Just months into their tenure at the helm of About Face Theatre, Bonnie Metzgar and Rick Dildine are in crisis mode. Last week, the company announced it was postponing its upcoming show, the world premiere of Ann-Marie Healy’s What Once We Felt, to focus on a $300,000 emergency fund-raising campaign.
Doomsday pronouncements have cropped up at theaters across the country in recent months; as I mention in this story (which will appear in print next week), two of the most prominent “emergency campaigns” have come from Shakespeare Santa Cruz and San Francisco’s Magic Theatre. Those companies asked for (and received) $300,000 and $350,000 from donors, respectively, ostensibly preventing them from having to shut down. SSC’s host, UCSC, had apparently been underwriting the theater’s budget shortfalls for some time; of the Magic, the Chronicle’s theater critic wrote that “the theater has been almost as well known locally for recurrent budget problems as it’s become famous nationally for developing new works.” SF critic Chloe Veltman noted that both theaters’ asks had come on the heels of leadership changes. As arts marketing consultant Adam Thurman told me earlier this week, “I wonder sometimes if people aren’t using the recession as an excuse to reveal large-scale problems that have been going for a while.”
That doesn’t seem to be the case for About Face, where Metzgar and Dildine have been remarkably candid and transparent about their situation, with both their supporters and the media. Metzgar makes clear, for instance, that about a third of the $300K goal is intended to establish a cash reserve and line of credit for the company—a good-steward business practice that too many nonprofits don’t do.
About Face likely won’t be the last Chicago theater to enter crisis mode in the coming months, but even companies not in imminent apparent danger are likely to use the recession as a fund-raising ploy. Consider the urgent opportunism of the plea letter [PDF] sent out by Chicago Dramatists last night: “You have undoubtedly heard from arts organizations of all shapes and sizes asking for your support. Many are companies in desperate need. We hope you will help those companies survive, and by giving to us NOW, help us avoid their fate.” In other words: We’re not in desperate need, but others are, so please give to us. How’s that again? As we all struggle through these Tough Economic Times™, I hope we see a lot more About Face–style transparency and a minimum of crying wolf.
I also received the Dramatists letter, and thought it was intelligent and proactive. The letter, which you quoted out of context, suggested that 2010 is expected to be an even worse year for arts fundraising than 2009. Almost everyone actually working in the arts field, and not just writing about it, knows this.Dramatists was saying: we are not doing well, but if you help us out now, we won’t be pushed to the brink of collapse and have to set an overnight fundraising goal and look desperate doing it.
I think its really funny how TimeOut somehow finds a way to praise companies that send out the emergency “help us or else” alarms, but criticizes companies who calmly say “things aren’t dire, but they could be if we don’t start getting better.”
On top of it all, what is Dramatists supposed to do? Not fundraise? Tell its patrons to donate elsewhere?
Come on, Kris. You are better than unresearched, unthought out jabs like this.
Seems to me that Kris and/or Chris was taking aim at the time to another company that shall remain nameless for their “give money or we’ll shoot the dog” fund-raising letter not too long ago that featured a board member/public radio quizmaster putting down St. Louis.
If you want to hear someone saying that About Face deserves to fold, there’s another blogger out there saying exactly that. Go Google for him.
Timothy, what are you suggesting I should have researched? I linked to the full letter from Dramatists; readers can form their own opinions. Of course Dramatists and the House (as Mark references) are within their rights to ask for donations.
I just think it’s important for everyone to be careful of the tone and content of their asks right now, lest it begin to seem to audiences/donors, as Thurman suggests it might, that companies are using the economy as an excuse. You’re free to disagree.
You criticize Dramatists for “opportunism” and using the economy as a scapegoat, of sorts. Yet, in our own article, you cite that 100K of the About Face debt had NOTHING TO DO with the economy, and was debt accrued before Metzgar showed up. Another 100K of that is meant to create backup funds and a cash flow reserve. Which is smart business practice, but also isn’t really economy related.
Based on your article, only 33% of About Face’s fundraising goal is debt accrued by the economy. And yet, you accuse others of being opportunistic. It seems very biased.
Obviously, I don’t think About Face deserves to fold. That’s a straw man fallacy if I’ve ever heard one, Mark. Come on.
I wasn’t suggesting that you did think About Face deserves to fold. I just said that there’s someone else out there who does, believe it or not. Not I, I assure you.
Who thinks About Face DESERVES to fold? I’m curious.
The point is, bloggers should be held to the same standards of fairness in reporting as journalists. Saying Dramatists is being opportunist when About Face is the one that has 100K of pre-recession debt is irresponsible and unfair.
Timothy, I don’t harbor any ill will toward Dramatists. I’m offering my opinion—the “I hope” statement in my last sentence above marks it as such—that greater transparency in fundraising campaigns benefits everyone.
About Face set a specific goal; they reached out to the media (including the dailies, the Reader and the gay press, not just TOC) to make their case, emphasizing their programs’ impact on the community; and on Friday, in their most recent email to their mailing list, they updated supporters on how much had been raised, broken down by source (new donors, returning donors, corporate donors and board members), and provided a FAQ with answers about where the money will go. I personally find that an admirable way of doing business, and a refreshing change from what I’m used to seeing. Dramatists just happened to be this week’s example.