Budgets, Financial Management and National Scandal?

Ultimately, budgeting is critical to success -- in your personal life or as the manager of an organization.  The larger the organization, the more variables you must manage in creating and monitoring a budget.  Ultimately, the numbers, while important, are not as important as the thought process and the logic that goes on behind it. Ultimately, however, the point is sustainability.  What does this linked file tell you about balancing mission to sustainable processes? 

Analysis and financial management frameworks (laws and regulations) are more complicated.  One interesting resource is: http://managementhelp.org/nonprofitfinances/index.htm 

There have been significant changes in this arena post-Enron (it affected the nonprofit sector as well as the for-profit). Read more about the SARBANES-OXLEY bill. Non-Profit specifics are particularly related to board ethics (as we've discussed lightly in class). Additionally, the recent ACORN scandal further presents the issues of 'why' financial management and accountability are important.

From Sarbanes Oxley to ACORN, what are your thoughts on financial accountability and management?

Contributed Income - The Long and Winding Road

Contributed Income is the other side of the income coin for a nonprofit organization.  These monies are not available to for-profit organizations. They are tied to the fundamental assumption that nonprofits are serving the community and donations are the means by which the community contributes to their existence. (very short version -- read the book too :-)

There is an publication that all professional fundraisers read -- Chronicle of Philanthropy: http://philanthropy.com/section/Home/172

There is an organization dedicated to the field, as well -- The Foundation Center:  http://www.foundationcenter.org/

Read the "about us" of the Foundation Center and poke around their web site.  Read a column in the Chronicle. 

What do you glean of the job of someone working in the field of Development/Fundraising?  Who are these people and what do they do?

Emerging modes of on-line fundraising include "Pepsi Refresh" and "KickStarter".  How are these new and different ways to raise money/engage people in a cause?  

FYI: Imagination Stage participated in the Pepsi Refresh project in December. We did not win, but we got a lot of engagement . . . (we were SO close -- one away from winning!). You can see our core fundraising video at (it is the first of 3): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El3QUFAsHKE&list=PLA9984DAF61EACB12&feature=plcp&context=C47f5c98FDvjVQa1PpcFOMyVbqkYDXWKk0b0xv1tPkkxkfwKm2Agc=

Communications: Marketing, Advertising,Public Relations, Audience Development . . . the options continue

What are we really talking about? Creating relationships and offering opportunities for exchanges (you give me money, I will give you a __insert adjective here__ experience).  Communicating from a nonprofit (or for profit) arts organization is a 'leveler' in many ways.  Advertising in a newspaper, for example, is the same for a production of INTO THE WOODS as it is for a new make-up.  You are hitting the same audience and you have to grab their attention.

Terminology:
Advertising:  paying someone else to run an ad (print or radio or web).
Public Relations: giving reporters information such that they can, if it seems like it might be of interest to their readers, write an article about it.
Reviews: Encouraging reporters to engage in an artistic endeavor and write about it.
Marketing/Communications: a strategy to bring about an exchange. It usually involves direct mail/email, advertising, public relations and personal selling (remember last week's box office?) to enact a single ticket purchase.

So, how does an arts marketer convince a potential audience member to buy a ticket (or a subscription) to a performance? Pick up your free NY Times in the entrance of Center for the Arts and pick an advertisement or an article.  What are they trying to communicate? Who will find that interesting?  (that would be the target market.)  How do you know?  (write about it below and bring to class)

Check out your organization's web site . . . how are they 'converting sales' or are they?  Check out the Super Bowl Ads  . . . who is their target market? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4804033000500581013. How are they converting sales?

Finally, who are the people interested in seeing theatre or the arts?  http://nea.gov/research/research.php?type=R  Check out research reports 54 and 49 (2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts and Beyond Attendance: A Multi-Modal Understanding of Arts Participation).  


The reports are large -- so glean the basics from the summaries.  What does that tell you? pay attention to shifts and percentages . . . who really cares that Everyman or Center Stage have performances ever?

Extra Credit: You are surrounded by marketing every day, all day long. . . . the noise is what marketers are trying to break through anyway they can.  For 'professional' peer-to-peer advice, check out this blog: http://arts-marketing.blogspot.com/2012/02/learning-from-past-looking-toward.html?m=1

How do theatres earn income?

Earned income comes from a myriad of sources for theatres in the United States.  However, there are some distinct differences between resident, nonprofit theatres and Broadway-based Commercial theatres.

Read p. 6 - 11 on TCG's Theatre Facts 2010 to get a sense of where the industry is and how it is moving forward specifically to earned income. (feel free to read pp 1 - 5 to get the executive summary overview)  http://www.tcg.org/tools/facts/

Here are some stats for Broadway: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052118 , http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118048205 
http://www.broadwayleague.com/index.php?url_identifier=research-and-informationn

Very different reports/industries, yes?

How do nonprofit theatres generate earned income?  What are the differences between these lines of income and a Broadway Theatre or a movie theatre?  Why do those differences exist?

Are there items theatres might be able to sell (or things you would like to buy) that have yet to be offered?

Nicki -- this is your week to jam! Have fun!

Facility and Audience Management

We have touched on the facility concerns from a macro - design perspective.  We are now going to evaluate the jobs and the requirements of running a facility and managing audiences.

While Facility Management, per se, does not have a theatre specific union.  It does have a support association:  http://www.ifma.org/.  Additionally, theatre managers (think rental/touring houses dedicated to that use) are members of APTAM: http://www.atpam.com/.  Check out each organization and compare their membership and interests.

Here is an interesting video (UK based but still relevant) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpRjmFnwmQk

What did you find out from her explanation that eluded you in the text?

Check out Center Stage and Round House Theatre (both nonprofit producing theatres that also rent their spaces).  What do you find out about policies? fees? etc?

http://www.centerstage.org/Visit/Lobbies-and-Theaters.aspx
http://www.roundhousetheatre.org/about-us/facility-use/

Presenting Organizations

Remember when we were talking about the turn of the century managers and the Theatrical Syndicate?  They controlled the tours and the talent stream?  The theatre touring/presenting system is no longer working under a monopoly although there are some contributors who control a lot of what we get to see.

This week we are going to investigate who presents, why the present, and how the system works: how do presenters find the work?  How do producers of work for tour find the presenters for their shows? How do they coordinate all of these moving pieces?

The national organization that represents presenting organizations, in much the way Theatre Communications Groups represents nonprofit professional theatres, is the Association for Performing Arts Presenters aka Arts Presenters aka APAP.  APAP has many services it offers for the field of presenters.  It most notable event is its annual conference in NYC in January, a conference that connects people much in the spirit of the turn-of-the-century annual meeting of booking agents scheduling trains and tours across the country.  The highlights from the 2012 conference are here -- http://www.apapnyc.org/schedule/Pages/highlights.aspx;  Watch one of the videos of presentations.

A similar conference is held each year for international performing arts companies for youth (aka IPAY): http://www.ipayweb.org.  Check out their web site to see how they are similar yet different from APAP.

The mid-Atlantic resource is the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation: http://www.midatlanticarts.org/  .  How are they yet different than APAP and IPAY?

Finally, look at the relationship between Broadway Across America  and the Baltimore presenting hub of the Hippodrome/Franc-Merrick Theatre .  How are the Hippodrome, the Lyric and Baltimore Theatre Project (all presenting orgs) unique to one another (what niche does each fulfill?)?

Community, College, Stock and Dinner Theatres

The remainder of our "producing theatre" models are thrown in together this week.  Most of you have had experience in at least 2 if not more of these models.  We will definitely be speaking of your experiences and the unique models for each in class on Thursday.

Today, you get to delve a little deeper into their worlds. Look at the sites below as organizations and exemplars of some of the models.

www.aact.org
www.urta.com
http://www.trinityrep.com/on_stage/current_season/special_performances_3.php
http://dreams.zinzanni.org/
http://www.strawhat-auditions.com/who.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eoDYM0vExQ (summer stock in its heyday and in its idealized state)

Select one area:  community theatre, college theatre, summer stock or dinner theatre.  How did the models linked above give you a better/deeper understanding of this arena?  What questions did it raise in your mind.

As producing, nonprofessional or amateur theatres, how are the different than their for profit siblings?  How are they similar yet different from their nonprofit brethren?

