If You Read Nothing Else about the NFP Theater, Read "Theatre Facts 2009"

Theatre Communications Group has just released their annual survey, Theatre Facts 2009.  If you care about the regional theater in the US, you should peruse this valuable resource.  From the press release:

Theatre Facts 2009 reports that the economic crisis had a negative impact on the not-for-profit theatre field, just as it did on nearly every sector of society. For most theatres, the economy’s effect on their bottom line was dramatic, with the majority of theatres ending the year in the red, largely driven by pervasive losses on endowments and other investments....“The financial performance of the theatre industry generally tracks with the state of the economy overall, and theatres were by and large weakened by the most recent recession,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director of Theatre Communications Group.

Kennedy Center's President and author of The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations, Michael Kaiser was quoted this week in the Washington Post, referring to his experiences traveling the country to lead seminars on how NFP performing arts groups might respond to the recession:

Maybe four people out of 11,000 said they were close to closing the doors. Many more said they were cutting and they were fearful and didn't know which risks to take.

 This is not news per se.  It remains important to know and act.