By some Internet accident, I came across the news release for the Theatre League's new season. This is not the Broadway League although it calls itself the "Broadway Theatre League" on the press release. According to its website, theatreleague.com, it is "a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, community-based performing arts organization dedicated to the development of professional legitimate theater, both as a cultural and an educational resource," whose "presentations include the top national touring companies of all of the major Broadway musicals of the last twenty-five years. In addition, the League's own in-house producing division mounts annual revivals of classic Broadway fare featuring stars of stage, screen and television." It serves seven communities: Mesa, AZ; Phoenix, AZ; Santa Barbara, CA; South Bend, IN; Thousand Oaks, CA; Toledo, OH; and Wichita, KS.
The four productions of its "Broadway season" include The Wedding Singer, The Drowsy Chaperone, Avenue Q--so good so far--and Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles. This last has not played a Broadway theatre, according to the Internet Broadway Database (www.ibdb.com). Based on the Rain website and the website of its producer The Road Company, the show is a staged version of two Beatles concerts followed by some staging of music from the era when the Beatles did not tour. (The last live Beatles performances were in 1966, except for a one-off performance on the roof of Apple Studios in 1969 made to be part of the movie Let It Be.)
I'm not proposing that the audiences of Mesa, Phoenix, et al, will not be satisfied by Rain, only that it is not a Broadway show. There are 40 Broadway theatres; see the Live Broadway website for a listing.
Otherwise, the Theatre League's press release is scrupulously honest, noting that Avenue Q and The Drowsy Chaperone received Tony awards but that The Wedding Singer was nominated without actually receiving an award. I hope The Wedding Singer works for them. The first tour of the movie-based musical was called "financially disastrous" by Variety, writing in June 2008.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Surveys that Prove the Obvious; NFPs Are Financially Stressed
More studies have specified how nfp organizations are affected by the recession. The Bridgespan Group survey found 92 percent were feeling the effects of the recession. Johns Hopkins University's Listening Post Project survey found 80 percent of charitable organizations were feeling financial stress with 40 percent calling the stress "severe."
Smaller organizations, measured by budget, were most affected. In the Bridgespan survey, 70 percent of groups with budgets of $1 million or less reported their financial positioning worsened in the last six months, compared to 38 percent for budgets between $1 million and $10 million and 41 percent for organizations with budgets greater than $10 million. The Johns Hopkins survey found theatres and to a lesser extent orchestras most profoundly hurt.
We redacted on June 12 the results of a study showing giving to nfps was down ("Charitable Giving is Down: Bad News for NFP Theatres") The Johns Hopkins survey shows expenses rising too, except where belt-tightening has already been instituted.
For arts groups, one frequent tactic in response to the decline in donations has been to redouble efforts in marketing. This follows at least some of the advice of Michael Kaiser in his 2008 book The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations. Currently president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and leader of the recession-inspired consulting effort housed at the Kennedy, Arts in Crisis, Kaiser advises troubled arts organizations not to cut programing and to enhance marketing efforts. (This is a gross simplification of the meaning of Kaiser's very good and interesting book.)
Smaller organizations, measured by budget, were most affected. In the Bridgespan survey, 70 percent of groups with budgets of $1 million or less reported their financial positioning worsened in the last six months, compared to 38 percent for budgets between $1 million and $10 million and 41 percent for organizations with budgets greater than $10 million. The Johns Hopkins survey found theatres and to a lesser extent orchestras most profoundly hurt.
We redacted on June 12 the results of a study showing giving to nfps was down ("Charitable Giving is Down: Bad News for NFP Theatres") The Johns Hopkins survey shows expenses rising too, except where belt-tightening has already been instituted.
For arts groups, one frequent tactic in response to the decline in donations has been to redouble efforts in marketing. This follows at least some of the advice of Michael Kaiser in his 2008 book The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations. Currently president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and leader of the recession-inspired consulting effort housed at the Kennedy, Arts in Crisis, Kaiser advises troubled arts organizations not to cut programing and to enhance marketing efforts. (This is a gross simplification of the meaning of Kaiser's very good and interesting book.)
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