The average theater in the survey spent about $1.2 million and survived without much of a cash backstop, the report by Theater Communications Group found.
Friday, November 06, 2015
Nonprofit theaters are attracting more donors, but audiences keep shrinking, report says
The average theater in the survey spent about $1.2 million and survived without much of a cash backstop, the report by Theater Communications Group found.
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Its quite sad that non-profits are continuing to loose audience members. I understand that they have tried to balance out their deficits by raising ticket prices more than the natural inflation, but we can’t loose all smaller theaters to broadway shows. Having a lot of this comparison coming out of non profits in New York also seems a bit skewed. There are a lot more people supporting the arts community than in other less populated places, there are so many options to go to the theater, that with all the variety shows and pop up shows, its hard to see it all. I am quite pleased that the theater community is beginning to bounce back from the recession, and it is true, as a community we are resilient. The donors obviously see a need for the arts with in their community, even if it is not the most successful theater around, it still should be giving back to the community that supports it.
It is always hard to see statistics that show audience attendance going down. I am part of that statistic though. It is hard to get to theatre in present day when everyone is working hard to make a living. Spending money on a show that you will only see once and you may not even know if it is good is a risk. I think was frightens me most is the idea that donors may start dwindling away if theatres keep losing their audiences. But is there anything we can do? The technology world is keeping everyone home because it is easier that way but how do we make them leave their dwellings? I think this question is being asked everyday by every theatre maker. I don’t think there is a hard answer it just comes down to what the community around that theatre is looking for. Find what the community loves and go after that.
I like that there is this “bright spot” with young audience members and a good sect of show making profit from parent child friendly shows. I am really one to believe that young children should get a god amount of exposure to the performing arts. So this article did make me happy in that respect. Eyring makes a good point, that allowing multiple (and younger) generations to see more shows gives a good way of getting the new generations excited about theater.
Hopefully putting the importance of the arts into children’s’ minds now will help the future. We are making a generation that cares a lot about keeping the arts alive. Maybe the new generation will not consider this spending to be a type of waste of government money, but instead an obligation to the people they serve to have those resources available to them. As the economies get better since 2008 there will hopefully be more opportunities to once again put more money in the arts.
I think the biggest problem for non-profit theaters and theatres in general i that they have the wrong target audience. this will change soon but right now we are in the turning point. Theatres are still catering to their traditional audience and donors, the older generation. I worked at a non profit theatre in fort worth a few years ago and their entire audience base was 45 and older. They were all pretty wealthy and donated to the theatre often. for this reason the theatre would put on plays that were geared towards that audience. there were a few college students there but most were there t see their friends in the play. Even though they had this audience dynamic they were still calling themselves a young, new, and cutting edge theatre that produced risky plays. Once the generations shift over time many theatres will have to change their whole dynamic to suit younger audiences because they will be the new donors. whoever is giving the money is usually the target audience for a non-profit.
While it's sad to see theater attendance drop, it makes me feel better that donations are increasing. I definitely agree that at my regional theater, every performance was probably at least 50% people over the age of 50 who had either donated or bought season tickets. I don't think the problem is necessarily that theater isn't accessible by the younger generation, I think you get people just generally don't have the extra money or time lying around to go see a show. As much as I love theater, it's really hard to fit it into my schedule most of the time, and expensive, too. I try to find time for it, but an average person might just say "Let's go to a movie instead." Producing shows aimed at children has always been an easy cash grab, because it is the most likely to bring in parents who may not try to come to the theater otherwise (also going with the time thing). I don't know if there is a solution to this problem, besides lowering the value of the production and charging less for tickets... I hope ticket sales start rising in the coming years.
This article really made me question what’s considered a sustainable model for theatre. Not-for-profit theatres are, I think, an important part of the theatrical community. By being not-for-profit, this alleviates some of the capitalistic tendencies that bigger for-profit performances often use. It also gives a more welcoming environment to artistic creativity. There are down sides though, because instead of creating theatre to please one or two producers, you’re now creating theatre to please a whole range of donors. I think it’s interesting, but not unexpected, that audience attendance has continued to fall in not-for-profit theatre. The increase in tickets prices may definitely have something to do with it. But it also has to do with cultural interests and accessibility. People do not naturally think of theatre as the go-to source of entertainment. They think of thing like movies or museums first. I think that by making theatre as accessible as the movies (via location, pricing, or otherwise) can really increase audience attendance.
Two summers ago I worked for a non profit theater near my home town, and as much as I loved my job, and how closely I got to work with the director and production manager, I came home some days a little depressed about the amount of people in the audience, or how money centric the whole process had become. I do agree with the article in that when money gets tight often theater or other recreational activities are the first to go, and I am certain that that has something to do with the drop in audience. However, I also think that it has to do with who we market our theater toward. Often it is just assumed that most people in the audience will be older, or young enough that they have come with their parents. We have to start marketing to younger audiences, try and get the 20 somethings to go see a show instead of a movie or just sitting on their couch, because the sad truth is that sometimes I don't even want to get up and go see a show, and if I don't than lost of other people won't as well. I love non profits, and what they do for a community, but they are only as valuable as the people see them.
We recently talked about the difference between not for profit theatre and for profit theatre in our Tech Management class. Those few classes where we focused on the financial side of theatre were some of the most confusing block of time I had ever experienced, running a theatre is extremely complex and I’m amazed what people can do with so little. I can not believe that non for profit theatre companies have been able to draw in a wider audience than broadway and shows on tour. That statistic is incredible to me because it shows how different the world of theatre is becoming, we are not relying on the same principles we use to. We are getting smaller, more focused, and more personalized as an industry. I think the article did a great job when it brought up the point about the new world of streaming entertainment online. To me, it makes sense that theatre audiences should be even smaller than they are now, it’s crazy that we’ve kept so many institutes alive and thriving at all.
The results of the study are somewhat sobering in terms of audience attendance. It’s great that theatre’s, for the most part, have been able to continue to find sources of funding throughout the Great Recession. The unfortunate bit is that ticket prices have been increased in an attempt to try and maintain a balance among the funding coming in from ticket sales. With audience attendance on the decline, theatre’s have raised the prices of tickets to maintain the cash flow from ticket purchases. A necessary pendulum swing that was essential in most theatres if they wanted to stay afloat. As the article has pointed out, the pendulum has swung a bit far, and ticket prices have increased at a rate 8% greater than that of inflation. Audience members can only spend a certain percentage of their income to attend the theatre, if ticket prices are proportionally going up across the board that means audiences must spend a larger percentage of their income. Most people are already tightening their financial belts, this outpacing of ticket prices in comparison to inflation is not helping audience attendance at all. I think this study also hints at an underlying problem of the greater decline in audience attendance, regardless of price, that is occurring across the board. The steady decline in attendance is something theatres should start to focus on turning around, especially before we reach the point of no return.
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