” Chandra Stephens Albright, managing director of True Colors Theatre Company “We went into this year with less money and audience members were skeptical. “Last year, it seemed like every time we were on track to get back, we had to make adjustments - and those adjustments cost money,” Farley says. It has been particularly challenging to get audiences back for the Roswell troupe. “We are all living on the edge,” she says. And some are closing.”Īs the producing artistic director of Georgia Ensemble Theatre, Anita Farley thinks a lot of theaters are within a couple of payrolls from having to shut their doors. If they can’t do that, they’re doing last-minute and last-ditch sustainability campaigns. “If not, they are trying to establish lines of credit. “Lots of folks have burned their reserves and are tapping their endowment if they are lucky enough to have one,” Schleifer says. All respondents indicated they would have a deficit in fiscal 2023.Įven reserves seem to be dwindling. In a recent survey of its members, 57 percent indicated their theater only has enough cash on hand to support operations for six months or less, and 11 percent reported only enough for a calendar year. A new national group Schleifer is part of, the Professional Nonprofit Theater Coalition, formed to work on government relationships and advocacy. An artistic director friend of his always used to say he was two bombs away from closing - and that was a decade ago. Schleifer says that most theaters operate without any safety net. “The Lyric is an illustration of that, but they are not the only canary in the coal mine.” ”Īn existential crisis exists, he believes, around the American regional theater, and while the Alliance has been in a position to weather the storm, not everyone is able to. Now it’s the exception, not the rule, to be balanced. “Right now, I don’t know of a theater that is not. “It used to be the exception, not the rule, that a theater would be in a deficit position,” he says. Mike Schleifer, managing director of the Alliance Theatre, is brutally honest that his company is in a deficit position this season and will be so again next year. “How long is that sustainable?”ĪrtsATL recently spoke to theater administrators across the city to gauge how they are coping financially with the last three devastating years. “The tricky thing that everyone is trying to navigate is, if it’s true that one underperforming show can really complicate your operations or threaten your existence, what happens when you have multiple underperforming shows in a single season?” Freddie Ashley, artistic director of Actor’s Express. Many theaters operate without a financial reserve that can tide them through a rough period. Mike Schleifer, managing director of the Alliance Theatre “Community funders and foundation leaders who previously funded the arts have significantly delayed releasing funds, have not focused on the arts during the pandemic and recovery or have ended their arts support altogether,” the letter states. The letter says the pandemic exacerbated what was already a challenging situation. Alex Scollon, managing director at Actor’s Express, spearheaded a recent open letter to the community, signed by dozens of arts leaders, discussing life after the pandemic and their financial dilemmas.Īccording to the letter, “coupling lower than average attendance with the fact that arts funding is the smallest fraction of philanthropic giving means that there are simply not enough resources available for the short term health and long term viability of the Metro Atlanta cultural arts community.” According to Barry West, the company’s board chair, the company has so far reached a third of its goals.ĭuring the pandemic, theaters have collaborated and talked regularly. On March 9, Decatur’s OnStage Atlanta sent out a plea to its patrons to help raise $150,000 to work on paying back an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, as well as rent and utilities. The announcement caught most everyone off guard, not just because of its abrupt nature (no capital campaign or last-ditch effort to save the organization) but the unsettling reminder that arts organizations can be fragile. A social media post from Atlanta Lyric Theatre on March 7 stated that the company had closed its doors after 42 years.
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