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Moe FonerMoe Foner
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Session:         Page of 592

weeks, and it's going to be 30,000 dollars per show. I have to figure out, “How am I going to save on this so I can make it go seven weeks? How do I figure it out?” You work out all kinds of angles to figure out ways. You start raising money from foundations, you come in on it, and you go in to the program. Big deal. You know, printed program with “We are indebted to.”

But a lot of them wanted it. Because once it became successful, people wanted to be part of that thing. So that you had that kind of operation going that's extremely valuable. So that the first show, it does five weeks, and something like 17,000 people attend it! Now we can't get that kind of attendance at meetings if you stood on your head that you struck for a couple of times -- you know, before a strike you might get something like that at a City Hall demonstration. So you're getting that, and we follow it with the Labor Theatre “I Just Wanted Some One To Know,” with Chuck Portz. You know, they have a company? I wanted a labor show, and I moved them out in to Pennsylvania, and I booked through the ILGWU. I'm beginning to book with other unions. The Amalgamated and the ILG. “You want the show? Okay, it'll cost you so much to ship them out there.” While I'm shipping it out to our place, they do it there. So it doesn't really matter. So I'm beginning to make on the gig. I'm beginning to work with DC37 -- he wants it to come to his delegate assembly. When we started “Take Care,” they said, “Can we get it too?” I said, “For a week at city hospitals.” “Sure.” “7,000 dollars.” Now I know what the costs are and I know I'm making, so I can get a little bit more for our members on it, you see.

Q:

How much money in total went through the Bread and Roses budgets during the life of the program?

Foner:

Maybe two million dollars. But keep this in mind -- there's over four, five, six years. We still have some money left over from Bread and Roses. Not from government. Government money you have to spend. This is money I got for other programs. And you have to account for everything, you know, in monthly reports that go out on it. In addition to performances in 1199 Plaza -- we were performing at night, on Friday nights, there -- the Brooklyn Museum. The Brooklyn Museum had an outreach program, so Bread and Roses at the Brooklyn Museum. A whole day programming. Theater, and inviting the community. They wanted that. That kind of thing is very sexy with the endowments. You're doing, you know --

Q:

You're in the community.

Foner:

You're in the community, you're in the arts, we're all over the place. You bring the State Arts Council to come down to see the show,





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