Nonprofit Professional Theatres

This is my daily life.  Managing a nonprofit, professional theatre.  It is an interesting world!  Please take a moment to review this sector's equivalent of "the Broadway League" -- that would be Theatre Communciations Group.  Their web site is: www.tcg.org.  Of perhaps deep interest to you as the 'next generation' would be the Executive Director's most recent blog: http://www.tcg.org/publications/weekly/index.cfm

They produce a monthly magazine, AMERICAN THEATRE.  There are copies in the main office and/or copier room in the department.  Please take a moment to look at one this week as you are passing through. 

Remember when we signed up for the ArtsJournal weekly or daily news on theatre (or were supposed to on the first week of class).  Part of the reason was to help you know what is going on in the industry in an easy news feed (the New York Times mostly covers last week's content:  commercial theatre)

A recent article in the LA Times covers the struggle of the 'big' theatres in the US (these are similar to Center Stage -- bigger than Everyman)  http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-mcnulty-notebook-20120219,0,7909313.story  As Americans, we seem to be caught up in the "it is so hard where we are right now' litany.  I, however, see it as a great opportunity -- what do you see this opportunity to be?

Finally, as mentioned frequently, nonprofit arts organizations must serve their community (that's why they are nonprofits).  The key phrase of the future is "sustainability."  Is the system/organization able to sustain itself.  A recent study of the Columbus arts community proved quite interesting in this arena.  The full 104 page report is here (click to download).  Part of their summary noted:

Situation Analysis

Building on work by WolfBrown in their January 2010 report on the Future of the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, we began our work by extending their trend analysis over a 10 year period to document changes in the Columbus arts sector over two economic cycles. Among key observations:

• There has been an aggregate loss of earned revenue in the sector, with a decline of 27.3%. ($4.8 million)
  
• Contributed revenue has increased, with individual giving having increased by 124.4%.
  
• Corporate contributions increased by only $285,000 (5.0%)
  
• Public sector support from all levels of government gained just $850,000 (23.3%)
  

• While some organizations contracted considerably over the past decade, there are a number of organizations that have successfully grown or emerged.

• The largest organizations, in aggregate, have had no material gains in buying power over the past decade despite increased budgets.

• There has been increased competition in the local entertainment sector with a substantial number of new venues and organizations having opened in the past decade.

Understanding Change

Nationally, the arts and culture sector has experienced change that mirrors some of the trends in Columbus, including:

• A decline in participation of benchmark arts activities (classical music, opera, ballet, dramatic plays) by as much as 30% since 1982.

• Arts philanthropy ranking in 7th place of ten charitable organization categories for the past decade.
  
• Non‐profit theatre companies experiencing stagnant buying power over the past decade.
  

Locally, Columbus has not changed much demographically over the past ten years though there are some economic indicators which are of concern. In particular, Columbus has seen less net growth in the number of business firms and fewer new small business establishment which correlates with slower growing economies. In addition, Columbus’s GDP has grown at a slower rate than the average of all U.S. metropolitan areas. While these areas are of concern, Columbus 2020!, a regional economic development plan, outlines an aggressive plan to build the local economy, centered around three key strategies:

1. Retain and expand the companies and industries that call Central Ohio home today
   
2. Attract major employers to establish operations in Central Ohio
   
3. Create more commercial enterprises by leveraging our tremendous research assets and entrepreneurs
   

There is a strong consensus among community leaders that Columbus’s arts sector can and should play an important role in achieving these goals by:

1. Contributing to Columbus’ competitiveness by helping to tell the Columbus story
   
2. Aligning with broad community goals
   
3. Pursuing partnerships with business, government, education, sports, tourism and entertainment
   
4. Achieving further efficiency and right‐sizing by promoting strong management practices...that align with community capacity and
   

Benchmarking

One of the key outputs of our analysis is to test whether Columbus’s arts sector is right‐sized and sustainable. Central to this consideration is exploring what a robust and reliable sector looks like, including the capitalization necessary to succeed. As we pursued the notion of sustainability, we needed to better define measures or indicators of “right‐sized” through field research and stakeholder conversations. It quickly became apparent to us that sustainability is a place on a continuum of operating outcomes. There are distinct levels; each reflecting different degrees of organizational health, capacity and required capitalization – whether in an individual organization or the arts sector as a whole. The three levels we have defined for this project are:

• “Viable” – the capability to function in the short‐term, but limited in the capacity to adapt and grow
  
• “Sustainable” – the ability to meet present needs, but also to generate enough resources to deliver on mission in changing  environment
  
  • “Vital” – access to sufficient resources to allow the organization to fulfill its mission, reinvest in its future, and maximize its public value by evolving to meet future needs2

With these definitions in mind, we developed an index system with 14 indicators spread among these five categories:

1. Attendance and Market
   
2. Contributed Income
   
3. Human Capital
   
4. Assets5. Product 
   
   How do you understand their view of the situation?  Why are those 5 categories of indicators important to the nonprofit arts sector?
   

