III.1. Annual Report – Hopkins Center for the Arts; Anderson, Hanna-Bibus
ANNUAL REPORT HOPKINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
May, 2015
Submitted by: Lynn Anderson and Susan Hanna-Bibus
Thank you to Mayor Maxwell and the members of the Hopkins City Council for the opportunity to report
on the state of the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Our report is in two parts: (1) a review of 2014, and
(2) plans for growth in 2015.
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2014 IN REVIEW
Supporting Community Gatherings
Rental and lease revenue saw a slight increase of $7,800 over 2013, and surpassed the budget
goal by $5,000
95 businesses, 50 individuals and 26 arts presenters rented space.
2,500 events and activities took place at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, an average of 7/day.
The building was open 356 days with over 215,000 people coming through its doors.
Activities at the Center are varied and reflect the vitality and diversity of the community.
Connecting People and the Arts
Hopkins Center for the Arts presented 12 concerts and 12 visual art exhibitions.
In addition, the Center and its affiliate, Friends of Hopkins Center for the Arts, held 13 events
outside the doors of the Center including Raspberry Jam in Downtown Park and Pints & Paints at
LTD Brewing.
Additional arts programming by tenants and renters totaled 20,300 hours.
By providing free concert tickets to ICA Foodshelves, PRISM Golden Valley, and STEP St. Louis
Park, 600 people who otherwise could not afford to attend live music events enjoyed concerts
at the Center.
Under the leadership of Jo Clare Hartsig, volunteers contributed 1,150 hours of service in 2014,
a market value of $27,940. Membership engagement activities included the Hopkins Arts Social
Club, partnering in the Twin Cities Artful Book Club and a Life Drawing Studio.
Social media participation continued to grow due to the efforts of Janna Rhae Johnson. Once
again, the Center received an Award from Constant Contact for an exceptional open rate and
experienced upswings in Facebook and Twitter participation.
Adding to the Vitality of Mainstreet
The Center and the Friends are proud to partner on both Art Street and The Artery.
The Center and the Friends literally took art activities to the street including ArtMatch on Main.
The economic impact of bringing 215,000 people to Mainstreet is significant. One study
estimates that people attending arts events spend an additional $22.87 on average in the host
community.
A Tough Year For the Bottom Line
Although rental income continued its rise and the Center was busier than ever, sharp decreases
in contributed support and concert ticket sales resulted in a deficit by year-end 2014.
Grant income decreased by over $20,000 from 2013. Individual and corporate giving also
declined.
Concert ticket income was $60,000 less than in 2013. Even allowing for one less concert
presented in 2014, this is a major drop in earned income. Income was down to a combination of
lower-priced events and lack-luster sales.
An experiment in providing artist workshops and art tours for fees failed to elicit enough
interest to continue the programs.
Looking at 2015
Finance Getting Back on Track
Concert ticket sales are on the rebound after a tough 2014. In spring 2014, the total in ticket
sales was $47,423. The projection for spring, 2015 is $67,624 -- up by over $20,000 even with
the cancellation of a concert with greatest potential for revenue. We had $35,343 in ticket sales
in fall, 2014. Although we are doing one concert less in fall 2015, they should be strong sellers
and we still project exceeding fall 2014 numbers. In addition, our ticket price structure was
reviewed and adjusted for 2015, eliminating an Early Bird discount and adjusting the average
adult price from $26 to $29.
Contributed support is being sought more rigorouslythe focus at this time being on corporate
sponsorships. Understanding that State funding likely will not increase from 2014 levels in 2015,
additional sources of grant money are being sought.
Expenses, as reflected in the 2015 budget, have been reviewed and reduced wherever possible.
$11,000 was trimmed from programming materials, supplies and services.
Activity Continuing to Grow
Rentals remain strong and demand has increased. At this time non-tenant reservations through
December 2014 are at $101,967 compared to $115,825 for all of 2014.
The goal is to continue to grow rental revenue in 2015, maximizing space and rental
opportunities and serving more people. Looking at rental availability for Fridays and Saturdays in
the theater and Jaycee Studio, there are 12 days not yet booked in the theater and 20 in the JC
Studio for 2015.
The programming goal for 2015 is to refine the programs in place and increase average
participation at events, again serving more members of the community.
The Friends are actively recruiting additional board members and continuing to develop their
community engagement and fundraising activities.
Attached are more detailed special reports on:
1.Capacity for rental revenue growth
2.The components of a balanced concert season
Capacity for Rental Revenue Growth
Rental inquiries of Hopkins Center for the Arts continue to grow. Most demand for our prime spaces,
theater and Jaycees Studio, is for weekend events. The Theater is available for many Monday and
Tuesday evenings, but those are much more difficult to rent.
