Twin Cities arts groups find new ways to make sure the shows go on

The new business model announced this week by the Southern Theater in Minneapolis tackles a troubling financial reality in the arts world.

Despite generous support from the public, the government and philanthropic organizations, many arts groups struggle to make ends meet. Traditional approaches to funding the arts aren't working.

The Southern Theater, which is emerging from near financial collapse, is pinning its survival on ARTshare, which combines revenue sharing with audience memberships. For $18 a month, members will receive unlimited access to catch any show — and support 15 resident companies.

• More: Historic Southern Theater poised for revival

With its new plan, the Southern joins a number of arts groups in the Twin Cities that are developing new ways of doing business. For some, doing so is essential, as ticket revenue only covers about a quarter of production costs.

"It's absolutely necessary that we put as much creative thought into the way we run the performing arts, as we do in making the art that we put on stage," said Damon Runnals, executive director of the Southern Theater.

ARTshare will allow the theater's resident companies to count on 10 performances a year. The 15 companies also will each get a share of the money raised through memberships, which will be about $11,000 per company.

It's not much, but regular income when a company isn't performing is a big step forward for what often are shoestring operations. And the free rent is hard to beat.

"We now are starting at zero as opposed to starting at that we need thousands of dollars to rent a space," said a delighted Jason Ballweber, artistic director of Four Humors Theater. "We start at zero which is an amazing place to start when you are creating art."

The Southern will receive 60 percent of membership monies for the upkeep and running of the theater. Memberships go on sale Tuesday.

With the plan in place, Runnals and the Southern have to show it can work.

There is heartening news from two other local companies that have launched their own innovative programs: Mixed Blood Theater and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Three years ago Mixed Blood launched Radical Hospitality, which offers free admission to shows on a first-come, first-served basis. Founder and Artistic Director Jack Reuler said it's going gangbusters.

"More people are coming," he said. "The people we want to have are coming," he said.

Although others can still purchase reserved seats in advance, half the house is set aside for those who line up for free tickets on the day of a show.

Mixed Blood created the program after realizing that even cheap tickets were a barrier to the younger diverse audiences it wanted to serve. So it retooled its business model.

For three years, Mixed Blood has surveyed audience members at every show, and the results show the socially conscious company is hitting its sweet spot, Reuler aid.

"Of the people using Radical Hospitality, over 50 percent of them are under the age of 30," he said. "Over 33 percent of them have annual incomes of less than $25,000. Thirty percent of them are people of color. And one of the most heartwarming statistics is that nine percent of them claim to have never been to a live theatrical event before."

Reuler said complete analysis will take a couple of months, and there is always a chance Mixed Blood will return to its old model of charging for all tickets. But he doesn't believe that will happen.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is reviewing the results of its membership plan, introduced two years ago.

For $5 a month, members can attend as many concerts as they want. Season ticket holders still receive their first choice of concerts. SPCO members then may log on to the orchestra's website to choose their seats.

The first year of the program was disrupted by a contract dispute with musicians, which resulted in a 191-day lock out of musicians.

Now that the SPCO has had a full uninterrupted season of membership Jessica Etten, the orchestra's senior director of development and external affairs, is analyzing the numbers. The orchestra's 3,000 members attended an average of six concerts over the season, Etten said.

"Over a third of concert members had not been coming to concerts," she said. "They had either never been to a concert and weren't in the database at all, or hadn't been to a concert in at least five years."

The SPCO appears to be attracting younger patrons through memberships, Etten said. But contrary to expectations, season ticket holders have not switched over to the membership model.

Arts organizations across the country are watching these Twin Cities experiments.

Reuler, of Mixed Blood, said he's been hearing from companies that don't necessarily want to copy the theater's approach, but are interested in using its experience as a license to re-invent themselves. He also doesn't predict a schism between those using traditional ticketing and the newer arrangements.

"Everyone's going to find their place and operate on it," he said.