Red Tape Keeps World’s Best Off New York’s Stages

When the Brooklyn Academy of Music launches its annual Next Wave Festival this fall, audiences may see dance from China and Israel, puppetry from Africa, and a techno-sambapop diva from Brazil. Then again, they might not. Though the contracts have been signed and announcements have been sent out, BAM’s administration doesn’t actually know if those artists will, in fact, arrive.And BAM is not alone. The process of bringing artists to these shores today has become marred by unpredictable delays, mounting fees, and labyrinthine procedures. Across the country, performing arts venues that present international artists – like the Lincoln Center Festival, which starts this week – regularly announce their seasons without knowing if their artists will be allowed to enter this country.Will the troupe be granted a visa? Will they clear the security checks? Will it all happen by curtain time? Presenters can only cross their fingers and wait. Sometimes it doesn’t work out; this weekend, the Brazilian band Nacao Zumbi didn’t play at SummerStage in Central Park because it had not received its visa yet.“It’s one more level of burden: having to announce your season and not know if the artist will be there,” said Ella Baff, executive director of the international dance festival Jacob’s Pillow. “It is a challenge to our existence, which includes presenting work and having students and instructors from all over the world.”What was once a complicated but at least consistent process has turned into an expensive and highly unreliable waiting game. Every year, nonprofit arts institutions find they must devote more staff, time, and money to securing non-immigrant working visas for foreign artists – and some still find the efforts obviated when an American embassy abroad declines a request.Critics of the Bush administration point to the situation as evidence of newly unleashed jingoistic tendencies. The reality is that this problem predates – and was compounded by – the events of September 11, 2001. The government’s responsibility to protect Americans remains paramount. But the government’s bureaucracy has introduced new costs and scheduling problems that threaten to limit America’s cultural life. And it wouldn’t be that difficult to fix.THE PROBLEMWhen BAM presented Songs of the Sufi Brotherhood in May, the stage was full of Pakistani musicians performing the patterned songs in the mystical Islamic tradition. But one local American played in place of the group’s tabla expert, Zafar Ali. Mr. Ali’s visa request had been accepted, but for months his background check did not clear, despite BAM’s requests for information from the State Department and the American embassy in Islamabad.On May 4, the Sufi troupe flew to New York, leaving Mr. Ali behind. The very next day, May 5, he received his security clearance. After a six-hour bus ride from his home to the embassy to obtain the visa, he booked the first available flight to New York. He arrived on May 8, one day after the group’s final performance at BAM.The Lyons Opera Ballet wasn’t so lucky. Last September, it toured without one of its principal dancers – a Cuban. Days prior to its tour, the troupe was notified that all 42 dancers and personnel would have to interrupt preparations for their season in Lyons in order to go to Paris for consular interviews. In previous trips to the U.S., even after September 11, the troupe had been exempt from the interviews. The surprise cost of the high-speed train tickets, hotel stay, and per diem for dancers and staff was about $10,000 (U.S.).Why do things like this seem to be happening with more frequency?Bringing a foreign artist over is (and in the past has been) essentially a two-step process. First, the presenting venue submits a petition, or application, to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service) for an artist’s visa. Then, if the request is approved, the future visitors must obtain the actual visas from the American consulate in their home country. This process is overseen by the State Department.In June 2001 the government began offering the option of an expedited visa-approval process. For $1,000, applicants seeking a visa could use the Premium Processing Service. It guarantees that a visa application will be decided upon within 15 calendar days. The new service, meant to make the process more convenient, turned out to have some unforeseen consequences.“That’s when our problems began,” the American Symphony Orchestra League’s director of government affairs, Heather Watts, said. “Resources were diverted to handling the PPS process. Regular cases were then waiting to be addressed.” In short, those who paid for accelerated processing actually seemed to be slowing others down.According to a USCIS spokesman, Chris Bentley, this is not the case: It is greater attention to detail and close work with the State Department that may cause delays. “Not because of premium processing,” he said. “There are security checks. There is nothing we would do to circumvent that process. There are some cases that would take longer.”Either way, a problem exists. For standard service, the time frame for notification from the USCIS shot from 45 days to several months, during which time the second step of the process typically cannot begin. “If we don’t pay the fee, then it takes two to four to six months to find out if you can get someone,” BAM’s director of artist services, Mary Reilly, said. “It challenges the programming schedule.”The main reason these deadlines pile up is that the USCIS will not accept visa applications – that is, it will not allow applicants to begin the entire process – until just six months prior to the entry date. BAM, for example, announced on June 2 the lineup for its Next Wave Festival, which begins on October 4. Programming decisions were made months before the announcement, but visa applications could only begin in May. With the premium service, BAM can get an answer within 15 days. But not all venues have the cash to do the same.THE COSTSBecause administrators need answers on whether or not their performers will be able to enter the country, they feel forced to pay the $1,000 fee for faster answers. And here the costs can start to add up. If the act is traveling with non-stage employees, which most do, a separate visa application must be filed – along with an additional $1,000 premium fee.“Institutions like BAM can rack up $28,000 for one festival just in premium processing fees,” said Ms. Reilly. A sum like that could be used to hire a new employee, host several patron receptions, or pay for an entire week’s hotel stay for a traveling troupe of 20 people.BAM grudgingly absorbs the fee as one of the costs of doing business. But for Jacob’s Pillow, the premium fees are just too high. Each year, this renown dance festival brings in up to 18 international guests: three to four performing artists, three to four faculty members, and 10 students.