Mixed Emotions

The following letter was posted to MAC Subscribers on July 1, 2013...

Dear Friends,

It is with mixed emotions that I write to tell you that I am leaving the College of DuPage/ McAninch Arts Center to take a position in Early August at California State University, Chico. I am grateful to College of DuPage for giving me the opportunity to serve this community for the past seven years. It has been my pleasure. I believe we have stayed true to our mission to enrich the cultural vitality of the residents we serve, and have laid the groundwork for the MAC to reopen in 2014 stronger and more beautiful than ever.

In my new position as Director of Public Events at Chico State I will oversee the Chico Performances series as well as North State Public Radio - NPR for Northern California. It is a wonderful opportunity for me professionally and for my family to be closer to our extended family.

As some of my last duties as Director of the MAC, I am putting the final touches on a fantastic 2013-14 season that includes performances by wonderful artists including Madeleine Peyroux, Pilobolus, David Sedaris, our own New Philharmonic and Buffalo Theatre, and many more. Our great MAC staff will be sending information out to you about upcoming events and the reopening of the McAninch Arts Center in December. I promise you will be astonished by the amazing renovation and upgrade to the MAC.

Thank you for the kindness and generosity you have shown me and my family. I am sad that I will not greet you at the steps of the new McAninch Arts Center, but hope you enjoy many more performances at the best venue in the Western Suburbs.

Sincerely,
Stephen Cummins
Director, McAninch Arts Center

Calling All Champions

Currently the MAC has three ongoing campaigns to raise dollars for the arts. That's a lot, some would say too many, that our focus is too spread out. But our focus has always been broad and diverse. We have never catered to only one community.

So we find ourselves soliciting money for the Cleve Carney Art Space (contemporary art gallery and collection), Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (resident Equity theatre company), and New Philharmonic (professional orchestra in residence). At present New Philharmonic is 46% of the way to its three year pledge goal of $450,000 and Buffalo Theatre has reached 17% of their $240,000 three year goal.

The first on the list, the Carney Art Space, is assured a secure future because of the generosity of one man, Cleve Carney. Cleve's seed gift of dollars and art (estimated $1.2 million) has formed the solid base that will ensure that contemporary art has a home at College of DuPage for many years to come.

Cleve joins a long line of arts benefactors in the U.S. Some with names you know like the competing wine families in California (Mondavi Center at UC Davis and the Gallo Center in Modesto CA. Or closer to home Pritzker Pavilion, Harris Center, the new Logan Center at U of Chicago, and North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall. Every community has champions. Individuals who realize that the greater good cannot be served unless they themselves step up. They embody the etymological definition of philanthropist, "lover of humanity".

We are grateful to Cleve for his generosity, vision and humanity. We thank all those who give at whatever level they are able, because they love the arts. In the coming year our community will hear more about opportunities to be champions like Cleve.

be well
Stephen

New Philharmonic Concert Cancellation

The New Phil's New Year's Eve concert was bitter sweet this year. The music was sweeter than ever under Kirk's direction, but it was bitter knowing that the last two concerts of the season would not go on. It is a difficult decision to cancel a concert and one I have only had to make a few times in my career. As theatre people the idea of "the show must go on" is engrained in our fiber; thus, not going on with the New Philharmonic season is hard to accept.

When we were presented with the reality of being away from our concert home for two seasons we asked ourselves how will we sustain the artistic momentum that New Philharmonic and Maestro Muspratt have been gaining. The orchestra has steadily been growing audience and ticket revenue over the last five years. And all would agree that the concerts are a delight to attend, so what effect would two years away from the MAC have? We were advised by some at the College to shutter the operation, that our audience would come back when we were ready for them. At the same time many of our fondest patrons were asking us where they would go for classical music through the Spring of 2014?

It roughly costs the orchestra on average $40,000 to produce each two evening concert concert cycle. The math is pretty simple, at the $32 average ticket price we need over 1,250 people to attend a concert. So when we made the decision to rent concert halls away from our own home and present a modified season (2 fewer concerts) we calculated that 80% of our current audience base would need to follow us. In reality only 40% did. When asked, and we called every subscriber, the reply we heard over and over was, "we love New Phil, we love Kirk, but venue x is too far to travel to in the winter. We'll see you next year when the MAC is back up and running."

