked showings.
The New York City venues holding onto the mandates say the mask-only shows typically draw an older audience, who feel safer with the face coverings, they claim.
Places like the opera, the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the New York City Ballet will keep their mask policies, but will not require proof of vaccination, according to The New York Times.
'We did quite a bit of audience research, and we have found that our audiences, in fact, are more comfortable with masks,' New York Philharmonic's CEO and President Deborah Borda told the Times.
'People say: "Well, sports venues are dropping the use of masks" — those are very young audiences. Our audiences might not be as young.'
Lincoln Center (pictured) which includes the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Ballet have kept their mask policies in place, but have done away with checking for proof of vaccination.
The Kite Runner, a new play at the Hayes theatre based on the bestselling book, has designated certain days and showtimes to be mask only for patrons who feel safer in an all-masked environment
Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, said the venue's recent surveys showed a 'clear majority' supported a mandatory masking policy.
'I’m sure there are some outliers who won’t come to the Met because they don’t want to wear a mask,' Gelb told The New York Times. '[But our] older audiences feel safer wearing masks. And our younger audiences are respectful of that.'
Some venues outside of New York City are also holding onto the policy a little longer, such as the San Francisco Opera, which still requires masking and vaccinations.
'Our recent audience survey also indicated a very strong desire for continued safety protocols in the
