July 25, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Many nonprofit theaters are facing a tough financial time, according to a new survey. Forty-four
percent of the 363 theaters that provided figures to the Theatre Communications Group, in New York, said they lost money in the fiscal year that concluded before or on August 31, 2001.
That seems to be a sign that even before September 11, which many theaters and arts groups say triggered an especially big challenge to finances as attendance dropped and the economy faltered, many theaters were encountering economic difficulties. Over the past four years, 31 to 38 percent of theaters reported losses, though the theater group has looked at samples of varying sizes during those years so it is hard to tell exactly how much the financial picture for nonprofit theaters has changed.
The report by the Theatre Communications Group, which provides marketing advice to nonprofit theaters, is based on the group’s annual survey of finances, employment, and attendance at theaters around the country.
The 363 survey respondents sold 22 million tickets to more than 80,000 performances, for which they received $550-million, making up 58 percent of the theaters’ total income. The remaining $407-million came from government and private sources.
The survey used data from 77 theaters to show what has happened to those institutions over the past five years. Those theaters that reported information five years running earned more from selling single tickets ($1.5-million per year on average) than from selling subscriptions ($1.3-million) for the second year in a row. The theaters earned an additional $600,000 on average from other sources, such as concession sales, advertising, sponsorships, and space rental.
Performers’ pay represented the largest single expense. Theaters spent an average of $1.2-million on their artistic payrolls, compared with $1.1-million for administrators and $849,837 for members of production staffs.
Annual spending on fund raising, not including the amount paid to staff members, rose 77 percent over the last five years, from an average of $151,859 to $269,309. The theaters raised approximately $2.8-million on average, up 59 percent from the $1.8-million raised in 1997. Researchers said they could not say why the fund-raising expenses had increased by a bigger percentage than donations, but speculated that more groups might be hiring consultants and others from the outside to help win donations.
In contrast to increases in ticket sales and contributions, earnings from theaters’ endowments fell to $132,211, on average, from $180,177 in 2000. In addition, 93 of the 183 theaters in the sample that provided balance-sheet information said they had no endowment.
“Theatre Facts 2001″ is available free on the group’s Web site at http://www.tcg.org. Print copies of the report are available for $5 each. Contact the customer-service department by e-mail at custserv@tcg.org or by phone at (212) 697-5230, ext. 227, or write to Customer Service, Theatre Communications Group, 355 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017.
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