Archive for the ‘Winter Benefit’ Category

Balancing fun with fundraising

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

I am in NYC this weekend to rehearse the entertainment for our upcoming Winter Benefit (January 15 at the Wood Theater).  With the snow falling outside this morning, it is appropriate for me to be headed to a rehearsal where they’ll be singing Marshmallow World (made famous by the Rat Pack). The theme of the show – and the whole benefit for that matter – is “sweet.” This comes from the fact this will be or 16th season, but rather than go with a sweet 16 birthday theme, the benefit committee ran with a sugar theme. Candy and cupcakes will be in abundance.  On stage, the cast will be singing confectionery inspired songs such as “Sugar, Sugar” and “A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down”.

Picking the theme, choosing the entertainment, and even the food are creative things the benefit committee enjoys doing, but they underlie one of the main things that make ATF’s benefit successful: fun.

This was a hard lesson for me when I was a younger arts leader.  I was so myopically passionate about the work I was doing on stage I just felt people should give money no matter if there were decorations or fancy food.  It’s not that my fundraisers looked like a prison dining halls, but I am sure my pleas for donations sounded a lot like manifestos.

With a little age I have both mellowed and gotten wiser. Yes, it’s a fundraiser, and as the head of the theatre I am definitely looking to increase the bottom line success of the event (this event must raise 15% of our annual budget). Nevertheless, by holding an event people truly enjoy attending the rewards are well beyond financial.  They build a sense of community among our core supporters that serves ATF beyond simply cash donations.

Great food from local restaurants and casual cabaret entertainment by ATF alumni performers create a very social environment that highlights one of my deeply held philosophies of breaking down the barriers between performers and audience.  The nature of the entertainment and the fact the performers are in the crowd before and after the show allows our supporters to get to know the actors as people rather than just the role they played on stage the previous summer.  For example, last year I have a distinct memory of watching Gary Adler (music director for Ave Q and composer/lyricist of Altar Boyz), talking with a father and daughter about pursuing a career in the theatre (not sure if that calmed the father’s concerns, but the daughter’s face lit up with excitement).

I enjoy the chance to laugh and joke with the audience as I announce the season and work with Martin Seelye during the live auction.

Throughout the evening there is a very social feeling to the event and by the end the crowd feels palpably charged and engaged in ATF’s success.

Without harping on the need for cash, but having a great time with the crowd, money was raised.  An audience member created their own fund-raising moment in the evening last year, unplanned, when they asked how much it would cost to get me to sing.  Soon the crowd was pulling out money, and next thing I know I am singing Rainbow Connection in the voice of Kermit the Frog – now that’s about as far from a manifesto as you can get.

If you go to fundraisers what are your favorite memories and what were some of the turnoffs (either at an ATF event or another charitable event)?

And if you are involved in throwing fundraisers, I’d love to hear how you attempt to balance the need to raise funds with the desire to have a fun night for your supporters.

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Selecting ATF’s 2010 Season

Monday, December 14th, 2009

I am planning to announce the titles for the 2010 summer season (June 23 – July 31) at the Winter Benefit on January 15. While I can’t won’t leak any titles before contracts are officially signed I can tell you that it is shaping up to be a summer full of music, nostalgia and a world premiere set right here in the Adirondacks. I am often asked how I make my season selection. It is definitely a process, but it is arguably one of the biggest decisions I make all year. I compare it to being asked to go to the video store and pick four things my friends would like to see. If you have ever been on this errand you know how stressful it can be standing there staring at the shelves searching for the perfect video. It is impossible to please everyone. So what you do is find something you want to see and that you believe your family and friends will like as well. Except I’m choosing shows for the entire community and area tourists. Just like a trip to the video store, I read stacks of scripts and attend many readings and performances as I assemble the season. I try to pick a variety of things that excite me and in turn will excite the audience.

First there is ATF’s mission to produce new and contemporary shows. This means that I am seeking very current scripts – less than five years old – that speak to issues and ideas we face today rather than looking nostalgically at the past. This doesn’t mean that an ATF production isn’t set in an earlier time period. Often a writer sets their show in a previous age to highlight current issues. In fact, I am looking at a show for this summer that does just that.

Second is a consideration of our financial resources as applies to performers and technical aspects of the production. As a professional theatre we strive to hire the highest quality performers on our stage. This means we hire actors who are members of Actor’s Equity, the union of professional stage actors. Their salaries and benefits are regulated by the union. While these rates may not seem too high ($350 per week plus taxes, benefits and transportation) the cumulative impact last season was $47,120. This doesn’t count hiring the professional summer staff, directors, writers, designers and technicians. We limit our shows to smaller casts hire around 12 actors per summer. So as a result, at this time, the musicals with big large casts and chorus members are not viable for ATF. As I read shows and put the season together I must make the math work out for the total number of actor contracts ATF can afford.

I also have to look at what the scenic and technical requirements are for the show. Our designers and tech staff pull of some amazing things (the chair on the vertical wall in LOVE SONG and the moving frames and such in ORDINARY DAYS come to mind). Nevertheless, I have to read the scripts with an eye towards what is possible for us to accomplish to our standards in the time we have to do it, given the number of people on staff and the resources (re: $) available.

It is a complicated matrix. Balancing the available resources with my desire to provide our audiences the most amazing theatre experience possible is a challenging yet rewarding process I go through each year. I look forward to sharing the final selections with you soon.

I hope you will be at the benefit on the 15th. If you don’t have your tickets yet check out www.ATFestival.org for information about the event and a link to our online box office.

After the titles are announced, I will post an entry or two here on the blog on how I came to choose each title and why I am so excited to have them in the season.

FYI: Season Tickets for the 2010 Summer Season will go on sale to renewing subscribers on March 1, 2010. Subscriptions will be made available for new subscribers on May 1.

