spiwak2005
Active Member
So you've beaten off the naysayers about the importance and value of having a professional "rentable" theatre in your public school. Even though the taxpayers still complain that it's a waste of money, you've managed to keep it operating. You've made presentations to the Board of Education showing all the great educational opportunities such a space offers. You've shown everyone pictures of performances and lists of past and future events. But the only thing they want to hear about is the money - how much money is the theatre bringing in (through rentals to community and professional groups), how can we make more and how can it help to win over those that still see it as a waste??
I have been managing our small (less than 1500 K-12) school district's 900 seat venue for almost 3 years now. We are showing substantial increases in our revenue over an incredibly short period of time (the theatre has only been open 3 years). The last formal presentation I made to the Board ended just as my opening statement - "Stop showing us this PowerPoint presentation that you obviously put a lot of effort into. We don't care. Just show us the money!" And of course, no matter what you show them financially, it's never enough.
While at the moment my job and the theatre's existence are not in jeopardy, I realize that it's always important to "tell our story" to as many people as possible. I have set up a meeting with our Chamber of Commerce to go over upcoming events and anticipated audience numbers. I plan on encouraging THEM to capitalize on the traffic we are bringing to the community by putting up signage welcoming theatre patrons to town (and to their restaurants, stores, etc). Does anyone know of any research or any guesstimates for what the economic impact is for each audience member? Any other figures/stats that I might want to present to them?
Please share any stories you might have on this topic. Thanks!
I have been managing our small (less than 1500 K-12) school district's 900 seat venue for almost 3 years now. We are showing substantial increases in our revenue over an incredibly short period of time (the theatre has only been open 3 years). The last formal presentation I made to the Board ended just as my opening statement - "Stop showing us this PowerPoint presentation that you obviously put a lot of effort into. We don't care. Just show us the money!" And of course, no matter what you show them financially, it's never enough.
While at the moment my job and the theatre's existence are not in jeopardy, I realize that it's always important to "tell our story" to as many people as possible. I have set up a meeting with our Chamber of Commerce to go over upcoming events and anticipated audience numbers. I plan on encouraging THEM to capitalize on the traffic we are bringing to the community by putting up signage welcoming theatre patrons to town (and to their restaurants, stores, etc). Does anyone know of any research or any guesstimates for what the economic impact is for each audience member? Any other figures/stats that I might want to present to them?
Please share any stories you might have on this topic. Thanks!
Last edited: