​The Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction returns for its 40th annual edition on Sunday, September 27. Last year we raised over $43,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, helping provide lifesaving medication, nutritious meals, counseling, and emergency assistance to people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

​We are once again collecting theater-related items and memorabilia, and we would love your support. No donation is too small, and no donation is too large.
 
A collection box is available at the sixth-floor reception desk in the Sardi Building, or you can send items to me through interoffice mail.
 
Please help spread the word and do not hesitate to reach out with any questions. Thank you for your generosity and for making this event a success.

 When you think of Broadway, sports may not be the first thing that comes to your mind (unless of course you’re thinking of Damn Yankees or perhaps Rocky the Musical.)

But a unique opportunity presented itself when NY/NJ played host to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, welcoming visitors from all around the world.

We gathered Broadway and Off Broadway talent to share why visitors should come kick it on Broadway while they’re here.
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And we got a little charity involved. Several shows decorated one-of-a-kind soccer balls (Shubert even got in on the action too) that will be available for purchase at our table via silent auction during this year’s Broadway Flea Market.

​On July 30th, we bid farewell to our fifth cohort of Shubert interns. Each intern was embedded within their department, where they gained hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of the work that drives The Shubert Organization's success. Read on to see exactly what they were able to accomplish.

• Aiden Passaro – Finance
  • Assisted with bank reconciliations, journal entries, client billing, Broadway Inbound payment processing, account reconciliations, prepaid and liability accounts, and financial analysis
  • Researched discrepancies and analyzed financial data

• Suzy Leff – Human Resources
  • Updated the Labor Law notice boards at all 17 Broadway theatres plus the Shubert Warehouse and New World Stages
  • Digitized and archived over 200 important files
  • Researched vendors and demoed content for our annual anti-harassment training
  • Tracked and saved our annual Ticket Policy distribution responses

• Ein Sel – Marketing
  • Trained Shubert's beta AI system, SAM
  • Built a digital marketing campaign library

• Michiho Shimasaki – Off Broadway Venue Management
  • Assisted in coordinating the first phase of Stage 42 display case restoration
  • Assisted with site visits for the Stage 2 renovation project, and the NWS 50th street marquee restoration/upgrade.
  • Conducted full NWS shop inventory updates and created a new tracking system
  • Took the initiative in creating a new project management system and formatted it to act as the go to spreadsheet for tracking daily tasks, service calls and delegated projects with timelines
• Alexandra Moore – Payroll
  • Digitized union contracts, benefits remittances, and almost 100 years’ worth of tax filings
  • Created an organizational system for our office supplies
  • Compiled binders and other unneeded supplies for donation to the Operation Backpack program  
• John Diaz – Real Estate​​
  • Performed various key tasks including the preparation of real estate transaction memos, lease analysis for retail tenants across our portfolio
  • Structured an excel spreadsheet detailing all the insurance requirements of our various tenants
• Hayden Daley – Ticketing
  • ​Lead a competitive analysis across three key areas of ecommerce: user interface design, agentic search, and feature functionality

“So, tell me your thoughts on the new initiative.” “How do you feel about leading the new project?” “How do you like working here?” As a manager, these questions can seem innocuous on the surface but depending on your departmental culture they can also be rife with tension and anxiety for your staff. For an employee to be open and honest there needs to be psychological safety in the workplace. Psychological safety is the organizational structure of teams with open and honest communication that allows employees to have a sense of comfort about their ideas and identities at work.
While a psychologically safe workplace is ideal, and what every manager would strive for, there can be barriers that make it difficult, but not impossible, to achieve. 

• Structural. Steep hierarchy and power distance, siloed decision-making, performance systems that punish error, no forum or time for candid conversation, and physical or remote distance from the people with authority.
• Leader behavior. Micromanagement, defensiveness when challenged, advocating a position before inviting input, perfectionism at the top, and reserving participation rights for seniority.
• Interpersonal norms. Ridicule and put-downs, cliques, dominance by the loudest voices, and the tacit rule that newcomers listen for a year before the organization listens to them.
• Belief. The private conclusions people draw — it’s not my place to say, I’ll look like I should already know this, I’ll be labeled a troublemaker, it won’t make a difference anyway. Futility is one of the most common reasons people stay quiet, and it is entirely learned.

Managers should be aware of these barriers and the impact they can have on their department. Staff members that do not feel safe being honest with their feedback and ideas will be reluctant to voice new concepts. That can lead to a stagnation of ideas and a continuation of “this is how we’ve always done it”. If staff isn’t incentivized to be creative, the team can suffer from groupthink. The group just goes along with the idea that is presented first.
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Creating a psychologically safe department doesn’t take much to implement, but it takes work to maintain.  

1. Make it an explicit priority
Wanting a safe environment doesn’t make it so.  Your staff have to be reassured that this is more than just talk and a nice to have.
 
2. Facilitate everyone speaking up
​Give space to people so they can step up or speak up.  If someone does speak up, be open minded and compassionate. Especially if it’s someone that doesn’t normally do that.
 
3. Establish norms for how failure is handled
How is failure handled? Is it looked at as a learning experience, or is it used to push people back into their box. 
 
4. Create space for new ideas. (Even the wild ones)
Knowing you wouldn’t be punished for failing allows staff to be creative and come up with novel ideas.  Will all of them be winners? Not at all but allowing space gives birth to brainstorms that can come up with original ideas.  No more “this is how we’ve always done it”.
 
5. Embrace productive conflict
​Everyone won’t agree but conflict can be productive if handled in a productive manner.  Are you shutting down one person instead of hearing both sides? How are the staff speaking to each other, is it in a respectful manner
 
There is no time like the present to start working on your psychologically safe department.