3 replies to this topic

[Stecyk]

Balancing the books a delicate act for ballet

Please see link above for complete article.  Below is an excerpt.

Quote

When ballet lovers take their seats on Thursday night for the opening of Onegin, they probably don’t realize that it’s a money-loser.

“Every time we do a show, we lose money,” said Kevin Garland, executive director of the National Ballet of Canada. “Every show costs about twice as much as it brings in revenue.”

Box office sales bring in about 45 per cent of revenues — considered a strong percentage for arts organizations — and the rest is split between private donations and government grants.

[diane]

Some things just do not "pay for themselves", but it does not make them any less "valueable" to those who benefit from them, and actually to the whole society.

For example: Public transportation, The Arts, Children.


-d-

[Stecyk]

diane, on 18 March 2011 - 02:51 AM, said:

Some things just do not "pay for themselves", but it does not make them any less "valueable" to those who benefit from them, and actually to the whole society.

For example: Public transportation, The Arts, Children.

It's unfortunate that we citizens do not or unable to support the arts with more passion, interest, and funding.

I suspect that if Canadian National Ballet were able to attract a larger audience, requiring more showings, then each show might be profitable.  But with so much preparation and fixed costs going into each production and only a few showings, it's tough to make the numbers work.

With the economy in a funk, it is certainly a challenging time for artists.

[volcanohunter]

Stecyk, on 18 March 2011 - 12:34 PM, said:

I suspect that if Canadian National Ballet were able to attract a larger audience, requiring more showings, then each show might be profitable.  But with so much preparation and fixed costs going into each production and only a few showings, it's tough to make the numbers work.

The National Ballet of Canada has been doing more shows since it moved into its current home. The Four Seasons Centre holds considerably fewer people than the Sony/Hummingbird/O'Keefe Centre. But Toronto really needed a proper opera house; the acoustics at the O'Keefe were so bad that microphones had to be placed in the orchestra pit. If anything, I suspect that the current arrangement is more expensive because putting on more shows requires paying unionized musicians and stage crews that much more.

Quote

In November 2006 the National Ballet officially moved from the Hummingbird Centre to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which it shares with the Canadian Opera Company. In terms of the budget, this move represents additional fixed costs of $1.4 million annually.

The Hummingbird Centre has 3,200 seats and played host to 68 performances in the 2005 season. The new venue has 2,000 seats and will require 83 annual performances...which explains the $1.4 million annual increase in fixed costs

http://neumann.hec.c...0Canada,%20.pdf