Low funds, high drama
Economic downturn has some arts and culture institutions fighting for survival
By Carl Kozlowski 12/04/2008
The national recession has already taken a devastating toll on Wall Street financial markets and Main Street businesses, with the number of people filing for unemployment benefits at its highest in 25 years. Tough times have also affected some of Pasadena’s myriad cultural institutions.
Locally, the Orchestras of Pasadena — the product of February’s cost-cutting consolidation of the Pasadena Symphony, Pasadena POPS Orchestra and Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra, which included laying off POPS musicians — are reeling from the stock market’s pummeling effect on its endowment portfolio, which dropped $1 million in value in October.
Earlier this month, the Orchestras announced the cancellation of three winter concerts (after already cancelling a November show) and the resignation of Executive Director Tom O’Connor.
“It’s simple: We’ve run out of cash,” said Jean Horton, a board member who stepped up to serve as the Orchestras’ Interim Director. “We had been using a lot of our board-designated funds to sustain operations. We had not been meeting our individual and corporate donor goals, and we became over-dependent on that. In the financial downturn, the cushion went away as the value of the endowment plunged by 35 percent.”
Horton noted that because the endowment’s value plummeted below the value of the original gifts, the orchestras are forbidden by law from tapping into those funds until the principal’s value is restored. With budgets overrun for the last five years and development goals continually unmet, the organization’s financial cushion vanished in what he termed “a perfect storm.”
Now they (like other non-profits) must make appeals for operating funds. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck thing now, as we need to raise at least $1 million in cash in January and $3 to $4 million to complete the season,” added Horton. “We are approaching people in the community and finding some help, but we need to find a lot more. We’ve also cut every conceivable expense, from office supplies to payroll, but you have to cut judiciously because you have to be careful not to cut muscle and bone.”
As the Orchestras fight for survival, other area arts organizations hope to weather the storm through discounts, incentives and just plain luck.
Facing a recession is nothing new for Adrian Spence, founder and artistic director of the Camerata Pacifica, a chamber orchestra that plays regularly at the Huntington Library. He founded the group in 1990 amid a recession and felt “a pullback in the early 2000s” as well. Yet he wryly joked, taking a line from candidate John McCain, that “the fundamentals of [the orchestra’s] economy are sound.”
“We’ve been a little lucky in that a big project we did last year, an international tour, dramatically raised the profile of the group so we came into the horrible news with a tremendous sense of momentum,” said Spence. “Our subscription sales are up 30 percent this year, and our single ticket sales so far are already 70 percent of the entire last season’s — even though we have only performed just two of the nine scheduled programs so far. We also received a big gift of $250,000 in one fell swoop, so providing there are no more ugly surprises around the corner, I’m confident.”
Maestro Victor Vener is also very confident about the future of his Pasadena-based California Philharmonic Orchestra, which on Nov. 8 began performing at the 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium — a venue three times larger than the Ambassador Auditorium, where they played several shows last year.
The CalPhil is much less dependent on philanthropy than many other institutions, with ticket sales from a growing audience funding two-thirds of operational costs, he said.
“The problem we have is the same everybody else has. Orchestras, playhouses, operas and the like have, historically — whenever you talk about something seriously artistic —not been money-making situations,” said Vener, who explained that the cost of preparing for and putting on a show can range from $80,000 to $150,000, which is more than ticket sales recover.
“The real cost of an $88 ticket is $140,” but, “because of our social success, that people like us and come to our shows, we still haven’t convinced them there’s a need.”
Lean times, said Vener, are the norm for most arts institutions, which in the United States receive significantly less government support than their European counterparts.
For two prime local theaters, Boston Court and the Pasadena Playhouse, innovative pricing is helping to keep seats filled and shows afloat. Michael Seel, executive director of Boston Court, says keeping in close contact with donors has also paid off in a big way.
“We extended our current play, ‘The Sequence,’ for two weeks and an anonymous donor subsidized the tickets, so they’re now $20 for the first 200 seats sold in the extra shows, when normally the tickets would be $32,” said Seel. “We also do some special happenings around the show, called Late Nite Salon, on Friday nights — welcoming the audience to hang out and discuss the show with a glass of wine. We’re also focusing our advertising right in the San Gabriel Valley, letting people know that they have great entertainment in their backyard so they can save time and money driving.”
The Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, which includes the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson and Kirk Douglas theaters, recently released 100,000 $20 tickets for its 2008-09 season.
Pasadena Playhouse Interim Managing Director Ken Novice has found that loyal subscribers remain committed to the Playhouse, but drawing in fresh eyes has required extending discount ticket offerings, from a show’s first two weeks into the third and fourth week as well.
“The show we have now, despite being great and having great reviews, has had a warm but not hot response at the box office. Certain people want to see a big musical spectacle, but a show like this — a one-person show about the life of Ann Landers — may tip in the no’s,” said Novice. “I believe that people tend to buy what they want, and even in a tight economy if they want to see something they will find a way to pay for it. When the economy’s doing well, maybes become yeses more; but in the climate we’re in, the maybes become no’s.”
“We’ve got a choice in our society,” said Vener. “Every arts group is threatened, living on fumes. We need people to think that if orchestras [and other cultural institutions] are something that makes all the working worthwhile, maybe cut our lattes down — skip one a week for the next year and let us have that latte money.”
Deputy Editor Joe Piasecki contributed to this story.
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT