Civic Pride Is Saving Ballets and Symphonies in Smaller Cities
Big cities, take note: Arts organizations are finding an audience eager to ensure that their town remains on the cultural map.
Covington Pearson and Erinn Crittenden of the Cleveland Ballet perform at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.
Source: Cleveland Ballet
By the end of March, the Cleveland Ballet’s prospects were bleak. The company was barely five years old, without an endowment, and responsible for the salaries of its five full-time and two part-time staff, plus 24 dancers—many of whom had moved to the city from other countries for the job. And because of the pandemic-related shutdown, the ballet’s revenue was reduced to grants, loans, and donations.
“Our company had a better-than-average formula,” says co-founder Mike Krasnyansky. Almost 58% of revenue was from ticket sales, while 42% was from donations. “But that was working against us,” he says.