“There have been times when we have been forced to go to the PPS, which is an expense that’s extraordinary,” Jacob’s Pillow’s director of operations, Lou Barnes, said. “It’s just to get your piece of paper to the top of the pile.”Even without the premium fees, the costs involved in the process are increasing. The application fee for each visa is now $185. Each petition also must include an advisory letter from an American union in a similar field (that applies to everyone from singers to stagehands) stating essentially that the performance will not result in the loss of American jobs, and unions have started charging fees in exchange for those letters. The American Federation of Musicians, for example, charges $50 per letter, or $200 for a letter within 48 hours. Actors Equity charges $250 for a letter, if the incoming company is not performing on exchange or under the union’s contract.THE SOLUTIONMost of the changes to the application process were instituted just prior to September 11, and with time they could possibly have been sorted out. When the U.S. found itself on a wartime footing, however, additional changes were suddenly made to the process.Since September 11, entire companies must go to a designated consulate for a face-to-face interview. This can be especially difficult for groups whose members are not based in the same place. This summer, Lincoln Center Festival will present “I La Galigo,” a retelling of an Indonesian creation myth. The performance employs 72 individuals hailing from Indonesia, Germany, Canada, Italy, Singapore, and Sweden.This process is standard, and necessary, for nearly all visa-seeking travelers now, and arts advocates are aware of that reality. “We’re not saying we’re above the law. We’ve got to make sure the country is secure,” said Sandra Gibson, president of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, which represents 1,700 member organizations. What would help is greater flexibility on the location and time of the consular interview, especially for artists who tour frequently.But mainly Ms. Gibson and other arts advocates are pushing to simplify the other parts of the process – decisions that were made before September 11 and have only served to make a troubled time for American performance venues even more difficult. Arts lobbyists such as the American Arts Alliance, have taken their case to the State Department, USCIS, and members of Congress who sit on the committees that oversee USCIS. Ms. Gibson and members of her group have organized visits to the visa-processing centers in California, Texas, Vermont, and Nebraska.“We spent the day looking at the vagaries of all this,” she said. “Our conversations with USCIS have been good.”According to the orchestra league’s Ms. Watts, whose organization is part of the AAA, the broad goal is that the visa process should be “affordable, predictable, and efficient.” That translates to several industry-specific agenda items: a reduction in the processing times of standard-service visas to a maximum of 45 days; the ability to file petitions 12 months, instead of six months, ahead of the requested entry date; and uniformity policy procedures for handling petitions.Arts administrators express degrees of frustration, grief, and disbelief on this subject. What they rarely show is resignation.Joseph Melillo, executive producer of BAM, has steely resolve on the subject: “We need to see and experience these artists because it puts our own creativity in a context. We cannot live in a void.”As Ms. Gibson points out, there is a bit of diplomacy involved, as well: “Global cultural exchange is of great value. It’s one of the most powerful ways to get through the politics.” But it’s got to get through the bureaucracy first.What It Takes to Get a Foreign Performer to New York City, from Start to FinishFor performing arts programmers, the core of the problem is timing. “If the curtain goes up on Friday evening, your artist needs to be there,” Heather Watts, of the American Symphony Orchestra League, said.Visa petitions can be filed with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services only six months ahead, but sometimes that is not enough time and the process can take more than six months to complete.If an application does clear USCIS in three months, and an artist is granted a consular interview the next month, curtain time is less than two months away. If the artist doesn’t clear security immediately, more time ticks by until the visa is granted – or denied.1. FILING The earliest, and recommended, date to file a visa petition with USCIS is six months prior to the requested entry date for rehearsal and performance. Arts lobbyists and administrators are pressing USCIS to change the earliest possible filing date to 12 months prior to requested entry. If the process could begin earlier, it would allow more time to account for variables and delays.2. WAITING If the venue is not using Premium Processing Service (at a $1,000 fee for each visa), the waiting time to obtain a decision from USCIS could be anywhere from a few weeks to several months. Delays arise because of misspelled names or birth dates listed in European style. Delays are also incurred when USCIS requests more information, in the case of artists considered flight risks or security concerns. If the venue is using Premium Processing Service, the wait time is 15 days. (There’s a USCIS money-back guarantee on that.) Many venues find the $1,000 fee too expensive.3. STILL WAITING After USCIS accepts the visa petition, the artist requests a personal interview at the American consulate in his or her home country. It can take a week to a month before an interview is granted. Wait times for consulates around the world are posted on the State Department’s Web site.4. POSSIBLE APPROVAL After the interview, a consulate grants a visa at its discretion and timing, allowing the artist and venue to know that the show will go on. If the consular official finds that a more thorough security check is necessary, the clearance could take days, weeks, or months. That lack of information means the venue and artist are still unsure that the performance will happen. At any point, the artist could be denied a visa. With an earlier filing date, all parties would know – well before the performance date – whether the artist can enter the country.

Red Tape Keeps World’s Best Off New York’s Stages

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