A Day in the Life of a Theatre Checkbook

Posted by Bruce Miller
It was my turn to sign checks this morning. Lucas Hall, our accounts payable manager, sends out checks two to four times a week. He rotates signing privileges among four of us, so that one of us doesn’t get stuck signing 100 to 150 checks at any one sitting.

In light of recent discussions about the significant costs of sustaining a professional nonprofit theatre operation in Richmond, it was interesting to me, as I was signing away about $25,000 this morning, to record this one tiny snapshot of what Barksdale and Theatre IV spend almost every working day of the year.

I was lucky. This signing didn’t include a show payroll. Show payrolls take the longest.

Here’s what we paid out to vendors today, rounded to the nearest dollar:

$ 3,522 – quarterly payment, Hugs evaluation
$ 598 – partial payment, printing of TIV 09-10 mainstage brochure
$ 778 – printing of TIV annual appeal
$ 553 – annual development trip expenses
$ 610 – HVAC maintenance, Empire & office
$ 145 – copier maintenance, office
$ 450 – set and costume storage – one month
$ 1,096 – partial payment, TIV 09-10 tour brochure
$ 112 – one night, Millie security
$ 1,199 – ad buy, newspaper
$ 3,380 – monthly electric, Empire, office, one actor house
$ 2,919 – monthly water/sewage and gas, Empire
$ 500 – website ad buy
$ 2,173 – set materials this month
$ 3,485 – monthly rent: office, parking, actor house
$ 354 – t-shirts for summer camp
$ 146 – brake repair, one tour van
$ 342 – ad buy, university student directory
$ 200 – monthly IT services, office & box office
$ 239 – Empire dumpster
$ 97 – gas for production van
$ 166 – copier maintenance, Empire
$ 25 – overflow answering service, TIV America
$ 278 – utilities, one actor house
$ 2,010 – monthly phone / Internet

These bills add up to approximately $25,000. All told this week, we paid out approximately $139,000. Our average weekly payout is $96,000. All told this year, we’ll expend approximately $5 million.

People often ask, “Where does your money come from?” Many people think there’s some sort of fund from which we draw to pay our bills. There isn’t. That $96,000 average weekly expenditure comes from the $96,000 we need to bring in each week. If the money doesn’t come in, it doesn’t go out.

In the case of Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV, on average, $38,275 comes in each week in Richmond ticket sales, $33,480 comes from tour revenue, $1,490 comes from miscellaneous revenue (playbill ad sales, concessions, facility rentals, special projects, etc.) and $22,275 comes in from contributions and special events. This means that approximately 23.3% of our revenue is contributed. The national average for a professional theatre is 40%.

I’ll crunch these numbers a little more in an upcoming post.

--Bruce Miller

Roy Burgess Plans Ahead for Barksdale's Future

Posted by Phil Whiteway

Congratulations and many thanks to Roy Burgess, former Barksdale Trustee, past Board President, and current poster boy for The Community Foundation. You may have seen Roy's beeming visage recently lighting up the pages of STYLE, the Free Press and the Richmond Times-Dispatch. His ad encourages giving to The Community Foundation. He also has a few great things to say about Barksdale Theatre.

The copy of the ad reads as follows:

"Why did I become a philanthropist?

'There are things I really want to help keep alive long after I'm gone--theater, great old Richmond neighborhoods, and my church.' -- Roy E. Burgess II

You make the difference.
We make it possible.

Roy Burgess has a vision of what he wants to happen. Fast forward to the future. Laughter fills the Barksdale Theatre. A tour guide shows off a beautifully revived old Richmond neighborhood to a busload of impressed visitors. On the Boulevard, the organist practices for the Sunday service at Boulevard United Methodist Church. Roy Burgess has established a legacy that will improve people's lives for generations in ways that reflect his personal passions. How did he do that? He found a partner called The Community Foundation and put a dream in forward motion. Could it be funded creatively through his estate, sharing proceeds also designated for his family? Yes. Could it be named after him? The Roy E. Burgess II Fund--done!

What things are special to you? What will you do to keep them alive?"

In addition to a great photo of Roy, the ad centers on a show shot from Into the Woods, featuring Hannah Zold and Rita Markova.

Roy has been a vital member of the Barksdale family for as long as I can remember. He acted (and sang) on the Tavern stage in the 1968 production of Oliver!, and in H.M.S. Pinafore in 1981. Whether performing on stage, governing in the Board room, or cheering in the audience (he hasn't missed a Barksdale production in decades!), Roy has come to understand that Barksdale depends on his participation and support for its very survival. So he has been a generous annual contributor year after year, and, about two years ago, he became the first supporter to let us know that he had included Barksdale in his will.

Now he's also designated Barksdale as an annual recipient of funding of the Roy E. Burgess II Fund that will be administered by The Community Foundation in perpetuity.

We can't thank Roy enough for acting on his commitment to Barksdale Theatre. For generations to come, it will be Roy's thoughtful planning that will keep Barksdale growing and going strong.

A big part of my job is working with supporters on their planned giving. If you'd like to support Barksdale today or in the future, please give me a call and I'll be happy to meet with you.

--Phil Whiteway

Three Days at the Kennedy Center

Anne Murphy Douglas, President of the Board of Theatre IV, and Bennett Fidlow, new Board member at Barksdale Theatre, joined Phil and me for a three-day seminar with Michael Kaiser and others at the Kennedy Center. We returned yesterday afternoon after a highly informative, intensive and fun learning experience. We’re eager to put our newfound insights to good use here in Richmond.

For those who don’t know, Michael Kaiser (who also recently spoke at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Center) is a world-renowned arts leader. Prior to becoming President of the Kennedy Center in 2001, Michael served as Executive Director of the Royal Opera House (the largest performing arts organization in the UK), Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre, Executive Director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater (the world’s largest modern dance organization), and General Manager of the Kansas City Ballet.

Spending two and a half days with Michael feels a little like cramming a year of arts administration training into 20 hours. Part of his brilliance is that he is able to speak clearly and simply, boiling down his extensive experience and research into comprehensible two-hour sessions. His focus areas at seminars such as this include Building an Effective and Energized Board, Strategic Planning, and Institutional Marketing. Other senior executives from the Kennedy Center staff spoke from their areas of expertise: Business Management, Development, Technology and Program Marketing.

Phil and I have been in our positions for 32 years, and never have I felt more in sync with a speaker. In point after point, it was clear that Michael knew exactly what he was talking about. And the points he made applied not only to mammoth international organizations (the Kennedy Center has an annual budget of approximately $160 million) but also to large regional organizations like Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV (combined annual budgets of approximately $5 million).

If you’ve been to many seminars like this, you know that experts can sometimes speak for hours in a theoretical realm, offering little practical advice. Michael knows how to cut to the chase—how to identify the challenges we face and then offer specific suggestions on how to address these challenges. It really was a terrific learning experience, very validating, mind-stretching and informative.

Special thanks to the Virginia Commission for the Arts for funding our participation through their Technical Assistance grant program, and to Anne and Bennett for giving up their time to join us. This is one seminar that I think will pay off handsomely in the futures of Barksdale Theatre, Theatre IV and the Metro Richmond arts scene in general.