Revenue Neutral

A recent Daily Herald article, “Waterleaf chef quits amid COD faculty complaints” (12/23/12), chronicles the challenge that College of DuPage faces in operating its auxiliary units, primarily the McAninch Arts Center, WDCB Public Radio, and the new Waterleaf restaurant and Inn at Water’s Edge boutique hotel. I often joke with people that if you were going into business with dreams of big profits, at the top of your list of business prospects would certainly be a jazz radio station, a French restaurant and a performing arts center.

The Daily Herald reveals three operations of the college that cost the taxpayer and the enrolled student $1.6 million to operate. “In 2012…, the MAC lost $519,000…”. I take issue with the Daily Herald’s use of the word “lost”. When the College spends dollars in support of academic learning or the operation of the physical plant those dollars are offset by tuition and tax revenues. Currently auxiliaries contribute to their operation, The MAC generated $1.3 million in earned and contributed income in fiscal 2012. However the balance of the MAC’s operating budget is covered by the college general fund. The College posted no year end deficit and in fact increased the fund balance.

The mandate going forward from the College is that we operate in a “revenue neutral” manner. The term comes from D.C. tax legislation in the 80’s with the idea that spending increases in the federal budget would be offset by increases in revenue. At the College it simply means that auxiliary units do not spend more than we can earn through earned or contributed income. The Daily Herald article continues, “Though college officials expect deficits to continue in the short term, they say they're planning initiatives to try to cut expenses. Breuder said he wants to see the losses reduced, but for now, the college isn't at the point where it would have to give up on enterprises such as the restaurant.”

We have already begun at the MAC. During this time of renovation and a smaller season we have reduced staff and other operating expenses and we are stepping back and taking a hard look at our operation. We have every intention of providing arts experiences upon our return but those experiences will have to be going forward “revenue neutral”.

Be well

Stephen

Giving

I am happy to see a day in the holiday season designed to ask people to stop and consider others. I do have to laugh that Americans gather on a special day to give thanks for all the blessings and abundance we have, and then the very next day they madly run out to buy more stuff as if what we were thankful for the previous day was not enough. So now Black Friday, Grey Thursday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are  being followed by Giving Tuesday. Still a little out of whack – consumption gets four days and selflessness gets one. It’s a start.

NPR aired a nice story about this possible trend. 'Giving Tuesday': The Start of a Holiday Tradition?

We recognize the need for social service giving. The MAC has long partnered with the People’s Resource Center during our Christmas Carol and Orchestras Feeding America food drives. In years past we have hosted their annual Gavin Coyle Christmas Concert. This year with the MAC under renovation the concert has moved to North Central College’s Pfeiffer Auditorium this Saturday Dec 1. Ticket information for Songs of the Season: A Gavin Coyle Christmas can be found at the PRC website.

The McAninch Arts Center and many arts organizations hope our patrons remember us during this season. Support for arts and culture has always depended on the generosity of others. Beethoven depended on royal patronage and commissions to support his family. Shakespeare wrote plays for the Queen’s court, works that otherwise might never have been enjoyed by the common man for one pence. It is the patronage of a few people with means that allow the masses access to the arts. 

The troubling trend for people in my position is that just as audiences for classical music, theater, and the more challenging fine arts are aging and shrinking so are the donor dollars. Grantmakers in the Arts has published several reports noting that arts giving is down and that most markedly affected are the small and medium sized organizations. The CSO, Goodman, Art Institute and the Lyric Opera are storied institutions that are part of the bedrock of Chicago cultural and civic life. Even in down times their patron-donor base rises to the occasion. But what impact does it have on a community when the storefront theater, the hamlet's only art gallery, or the small civic orchestra is forced to close its doors? 

Please remember the small arts organization this season and to our friends on this "Giving Tuesday" we say thank you.

