Operating Support
ACHF Arts Access
Our number one goal during the period funded by this application is to provide residents in Pipestone and the surrounding area opportunities to experience a variety of arts programming that is offered nowhere else in this area. That would include dance, drama, music, storytelling, illusions and other performing arts. We believe the arts are vital to who we are as Minnesotans and we want to foster that belief in our community. Ideally we would be able to book at least six presenter series shows a year during this time, up from just four planned for this year due to show costs and financial limitations. Another of our goals during this period is to offer our programs at a cost that people in our area can afford. This added funding will help us to provide opportunities for people of all ages, ethnicities, abilities and incomes to experience the arts by allowing us to pay for quality programs while keeping our ticket prices low. We would like to keep ticket prices at around $15 and see around 100 people each year enter the Center during the two years of this grant. Thirdly, it will provide us with financial stability and security we need to be able to spend more on each of our presenter series shows to bring in high quality entertainment without risking taking a huge loss if it's not attended by a full house crowd. Success will be evidenced by a balance budget and a show budget of around $20,000. We will track the number and cost of programs that take place at the Center, the number of first time guests, what we spend on programming and whether we've maintained a balanced budget during this time.
One of our goals with this grant was to provide residents in Pipestone and the surrounding area opportunities to experience a variety of arts programming that is offered nowhere else in this area. We met that goal by offering seven Presenter Series shows this past season as explained above. The shows included music, history, comedy and theater. Another goal was to offer the programs at a cost people in our area could afford. During this time our ticket prices for adults were generally $20 or $25. At that price, even with a sellout show such as “All Is Calm”, we took a loss after advertising, printing, and room and board for the performers. It was because of this grant that we were able to offer the shows we did this past season and without losing money or having to drastically increase out ticket costs. We were not able to track how many first-time audience members we had during the year, but we did have four shows that filled over half of the 288 seats in our auditorium, which is good for us. Three of those shows brought in over 200 people and one was a sellout. Our third goal was to use the funds to have more programs and a higher cost/quality of programs at an affordable price while maintaining financial stability. We succeeded in that by ending the year $3,003.64 in the black while spending $24,046.92 on programing, which is nearly twice what we spent each season prior to this two-year grant.
Other, local or private