Facing a 60% drop in ticket revenue, I made the only decision that seemed prudent. We cancelled the final two concerts of the season, Cosi fon tutte and Great Russians. We will end the season in the red and the College will have to cover our deficit. Something they have consistently done to one degree or another for the last decade.

Going forward is the next question. In the era of revenue neutral (see post from December 28) we will need to know that the dollars through the door, in the form of donations, ticket sales and sponsorships, can cover all the expenses of this fine orchestra. The College does not want to cover any deficit at the MAC with income from student tuition or tax revenues. This policy includes all MAC operations including the MAC Artist Series, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble and Schoolstage, our K-12 education program.

So the onus now is on you, our patron. If you enjoy the orchestra or value any of the offerings of the MAC let us know how you are willing to support your community performing arts center. Comment here or contact me (630) 942-3008 or cummins@cod.edu.

be well
Stephen

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

Food Truck Revolution

The food truck revolution has made it to DuPage. In places like LA or Austin, TX haute cuisine served on the curb from a food truck has become the hot thing. Chefs are coming our of their bricks and mortar restaurants and taking their shows on the road. Part of it is the gourmet-ification of blue collar food, like pizza, barbecue, and burgers. I've been to joints where no one bats an eye when a burger comes to the table with pear, arugala and smoked gouda on the bun and as evidenced on TV's Food Network and other popular food focused channels making great barbecue or cupcakes has become a high art form.

This Saturday, rain or shine, a few of Chicagoland's Food Truck pioneers will be at the MAC serving up their specialties during our Blues, Brews and BBQ event. Gourmet barbecue, tacos, cupcakes and gelato will all be on the menu along with adult beverages from Two Brothers Brewery and I Have a Bean Coffee.

The links to to our Food Truck Friends are below.
Brand BBQ
Fire It Up
Gia Via Sweets
Sweet Ginger Gelato

Gates open at 5:00
Bands start at 6:00
$10 admission
See you there.

The MAC is Getting a Facelift

Rendering by Wight & Company

Dear Friends of the MAC,

These are exciting times. In case you haven’t heard, the McAninch Arts Center is going to receive a much needed renovation. Our theaters, gallery and educational spaces are beginning to show their 25 years and we are looking forward to the improvements that the College will make.


The renovation is scheduled to begin in the Fall of 2012, while the MAC doors may be closed, the MAC activities will continue. Our plans are to ensure that the programming our patrons have come to depend on continues. We are making arrangements to present New Philharmonic, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, K-8 educational programming, and some fan favorite MAC artists in various venues out in our community. Music and theater department performances will take place in other spaces on the COD campus.

As we know more we will be sure to share the information with you. So stay tuned for programming and renovation updates and we’ll see you soon at the MAC.

Sincerely,
Stephen Cummins
Director, McAninch Arts Center

Season Announced

We have announced our 2011-2012 season - and we think it is pretty special.

We have some great events including Rosanne Cash, Garrison Keillor, Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain, Buckwheat Zydeco, Hot Club of Cowtown, Patricia Barber, and much much more. Including our gallery shows, the Schoolstage series, Global Flicks, and our lecture series there are over 70 events for arts lovers to choose from.

Donors and past subscribers may purchase now through June 14.
On June 15 MAC Packs (subscriptions) are available to the public and on
August 10 single tickets go on sale.

Brochures are in the mail or available at our ticket office. If you have not received one you may contact our ticket office and we will be happy to mail one out. View the MAC PACK 2011-2012 Subscription E-Booklet! MAC Ticket Office: 630-942-4000

Hope to see you at the MAC.

be well
Stephen

People's Resource Center Collection

College Theatre’s A Christmas Carol Nov 26 to 28 at the MAC
In the spirit of the holidays College Theatre and the MAC will collect non-perishable food items for the People’s Resource Center.
Please bring items to the MAC lobby before any performance.
The MAC will continue to collect food until the PRC’s December 10 Holiday Concert with Gavin Coyle.
At the concert Ebenezer Scrooge himself will present an offering of food to the PRC.

Happy Thanksgiving
Stephen