Be well

Stephen

Underway

After literally years of planning, beginning with a referendum on the ballot in 2010 through designs by Wight & Company Architecture and plans by Mortenson Construction, the McAninch Arts Center is being renovated. In the mainstage the seats are gone, the wall paneling removed and the carpet pulled up leaving bare concrete. Next will come scaffolding  to the roof to remove the ceiling and the old heating/ cooling duct work. All this in preparation for a fantastic face lift.

We too in the front office are preparing for a transition. Asking ourselves how we may better serve the cultural needs of the many communities we serve. Whether that is as a center for arts education, a venue for community groups to use, as a curator of arts experiences, a producer of classical music and repertory theatre or something we have yet to imagine; we are not sure yet.

We would love it if our audience joined in the discussion. Simply tell us, in recent history, what was the best moment you have had at the MAC and what perhaps you would like to experience new in the future. Comment here on the blog or email me cummins@cod.edu.

be well
Stephen

Sustainability v Relevance

If I lived in a perfect world I would be in Austria at the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Leaders co sponsored by National Arts Strategies and Salzburg Global Seminar. There I would be with fellow arts colleagues exploring the hard questions cultural non-profit organizations around the world are wrestling with. But thanks to blogs and You Tube I can be an observer if not a participant.

The McAninch Arts Center is struggling with this idea of sustainability and Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow Diane Ragsdale has been writing and speaking on the topic in her blog Jumper and in Salzburg. If you have 10 minutes I highly recommend you watch this You Tube interview with Diane at the seminar.

I saw Diane speak several years ago at the annual Arts Alliance Illinois convening. Ra Joy had the good sense to bring Diane to Illinois who at the time was with the Andrew Mellon Foundation.
Her presentation (link to 2010 speech) focused on surviving the cultural change and was profound for me. She reminded me that art and arts organizations live in relation to audience and that while we strive for sustainability we lose sight of relevance. That we should focus less on selling better and more on seeing better. Her thinking on sustainability and relevance has continued to evolve as she has pursued a PhD in the Netherlands. Her ideas in this most recent interview raised several questions for me and for the McAninch Arts Center.

Diane references the work of scholar Alexey Voinov in her idea that sustainability is an unnatural state. In the life cycle of an organization or any living being there is first Emergence followed by Growth that comes to a Plateau and then inevitably begins a period of Decline, which can either lead to New Growth or Death. The point being it is a cycle. Sustainability seeks to pause the cycle at the Plateau and hold the organization at a certain level. Voinov and Ragsdale would suggest that to live and thrive we must allow for death. Their analogy is of the forest fire. Without the death that the fire brings the forest would not be as healthy or able to thrive in the future.

Diane points out that striving for sustainability may have several pitfalls. In order to be sustainable we either drive our organization more towards the market putting greater emphasis on box office revenue and return on investment, or we turn to wealthy donors and away from the middle class patron. Worst of all we artistically settle for mediocrity and live in a sustainable “walking dead state”.

Questions I will be asking…

What should be our purpose? Are we looking out for the best interests of the organization, the artist or for the community at large? What are we trying to sustain that might otherwise be dying or need to die At the expense of what else?

What is our relevance?

Would love to hear your thoughts – comment or email cummins@cod.edu

Be well

Stephen

Why Are We Here? Part II

In the Mike Nichols' movie Primary Colors Kathy Bates’ character admires a beautiful full moon and muses to her friend that they are like the moon, that they can shine and be beautiful but they need the light and energy of their friend the sun (Travolta's Clinton) to do so. A performing and visual arts center can use the same metaphor, without artists and patrons we are but a cold, dark space useless until we are filled with others’ energy. Probably not the best film metaphor as Kathy’s character kills herself in the next scene. But my point is we are facilitators, we are the middle-man in an intimate transaction that connects audience with artists and vice versa. 

That audience member takes on many visages and to me is why we are here.

• There is the smart married couple in their early fifties, no kids or kids in college, that enjoy good food and an eclectic mix of music. They come to the MAC once a month tonight it’s jazz, next month folk music, and maybe the next classical. I enjoy talking to them in the lobby – they tell me what they are reading, share a good restaurant they have recently dined at, ask me if I have heard a particular musician – they soak up the total experience.

• Then there is the middle-school kid who has never been to the MAC. His family is working hard to pay the mortgage and support the family and honestly arts participation is coming in low on their critical needs list. Somewhere in his being he knows that art (a song, a sunset, spoken words) have the power to move him. But his life does not allow for many opportunities to experience art until one day a musician and a visual artist walk into his school and life may never be quite the same. A person and an organization had to facilitate that experience.

• A small bus pulls up, the doors open and brimming with anticipation a dozen people assisted by walkers, canes or the hand of a friend or loved one make their way through our front door. They are spending their active twilight years with a community of older adults and the MAC is a convenient and affordable night out on the town. Now and then when they cannot come to the MAC we manage to bring an arts experience to this most appreciative and deserving audience.

• For me one of the most joyous moments I get to experience is holding the door open for a stream of buzzing, wide-eyed 6 year olds. “Did you see when the dancer…, The purple moon was…, It was funny when the mouse…, That was so cool.” Following this trail of energy is a smiling teacher, proud of her class, who graciously thanks us for bringing a theatre company all the way from Nova Scotia to perform for her 1^st graders. It was our pleasure.

We’re here to provide arts experiences to people young and old, students and community members; regardless of your station in life or your ability to access or afford. We’re the bella luna reflecting the life giving light of the artist in the dark night.

be well

Stephen

Why Are We Here?

COD Concert Choir

This week on the Yahoo Answers site Amanda asks, “Does College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL, live up to its hype? It is supposedly one of the best community colleges in the country, but is it anything more than just a pretty campus? How is the quality of education?” I would tell Amanda if you were considering study in the Fine and Applied Arts (FAA) look at two things. First, our faculty, I’ve never seen a community college with the breadth and depth of talent that College of DuPage (COD) has. Our full and part time faculty have MFA and Doctoral degrees from top tier schools (Universities of Illinois, Texas, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern University, the School of the Art Institute...). Many COD FAA faculty are working artists exhibiting, performing, designing, composing and creating work professionally. Secondly look at the work our students produce. Attend a theatre production, a portfolio night, a film screening, or a concert and you’ll see work on par with any undergraduate institution. I realize these are qualitative and subjective measures and our society and administrations want quantifiable proof. In the business of academia the success of a program is measured in enrollment, completion, transfer and employment data. It’s hard to put something as complex as art making into a simple box. The measure of an artist is not whether they completed a program its whether their web-design communicates well for their client or if their music moves the listener. Amanda, I would tell you to talk to people and look at the work and you’ll see a school that is better than hype.

Most community members never see the important work we do and the primary reason we are here, but this next two weeks it will be on display. The MAC will present the Faculty Recital, Community Band concert, Mid-term Student Music Concert, Community Jazz Ensemble Dance, Chamber Orchestra Concert, and open College Theatre’s production of The Nerd and a student gallery art exhibit. College of DuPage is an academic institution first and the people who are the McAninch Arts Center work tirelessly to support the students and faculty in Fine and Applied Arts. Students see that in a warmly lit stage set with chairs and music stands, scenery and costumes for their production, a professionally exhibited gallery show, a program and a ticket for the concert and a welcoming theatre for friends, family and community to support their work.

Many of the students enrolled here will use their time at College of DuPage to spring themselves into further study in the arts. After performing on our stages and studying and creating in our studios and classrooms many go on to places like Roosevelt University, Illinois State University, Elmhurst College, School of the Arts Institute Chicago and many others. But what use is an arts degree? I frequently get this question, sometimes from fellow educators and administrators. It’s a fair question, should a student receive federally funded Pell grants to pursue an education in the arts and should this education be provided at a community college?  My three-part answer, first, community colleges are the most democratic educational institutions ever conceived of, thank you William Rainey Harper (1856-1906). Whatever your place in our society, whatever your previous educational successes or failures, and whatever your financial circumstances our doors are open to you. What better place to affordably explore a challenging career and life choice like the arts.

