A majority of nonprofit theatres emerged from the pandemic on a high note with nearly three of four (73%) breaking even or reporting surpluses at the end of 2022. Ticket income, comprising both subscriptions and single-ticket sales, surged 361% from the five-year low of the previous year. Contributed income, comprising public and private grants and donations, was up 37% from the year before and reached a five-year high propped up largely by federal pandemic relief funds.
According to data from Theatre Communications Group, a New York City-based advocacy organization, despite these hopeful signs, year-over-year expenses shot up 60% during 2022 as rising material and labor costs pushed them close to what they were during the pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019. The skyrocketing expenses came even as the number of performances and productions for the year remained less than half reached during 2018 and 2019. With fewer performances, ticket sales during 2022 were also 55% and 61% below the respective totals for 2018 and 2019.
The mixed bag of results from a five-year analysis of 2018-2022 financial data from 131 nonprofit theatres across the United States suggests the theatre sector has begun turning a corner from its two years of pandemic-induced layoffs, closures, and programming stoppages of 2020-21. However, recovery is still ongoing.
The data form the basis of the 32-page Theatre Facts 2022 report published recently by Theatre Communications Group. “While some theatres are thriving, for many theatres, audiences have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. The five-year high in contributed income could only cover so much of the difference as expenses continued to rise,” said Karena Fiorenza, interim CEO of the Theatre Communications Group.
For the year, the average nonprofit theater earned a combined 33% of income from subscriptions, ticket sales, educational programs, facility and equipment rentals, and other programs and services during 2022. The rest (67%) came from contributed support in the form of grants and donations with nearly half these contributions from governmental support.
Federal dollars played an outsized role constituting nearly 24% of all income for the year, 31% of all contributed support for the year, and nearly 80% of all governmental support for the year. Most of this federal cash came as a onetime infusion from pandemic relief programs enacted by Congress that pushed federal support for 2022 to an unprecedented high, more than 43 times greater than the dollar amount of federal grants received during 2018 and more than 60 times greater than 2019.
“With historic levels of federal relief funding running out, the need to innovate and welcome a multitude of new ideas is necessary to shift the field from a state of surviving to thriving,” the report’s authors wrote.
Donor support remains another area of concern, particularly giving by individuals which plummeted during 2022 to a level 19% less than the previous year’s total and nearly 30% less than the pre-pandemic high reached during 2019. Foundation support during 2022 ticked up 1.7% from the previous year and 3.1% more than the level from 2019. Contributions from corporations (up 17.5%) and trustees (up 2.6%) also picked up during 2022 but were still 18% and 23% less than their respective levels from 2019.
The report is a composite of financial data provided voluntarily by 131 theatres across the United States representing six budget categories. The categories included those with budgets of less than $500,000 (31 theatres), $500,000 to $999,999 (33 theatres), $1 million to just below $3 million (33 theatres), $3 million to just below $5 million (9 theatres), $5 million to just less than $10 million (11 theatres), and $10 million or more (14 theatres).
More broadly, the more than 2,000 nonprofit theatres across the United States contributed more than $2.3 billion to the economy and employed 82,000 artists, administrators and technical staff during 2022, according to the authors. “While there is no single remedy for the field as theatres continue to grapple with rising costs, shifts in audience behavior, and revenue loss, the sector’s ability to adapt, innovate, and collaborate remains a source of hope for a brighter and more resilient future,” the authors wrote.