The Broadway Conversation

We are talking about commercial theatre this week, which, for the most part in the United States, correlates to Broadway or Disney.  There is also Branson and Las Vegas.  We will focus on the business frameworks in class, but I wanted to share as many 'conversations' about the struggles in these areas (and successes) as well.  I will build on this over the weekend, but I wanted to start with a copy of a conversation by artists about Broadway.  Because it is hosted in linkedin as a conversation around American Theatre,  you may not have a 'log in'. If you do, you can take the direct link here:  http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&srchtype=discussedNews&gid=155074&item=91893645&type=member&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_pd-ttl-cn&ut=0FwtrKjVPc8581 If you don't I am pasting in a couple of interesting comments and I have uploaded the entire conversation as a pdf on blackboard, course documents.

Excerpt:  
When are people going to wake up and smell the garbage? We're all focusing on putting bandaids on an old business model that no longer works. What about the BIG PICTURE?...
Theatres, operas, orchestras are going out of business. State arts commissions have been eliminated. Broadway shows are available for $25 or free. Shows open at discounts. Off-Broadway never makes their money back anymore. People don't have jobs, how can they go to the theatre? Small theatre is in the toilet. Funders don't care about us and nobody has money for fees. We don't seem to accept that this situation is not going to change, no matter what political peptalks you listen to. Like weathermen don't have windows, Washington doesn't seem to have a front door. Come down here and walk amongst the peasants! Hundreds of small theatres have closed in NYC over the past few years. Children are not getting arts programs in schools and they can't get it from our dedicated theatre troupes because they have no budgets even to give us a small fee. And, I do mean small. Something must be done. Is anyone trying anything on a large scale to deal with this ongoing disaster? Or, can we at least discuss how serious this is?

Michael Rolfe • According to The Stage, London, the transfer of The Mountaintop to Broadway from London where the budget was 30,000 pounds, incurred a budget of $3.1 m. It closed and got back its investment budget. Go figure that one, Melba!

Michael Rolfe • My point is, how the hell can a play with two actors involve a budget of $3.1 m---unless the performances included the cast from the Met and the New York Philharmonic in the pit? This is looney tunes stuff: NY and B'way is becoming like the script of The Producers. When "Driving Miss Daisy" opened in London last year, after a season around America, there were more producer's names on the marquee than cast members. Clearly, money is going around, but WHERE????? Here in Sydney the Sydney Theatre Company had an ensemble cast for a few years. Lead actors were paid $100,000 a year.If you wanna make that sort of dough you
should be working in tv or film, not theatre.

To get a sense of the #s (money, people, etc), look through the Broadway League's web site (linked to Research here)  http://www.broadwayleague.com/index.php?url_identifier=research-and-information-1

For a long discussion on the trials/tribulations of production on Broadway, you can watch the American Theatre Wing panel discussion at : http://americantheatrewing.org/wit/detail/producing_commercial_theatre_12_05

Finally, go to the Internet Broadway Database and look at a couple of your favorite Broadway shows -- who are the producers? who are the managers?  What questions does that make you wonder?

For-Profit 101 will be our focus this week. The key is understanding that commercial theatre is like any other for profit -- it is there to make money and has one of several business structures available: sole proprietorships, partnerships (general or limited), corporation (like Ford Motors, but in product), limited liability corp, S- or C- corporations (I will be talking through all of these on Thursday, but you can wikipedia them before if you are curious).  Question to you: if you are producing a piece of theatre to make money, what will determine the business structure you might take? profit maximization? liability mitigation? ego?

The People

The business of the arts is a business of people.  The product is defined by its people (change any member of a cast or production team and you get a new product). The group dynamic in the audience is changed by one person.  The management is no different in that respect.  However the types of employees including union affiliation (or not) are critical aspects to the frameworks and functions of personnel in a theatre.

