Economy taking toll on Spokane’s cultural institutions

May 24, 2009

Author: Jim Kershner

Position: Staff writer

Source: Spokesman Review

Nonprofit arts organizations habitually teeter on the edge of disaster – even in a bustling economy. Now, the Great Recession is causing ticket buyers and donors to grip their dollars even more tightly. How bad is it? The omens are everywhere:

• The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture recently had to let an employee go for budgetary reasons – the CEO.

• Interplayers Theatre has cut back its full-time staff – to zero.

• The Spokane Symphony had to pass the hat this month – right in the middle of a concert.

Here’s a look at the state of four of Spokane’s biggest cultural institutions: the symphony, the MAC, the Spokane Civic Theatre and Interplayers.

The Spokane Symphony

When symphony executive director Brenda Nienhouse passed the hat – actually the wicker baskets – at the May 9 and 10 Beethoven concerts, she was understandably nervous.

Would people see it as a sign of panic? Would they resent being asked for more money, since everyone had already spent between $20 and $50 for their seats?

When the baskets came back, she was relieved to find more than $20,000 in donations.

“We got a lot of positive feedback,” said Nienhouse. “We are very grateful for the support.”

Even with that help, the symphony is facing a budget deficit “in excess of $100,000,” said Nienhouse, when the fiscal year closes on June 30. That’s at least 2½ percent of its $3.8 million budget.

A deficit of this size doesn’t threaten the continued existence of the orchestra, but it’s certainly big enough to be considered a serious financial crisis. The symphony hasn’t run a deficit for many years.

That’s why the symphony is taking unprecedented steps to raise money before June 30. Passing the hat is only one. It has also scheduled two additional early summer concerts: “The Best of Mozart,” on Friday at 7 p.m., and “The Best of the Movie Music of John Williams,” June 5 at 7 p.m.

That latter concert will include a creative fundraising idea: A beer garden in the Fox Theater’s parking lot, called the Maestro’s Brew Party. Coeur d’Alene Brewing created a special Maestro Brew beer to be served at the event.

Maestro Brew is also available at the Steam Plant Grill, with a portion of the proceeds from each pint going to the symphony.

All of this should help put a dent in that $100,000-plus deficit.

These budget problems have been caused by the same forces hurting orchestras all over the country: Both ticket sales and donations are down.

“Everyone makes discretionary choices with their money,” said Nienhouse. “And those who rely on their portfolios may not have the dollars they had before.”

The first harbingers came last year when the symphony noticed a sharp drop in contributions. Later, after the first of the year, ticket sales begin to drop – even as the orchestra was launching into an exceptional creative stretch, culminating in the “Letters from Lincoln” premiere and the Beethoven’s Ninth concert.

More pain will arrive with the next fiscal year’s budget on July 1. Management is already working on plans to cut costs and get back in the black.

Meanwhile, Nienhouse said that patrons can help cut the size of that deficit in several ways.

“Subscribe, contribute and get involved as a volunteer,” she said.

Oh, and one more thing: “Buy the beer!”