September 2, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
The financial woes facing a nonprofit dance theater in Forth-Worth, Tex., is a further sign that cultural groups need to do a better job examining their economic health, writes Andrew Taylor on his blog, The Artful Manager.
According to the Star-Telegram, the Texas Ballet Theater needs to raise $2-million by September 10 to keep its doors open. The problems surfaced last month when the ballet had to cancel a fall tour of China because it lacked the money to travel, reports the newspaper.
About $700,000 has been raised so far, and both the group’s chairwoman and artistic director told the newspaper they would resign if it would help the theater garner donations.
Mr. Taylor, director of the arts administration program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, writes that arts groups must get used to the lean times.
The ballet is “yet another indicator that the financial health of the cultural nonprofit world was clouded quite a bit by the economic growth of the past decade. And the story offers more proof that every significant nonprofit should map and adjust their cash flow projections, even if they’ve passed a balanced budget,” he writes.
(Read The Chronicle’s article about the tough times facing nonprofit organizations.)
What do you think? What can the Texas ballet and other arts groups do to survive declining donations?