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Oh What a Night!

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Our benefit on Friday night was a great success. We are still totaling the money we made and calculating all the expenses, but it looks like it was a success, which, when you read all the headlines, is a pretty humbling thing to see. But I tell you what was more humbling: the response from everyone at the end of the night.

We finished the fundraising portion of the evening with a live auction. At the start of the live auction I had quipped, “The good news is ATF has all the money it needs. The bad news is that it’s still in your wallets.” There were eight items, and together they brought in over $10,000. Although only eight people had won, many more people had bid. And I wondered if those people still wanted to give ATF their money, not for an auction item, but because they believe in what ATF provides them and the community. A friend of mine calls this “Funding the Mission”—and for some reason, I’ve always been a little hesitant to push for it without careful preparation. But something about the evening gave me courage. So when our auctioneer, Martin Seelye, handed the microphone back to me I made a quick decision.

I stood there, looked at the crowd and asked, “Is there anyone here who brought money tonight, but has not had the opportunity to give it to ATF?” At first it was a little quiet – or maybe it was my nervousness at being so bold that I sensed time standing still. Then to my left I heard a “Yes” and saw two women walking towards me with money in their hands.

Mickey Luce, director of Lake George Youth Theatre, then spoke up and said he’d give if I sang a song. I was not expecting that. This really got the crowd going. I began seeing hands raised throughout the audience. Money was being passed to ATF volunteers from all over the theatre.

I stood there, microphone in hand, dreading what was now inevitable. I’m not a singer. I’m not a performer. But at the end of the day I am willing to do what it takes to raise the necessary funds for ATF – even if it involves personal humiliation. Suddenly the spotlight was on me. It was time to sing. If ever there was something that should make our audiences happy for the professionals we bring to the theatre each summer, it should have been the sight—and then, the sound—of me launching a capella into “The Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie—the only thing that came into my mind. To further my humiliation, I must admit: the only way I can do this is to sing it as Kermit the Frog—it was the way I sang it as a kid. It was not pretty, but it was done.

My professional singing debut brought in an additional $650 for ATF. This is not insignificant as it is provides a little less than two weeks of pay for one of our actors. I wonder if this could start a precedent: perhaps next year, I could threaten a repeat performance, even get a frog suit—and people could pay for my silence.

Although I’m only slightly joking about the frog suit, I know it’s not my voice—or the prospect of my humiliation—that brought that $650. It was a belief in the theatre we do. And that made it a wonderfully warm evening on one of the coldest nights of the year.

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Friday here I come…

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

First, a quick office update:  This past week ATF’s new General Manager began working in the office.  You’ll remember we were looking for someone to replace Lisa Janssen, but who could be a full time administrative partner.  If you’re coming to the benefit, you’ll get to meet Tracy there.  If not, I’ll feature her in a well-deserved post in a few weeks.  Her bio is already up on our web page, though.  And she’s definitely got the office buzzing.  She’s already learned how ATF has been doing the administrative tasks, like payroll and banking, but she’s also jumped right in and taken over a number of things for our benefit.  I’m so glad that she’s here—she’s a really great addition to ATF.

Speaking of the benefit, we are anticipating a sold out event.  This is great news. Almost every day in ArtsJournal I read about another theatre or dance group that is facing the possibility of shutting down because of drops in donations or reduced ticket sales.  My friends at other theatres have warned me that benefits are bringing in 25% less this year than last year.  A sold out event is a great thing, but in reality tickets to ATF’s benefit cover the costs of the entertainment, the food and rent of the theatre.  The majority of the funds are raised through the silent and live auctions — $20,000.

The committee has received some great auction items, and I hope that people are really ready to bid.  In reality, however, people don’t bid on these items just because they want a trip or dinner for two to a local restaurant. While their attraction to the item does come into play, the truth of the matter is they attend the benefit and put their money down because they support the theatre.  The item they win is a thank you gift.

At the end of the day, the responsibility for getting the benefit audience to bid high is not that of our great auctioneer, Martin Seelye, but me.  Friday is my night to stand before our supporters and lay out the case for why they should fund ATF. This is more than just announcing the season (which I am doing).  It is an argument for why ATF and live theatre matters now.  While I have spent the past week outlining various economic and educational reasons ATF matters, I keep coming back to the power of community.  Theatre builds community through a shared experience (among the audience and between the audience and the actors).  It only happens because it is live—there’s something magical that makes a live performance create a kind of community you can’t get with mass media.  While breathing the same air in the same room, we laugh, we are surprised and we cry as the characters on stage respond to and confront challenges. This shared experience allows us to explore what it means to be human. I am filling up a lot of pages trying to find the best way of saying this at the benefit.  I’ve only got 3 days left, and right now I have about 5 single spaced pages—which would be a 25 minute lecture.  So I’m cutting and paring every day.  If I’m truly excited about what I come up with, I’ll post it here on Saturday.  Until then, wish me luck.  And brevity.

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The Boyz will be back in town

Friday, October 31st, 2008

I wanted you to be the first to hear that the Altar Boyz are coming back to Glens Falls for our annual Winter Benefit on Friday, January 16.

So far Mitch Dean (Mark), Lee Markham (Luke) and Todd Stern (Abraham) have signed on for an original musical revue created by Gary Adler (composer and music director of Altar Boyz) and Carlos Encinias (assistant director and choreographer). The show will feature a history of boy band music — starting with Barber Shop quartets to doo-wop and beyond. I am also sure they will be reviving an Altar Boyz song or two. The details are still being worked out for this one-night-only event, but I know it will be a great evening of entertainment.

Tickets will go on sale soon. I’ll post the exact date here on the blog with a link when I know it.

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