To help get a sense of the 'experience' of working in unions or on the management side of the arts, watch/read the following interviews.  What did you learn from them about personnel (aka human resources), management, unions, and the arts?  What questions did they generate? Did it change your mind/alter your assumptions or biases in anyway?

The 2007 strike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ0t7AI0fFI&feature=related

MSNBC coverage:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21717187/ns/business-us_business/t/broadway-goes-dark-stagehands-go-strike/#.Tzm3KCNpGkg

Why/How to join the union
http://www.actorsequity.org/newsmedia/news2010/oct18.JohnPasha.asp

Working as a union musician
http://www.musicianwages.com/musician-profile/ben-cohn-keyboardist-assistant-conductor-wicked-on-broadway/

Artists Agents
http://www.entertainmentmanagementonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/3c17f5090d886

Working as a Broadway Manager
http://www.theatermania.com/blogs/tmu/interview-with-rachel-reiner-off-broadway-producer_44201.html

Not required but very interesting:  many of the various interviews/videos on the American Theatre Wing:  http://americantheatrewing.org/wit/

The Power of Place: DC and Baltimore, so close yet so different

 The power of place brings a lot of variables with it.  In the Baltimore area, Everyman Theatre is building a new theatre (http://everymantheatre.org/new-theatre) , but overall, Baltimore has had little 'building' investment in the arts for years.  Washington, DC, however, is coming out of a boom.  Read the following article and discuss, using the text, why DC might be such a boon town for theatre (who attends the arts?)? Why have so many organizations chosen to invest in buildings (versus rent or lease?)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater-dance/washington-dc-theaters-have-they-overbuilt/2011/12/23/gIQAm6TIfP_story.html

This is not to say Baltimore doesn't have theatrical chutzpah -- just that it comes from a different vantage:

http://dctheatrescene.com/2012/01/06/new-year-big-deal-for-baltimore/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DcTheatreScene+%28DC+Theatre+Scene%29

How are Baltimore and DC different (demographical, sociologically, etc) such that they would generate such different theatre communities?

Welcome to Spring 2012's Theatre Administration Blog!

Welcome class of 2012! After reading through the syllabus what thoughts/questions do you have? Take a moment to fill out the information form:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VDHTVZD

You can view my background in "my profile" on the blog. 

Hull House in Memoriam

Last week the Hull House closed its doors after 120 years of operation.  Based in Chicago, Hull House was not only notable for its social service, but also its incorporation of art, especially theatre arts, into its operations.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-us-hullhousecloses,0,4975233.story

The story of its end is both a reflection of the current economic crisis (in which nonprofits are still embroiled) and the shifting terrain of community development in urban centers. Nonprofits of all kinds must maintain strong fiscal and operational management as well as maintain a continued understanding of their core constituents such that their position in the community is critical.  As the social dynamics change, programs and services must change or the organization becomes obsolete. Likewise, with all businesses, if poor oversight is allowed to settle in to the Board or operations, then it will come to an inevitable end.

For those interested in community development or people who have changed the world -- Jane Addams, one of the co-founders, life and her path on the creation and development of Hull House is an excellent study for anyone interested in community development and the complications  (policitcal and otherwise) therein.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/site/newspaper/news/ct-per-flash-janeaddams-0129-20120130,0,1917605.story

While unlike, the Neighborhood Playhouse of the lower east side of New York City, Hull House's theatre was never a core activity but it still served a critical role in Hull House's frameworks for success.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3207448

The world and the economy are eco-systems no different than natures.  Environments change, lives pass, new organisms emerge.  The best and most recent case study of a healthy attitude toward this ecosystem comes from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

I believe that the company took the most responsible and visionary action in the current environment.  Funds and audiences are limited, thus, by creating a planned closure Merce Cunningham actually supported a healthy eco-system, making way for NEW artists to engage current and future audiences and funders.  

Read more details and opinions here: http://www.artsjournal.com/jumper/2012/01/a-planned-ending-for-merce-cunningham-dance-co/#comment-2698

Only here for the ecstasy

Only here for the ecstasy
Provides an interesting evaluation of the means and the ends of the performing arts in today's society.