Secondly, our students go on to success in higher ed and professionally. Examples:

• I can point to dozens of working theatre technicians across Chicago that started at COD and earn the industry hourly rate of between $15 and $25.
• Two recent COD grads in music and theatre received Jeff Awards, Chicago’s more inclusive equivalent to New York’s Tony award.
•  Graphic Design students work for Chicago design firms, educational software companies, as independent web-designer,...
• You can tune in to Fox on Tuesdays at 8pm and watch Lamorne Morris, COD alum, on New Girl.
• Artist and COD alum Vincent Glielmi’s photographs are on exhibit right now in the College’s Wings Gallery.

This success is often down-played as only a few anecdotal stories. It’s true that the arts are a tough road to take. I spent the first five years of my post college life as a working actor and frankly I did not have the fortitude to gut out a life on the stage and screen. In 1992 I transitioned to arts administration and arts education. Whether study in the performing and visual arts leads to a career in the arts is irrelevant  My final point would be that what arts experiences and arts education do produce are creative thinkers and a more socially responsible citizens. I have known this in my gut since I toured rural Arkansas in 1987 performing Shakespeare for kids who had never seen the Bard on stage. A recent study coming out of the University of Illinois and published in Science Daily indicates that participation in the arts (attending and creating) leads to,  “predicated civic engagement, tolerance and altruism.” Frankly, those are qualities I want in my community.

At the recent Midwest Arts Conference the Keynote Address by Russell Willis Taylor President and CEO of National Arts Strategies was wonderfully instructive and if you have time it’s a good read too. One take away anecdote for me was the story of the non-profit arts organization that complains that their arts education programs do not receive the kind of recognition they should from foundations and grantors. A consultant to the organization asks what percentage of your operating budget goes to educational activities? The numbers do not lie and the arts organization’s own budget revealed they spent less then 1% on arts education. They wanted to be recognized for something that clearly was not a priority of the organization. That’s okay. But it should have been a wake up call that they were a symphony orchestra or a theatre company first. So I have to ask the MAC and the College the same question – what do you spend on the arts?

In a previous post (Show Me The Money) the MAC budget was discussed. The break down of the $3.1 million is 35% goes to arts education and 65% to arts presenting. So at least 35% of MAC staff time and 35% of the MAC budget goes to supporting student learning and faculty instruction through performance, exhibition and opportunities to engage with resident/ visiting artists. The College of DuPage has committed $35 million to the renovation of the 165,000 square foot McAninch Arts Center. This year COD funded arts instruction to the tune of approximately $6 million dollars. All of these numbers go to Russell’s point and demonstrate the College can and should be recognized for its support of arts education.

I believe that is an appropriate level of funding for the kind of broad and specialized arts education we provide. Could the programs in Fine and Applied Arts use more dollars, probably. They most assuredly should not be cut. We are here because our community needs creative, socially engaged citizens whether they make their living from the arts or not. You and I want good music, good performance, good design, and good quality of life for ourselves and for our neighbors. That is what art and artists do for us everyday and why I believe a community college should provide this kind of education for the community it serves. What we do beyond educating students is the question addressed in the next post.

Be well
Stephen

Next: Why are we here? Part II

Show Me The Money!

Where Does the Money Come From?

Ticket sales, grants, individual donors, the college, corporate sponsorships, tax dollars, student fees, government arts agency, concession and merchandise sales, foundations, and any stone left un-turned.

