For first time, the AT&T Performing Arts Center is operating in the black

No wonder they're feeling a bit festive at the AT&T Performing Arts Center ...

Earlier this year the AT&T Performing Arts Center had little good news to stand in the spotlight: A study out of the University of Chicago chastised its founders for spending more than they had on hand, while Standard & Poor?s dropped the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation?s bond credit rating to BBB-minus. To which the AT&T PAC responded with that old familiar just-you-wait: ?Success does not happen overnight.?

No, perhaps it takes a little more than three years.

For the first time, says AT&T Performing Arts Center president and acting CEO Doug Curtis, the center wrapped up a fiscal year in the black ? up $280,000 in net operational revenues when FY2012 came to a close at July?s end. The center, which released the numbers today following its annual audit, posted an operational loss of $3.3 million for FY2011.

Much of the uptick, Curtis tells The News, is due to ?the commitment we have to look at how we spend every penny to make sure we?re getting the best value for every cent spent. And it has to do with fulfilling the mission our board has set forth, which is to create a gathering place for the community and continue to have an eye ? and this is hard to do when you?re watching every penny ? on the quality of what you do. That?s something we take very seriously.?

Which isn?t to say all the kinks have been worked out: According to the center, its bottom line is still sagging into the red, thanks to ?depreciation, debt service and the transfer of building assets to the city of Dallas,? according to this afternoon?s release. FY2012 still showed a loss of $1.45 million. But that too reveals a possible end to the bleeding: In FY2011, the center posted an overall loss of $7.3 million.

Curtis, the interim CEO who more and more looks like the permanent CEO following the brief tenure of Mark Weinstein, attributes the turnaround to myriad things: a board with little turnover; new staffers charged with amping up the programming and turning up the fund-raising; and more donors willing to kick in more dollars. Which is decidedly good news for an organization still in the midst of raising dough in order to bridge a $40-million gap in its $354-million capital campaign.

?We?ve finally hit a bit of a stride and now have the beginnings of a sustainable business plan, and that?s turned our fundraising around,? he says. ?Donors want to be able to give to an organization doing well financially, and this news will add even more to it. I can?t give you specifics, but in our first several months, both capital and annual fundraising are going very well. And in terms of our reaching into the community we?ve hit our stride there. We?ve got such a diverse array of things we offer to the public. It sounds cliched, but we have something for everybody. To look at what we offer now in terms of programming and not find something you like is getting harder and harder.?

In its release today the AT&T PAC said individual giving more than doubled to $554,000, while corporate donations more than tripled to $130,000. It also didn?t hurt, says Curtis, that Les Mis?rables set a revenue record during its two-week stay at the Winspear Opera House.

?We grossed far more than we ever thought we would, and I think we?ll strive to have one of those kinds of shows every season,? he says, because, sure, who wouldn?t want a record-setter every year? ?People don?t realize what a risk it is when you do a show like this. You never know how well a show will do. But you?ve got to have at least one every year. And, we are only three years old, and being so young we are still learning a lot about the best way to operate this center. We?ve learned enough to know what works in these venues and what doesn?t. We?re getting smarter.?

Given the fact the AT&T PAC?s already halfway into its current fiscal year, it seems fair to ask how the next round of results will look, especially since the city of Dallas will fully fund its $2.5-million obligation to the center. So ??

?The budget we got approved by the board was break-even, and we?re doing everything we can to stay on that course,? Curtis says. ?It?s a constant work-in-progress. It?s something you have to work at every single day, every single week. It?s not easy to do, but our staff is committed to making it happen and achieving it.?

Source: http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/for-first-time-the-att-performing-arts-center-is-operating-in-the-black.html/

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