successful holiday season
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas
We closed the last of the holiday show rep two nights ago: Chris Smith’s White Chrismith’s Tuesday closing followed Sunday’s closing of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. We thought it might be interesting for you to know some of the numbers associated with this series of very popular productions (we sold more tickets this holiday season than in any year before it).
White Christmas brought in just over $19,000 in ticket sales. The show sold to 92% capacity in our 78-seat theater — we could hardly ask for better. White Chrismith brought in just under $12,000 in ticket sales, and sold to 76%, and on nights we’ve never hosted events before. A truly successful holiday season by any standard. So ticket sales brought in just over $31,000. Here’s the tricky part: with the superb slate of artists we hired to work on these shows (around 30 actors, designers, musicians, and a production team), the materials required to build them, and the overhead expenses to perform in our space, these shows cost DalekoArts just over $44,000 to produce. And that’s the absolute norm for any nonprofit theatre company in the country. Making good theatre is not inexpensive. And we do it with the narrowest of margins.
Theatre artists cannot be beat in their capacity to stretch a dollar – we know exactly what to do to make great use of each donation that comes our way. We support artists and build their craft; we create worlds with limited space and sustainable materials; we give our audiences space and stories that expand horizons and create lifelong memories. In fact, live theatre is a proven economic driver that builds the resources of the community around it. That said, we can’t do it alone. We have the support of local, state, and federal organizations that believe in DalekoArts’ work (in fact, did you know that DalekoArts is one of fewer than 20 theatre companies in Minnesota to have the support of the nationally-acclaimed theatre funder The Shubert Foundation?), but we will only continue to grow and thrive with the support of community members like you.
Here are some of our dreams in the coming years:
to create a destination for Minnesota and midwestern artists who can be supported full-time during their work with DalekoArts
to build our community relationships by supporting residencies for artists in New Prague
to increase our budget for greater production quality (we want to have flexibility in the kinds of worlds we create for you)
to expand our space, or to begin a journey toward breaking ground on our own DalekoArts performance center
Some of you have been supporting DalekoArts for years now, and we’ll never forget it. Some of you are brand new to us, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome you to our little corner of the world. Wherever you land in your partnership with us, please: consider a gift to end the year, in support of live theatre in this little town. Your support will go toward building community through the arts, and we believe you’ll see a wild return on your investment. You have our commitment to grow and take great care of the resources you share with us.
On behalf of the DA Board of Directors, the artists, Ben, Amanda, and the whole team, wishing you and yours a warm and joyful holiday season. Here’s to a brave new year!
Chris Smith’s White Chrismith