The McAninch Arts Center (MAC) is considered a medium sized performing arts center based on the metrics used in the Urban Institute analysis of U.S. arts presenters The Capacity of Performing Arts Presenting Organizations. For fiscal year 2012 the MAC operated a $3.1 million budget. For the purposes of accounting and this discussion we split that number into Educational Arts Support ($1.09 million) and Arts Presenting  ($2.02 million). The former represents our support for student productions, concerts and exhibits in Music, Theatre, Dance and Visual Art, the latter is our public face, work we create (symphony and theatre ensemble) and work we present (artist series, art gallery, school series, community engagement work), all for our community. The support for student work in the arts is supported by academic mission of the college and funded through tuition, student fees and tax dollars. Our challenge is to make the other side of the coin work – what the college calls an auxiliary function of the institution.

So how does this subsidiary of the college operate? In fiscal year 2012 the MAC spent $2.02 million on the non-academic side. This number is split $1.49 million of earned revenue and $530,000 of subsidy from the College of DuPage. 

MAC 2012 Revenue

Add that $530K the College provided the auxiliary side of the MAC to the $1.09 million the College puts out to support student performance and exhibition in Theatre, Music, Dance and Art and COD spent $1.62 million on arts and culture last year. Absent from these numbers are facility and utility support (custodial, grounds, engineering, heating, cooling, electricity and water). For the mid-sized, community college-based performing arts center there are three primary sources of revenue 1) earned income (ticket sales and alternate earned income sources), 2) contributed income (fundraising, grant, endowment), and 3) support from the host institution. The MAC breakdown is 64% - 10% - 26%.

How do we manage if the College subsidy goes away? Reduce costs, increase revenues, grow audience, change programming, develop alternative revenue sources,… the list goes on and every arts administrator can recite it. Keeping with our theme, where does the money come from, we can easily answer where it does not come from. Reports from Kelly Barsdate, Steve Lawrence, Reina Mukai and Holly Sidford respectively in Grantmakers in the Arts: GIA Reader and National Center for Responsive Philanthropy: Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change left me with these points:

1.      Grant dollars for the performing and visual arts have steadily decreased over recent years.

2.      Median grant size ($25,000) has remained unchanged since 1993. When adjusted for inflation the median grant has decreased.

3.      State and local arts funding has decreased in recent years precipitously, minus 39% and 20% respectively. The MAC has seen a 70% decrease in Illinois Arts Council support.

4.      Small to medium sized arts organizations receive dis-proportionally fewer dollars than large arts organizations, 2% of organizations have budgets greater than $5 million but they receive 55% of dollars donated and granted.

If we’re waiting for foundations, grantors, the government or big corporate donors to come to the aid of medium to small performing arts centers we should not hold our collective breath.

Community colleges are late to the philanthropic table. While our counterparts at four-year universities have been raising money for decades our little arts organization just began making an organized annual appeal for donations six years ago. Our center does not have a fundraiser on staff nor does it have an advisory board with give/get mandate. We do not have a strategic planned giving program for the arts. We have never really asked our patrons to step up in a big way. We always assumed that the institution would take care of us. They always have. We historically ran deficits that were annually excused until three years ago when the College added the number up and it totaled $2.2 million accumulated over approximately a dozen years. That is a sobering number. If the MAC had to ask its patrons to make up a $500,000 annual shortfall it would mean increasing our annual giving by almost 800%.

We’re pretty good at generating dollars through ticket sales ($1 million plus annually). We manage to provide an eclectic mix of music, theatre, dance and visual arts experiences that our community is willing to pay for; however, if we had to survive totally on generated revenue what would that mean? There is art we put on the stage and in the gallery that without subsidy in some form would never see the limelight. Our Dance Series, New Philharmonic, and Buffalo Theatre Ensemble are three examples. Should the free market determine what art is available to a community or should it be part of the mission of a community college to provide its constituents with arts experiences they otherwise could not provide for themselves?

This leads us next to mission and programming. If you have questions, answers or disagree with something I've said, I hope you’ll comment. I promise to engage with you respectfully.

Be well,

Stephen