Finding the money

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Fall, 1996 by Judy Waytiuk

Less support for the arts, a result of government funding cuts, corporate downsizing and smaller audiences is putting arts organizations into a crunch. Survival is possible, though; the key words are value-added: giving added value to fund-raising efforts and getting added value for marketing dollars.

The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, has historically run a small deficit. In Winnipeg, the Manitoba Theatre Centre and Prairie Theatre Exchange have not; the Theatre Centre's general manager, Zaz Bajon, points to a recent report by Genovese, Vanderhoof and Associates, that found Winnipeg has more people supporting the arts on a per capita basis than any other community in North America. But even Winnipeggers are down to lint, in pockets that used to contain dollars for the arts.

At PTE, general manager Cherry Karpyshin says, "The city of Winnipeg cut everybody 30 per cent in 1994. That was devastating, not only for us, but for all the arts in Winnipeg - and it came so late in the year that we weren't prepared for it.

We did that year manage to balance the budget, but it caught up with us the following year." This translated into a deficit, in a $1.2-million budget, of just under a hundred thousand dollars.

At the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Bajon will be telling his board to expect their second operating deficit, in a $4.2-million budget, in 15 years. Two western companies partnering to produce plays this year with MTC collapsed in red ink, spattering Winnipeg with some in the process.

In the postcard Ontario community of Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Shaw Festival has an annual budget of roughly $14.5-million, and former director of marketing Marilyn Jackson was used to a routine pink tint on the balance sheet. The blush deepened last year when the Ontario government cut funding by more than a quarter of a million dollars.

Three companies, three deficits, but all three are fighting back. Karpyshin took some of her thoughts to a mid-June meeting of members of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, set to examine solutions for funding problems. Karpyshin is determined to eliminate PTE's deficit in three years, by conquering new horizons.

"We haven't been aggressive enough in reaching out for corporate donations...we have to broaden the base-get more names into the computers," she says. Fund-raising revenue at PTE amounts to about 14 per cent of the theatre's annual budget, with about six per cent from corporations. That's similar to the numbers at other theatres, but it's not enough, says Karpyshin. "I think we also have to have more ambassadors in the community, and it has to be more on the personal level; you have to pick up the phone, develop a personal relationship..."

Bajon echoes that philosophy. But, he agrees it is not easy today. "It's very difficult in this community to raise money, because there are so many other charities out there... People are making difficult choices on where they'll put the money they're donating to non-profit organizations." The answer lies in innovative corporate sponsorships.

"The corporations are looking for something different than just plain ordinary sponsorship or donations. You create some programming that the corporation feels is worthwhile and that sets it apart by participating in, or underwriting the process," he says. Case in point: MTC founded a new Manitoba Acting Company last year, and obtained not only government funding for it from the Manitoba Arts Council, but a private, corporate sponsor as well - financial giant Investors Syndicate.

Said Jackson about the Shaw Festival, "The approaches have to be really innovative, too. We've had phenomenal sponsorship with Bell Canada, who are giving us our largest sponsorship in our history." [see PA&E Spring '96.] But these theatre managers agree that beating the bushes for new sponsors is also necessary.

Manitoba Theatre Centre this year expanded its season from ten to 13 plays, and did it partly by wooing new sponsors. Aikins, Macaulay Thorvaldson, one of the oldest, largest law firms in the city, sponsored Cyrano last year, says Bajon, "and they were so happy with it that they've decided to sponsor Death of a Salesman this year. And if big sponsorships are harder to come by, he adds then go after smaller potatoes: enough of these, and you fill a pot. "...we've provided co-sponsorships, and evening sponsorships, which are much less expensive. We've...realized we can't get the 25 or 50 thousand dollar sponsorships, and we are looking for numbers closer to 3.5 or 5 thousand dollars for an evening - going after smaller dollars and then trying to find a way to bring people into the theatre that have never sponsored."

Fundraising events have to be creative as well, says Karpyshin. "People have to do brain-storming and figure out if there's something new and inventive they can do. We must remind ourselves that we're discretionary spending; we're not meat and potatoes on the table." Two examples: the Manitoba Theatre Centre, every second year, stages a one-night play, performed by a passel of local lawyers. this year it was The Caine Mutiny. MTC originated the idea some years ago, and it's been picked up by other companies.