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weeks, it was utilized by Stages Theatre Company for performances and production preparation, HCA
concerts, and many other special events. The Jaycees Studio was used 74 of the 104 Fridays and
Saturdays.
Emmaus Road Church continues to rent space every Sunday morning for services.
Digital River, Inc., a Minnetonka based company rents space for quarterly company meetings
that are broadcast live to their corporate headquarters throughout the world. They have
reserved space for three of four meetings in 2014 and 2015 and are anxious to secure space for
their 2016 meetings.
Three Business Networking groups meet at the Center weekly
rent the theater for dance rehearsals and recitals
The Center is also a popular setting for birthday parties, wedding receptions, small business
meetings, reunions, etc.
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Rentals remain strong and demand has increased
At this time, non-tenant reservations through December 2015 are at $102,713
The goal is to continue to grow rental revenue, maximizing space and rental opportunities and
serving more people.
Looking at availability of the theater and Jaycees Studio for Fridays and Saturdays, we have 12 days
currently available in the theater and 29 in the JC Studio.
When other spaces are not available, we are using the Gallery more often for rental events.
Realizing we may soon reach rental capacity, we are investigating rate increases for daily rates and
weekend rates for the rooms in most demand. The wedding industry brings in $50 billion in sales
annually. It seems like there is great growth potential in this area.
SPECIAL REPORT THE COMPONENTS OF A BALANCED CONCERT SEASON
season at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The season must balance in multiple ways:
The budget should balance a combination of ticket pricing, number of tickets sold, cost of the
events and underwriting obtained. Expensive acts must be balanced with more affordable ones.
Content must be balanced to address our mission and the diverse tastes of our audience. Unlike
some venues that concentrate on one genre of music or on one audience demographic, we
serve a wide range of patrons. The ideal season contains events that will excite our babyboomer
base, serve younger adults, and attract new people to the Center.
Artistic merit must be balanced against budgetary constraints, sales potential and suitability for
underwriting (sponsorships, grants).
We have unique challenges as a music venue basically because the Center is so well-used (a good
problem to have!). We negotiate 12-14 concert dates during the Meet and Confer process with our
tenants which are then pretty much cast in stone. Booking an act becomes a matter not only of finding
a good fit for our season and for our theater size at a price we can afford, but also meshing our schedule
with the artist schedule.
The busy schedule of the Center impacts concerts in two other ways. We rarely have access to the full
stage because of plays running concurrently with concerts so need to book acts that can run at mid-
stage or front-of-curtain. (It should be noted that Stages Theatre Company is most accommodating in
building sets that can be broken down and moved back of the mid-stage curtain for our concerts.) We
also have late day access for almost all Saturday events because of matinees by Stages. So, we need to
be sure we can have the set cleared and stage swept, Green Room cleaned, load-in tech equipment and
instruments, sound-check, rehearse, feed the musicians, and start the show in four hours or less. This
can eliminate some artists who require more load-in time.
Of course, the Center also has advantages when booking music:
The Center fulfills a niche in the community between larger venues such as The State Theatre
and smaller venues such as Bloomington Center for the Arts. We are perfect for acts that sell
between 500 and 700 tickets.
The venue is easy to get to and patron-friendly. For example, using gallery space for pre-concert
socials is an advantage our venue has in cultivating a welcoming atmosphere. From free parking
And, there are no bad seats!
Artists like playing the venue with its intimate feel, excellent tech support and friendly staff.
Concerts require a huge investment of money, staff time and volunteer time. They are financially risky.
But, they also draw people to the Center, engage them and contribute to the reputation of the facility.
TOTAL CONCERT ATTENDANCE BY SEASON
(a season runs October-May)
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
00/0101/0202/0303/0404/0505/0606/0707/0808/0909/1010/1111/1212/1313/14
average event attendance
600
500
400
300
average attendance
200
100
0
12345678901234
00000000011111
//////////////
01234567890123
00000000001111
SOLD OUT CONCERTS
-most recent three seasons:
12/13 Michael Johnson 10/6/12 711 seats filled
Aaron Neville 1/19/13 719
McCoy Tyner 3/9/13 714
Peter Yarrow 4/27/13 709
13/14 Suzy Bogguss/SteelDrivers 10/26/13 710
Tonic Sol-fa 11/9/13 705
Mavis Staples 12/14/13 714 note: no shows sold out in spring 2014
14/15 Daisy Dillman 1/10/15 709
The Manhattan Transfer 4/18/15 709
Four Freshmen 5/16/15 (proj.) note: no shows sold out in fall 2014
2014 - $60,00 drop in ticket sale income from 2013
It is always disappointing when ticket sales do much less than anticipated. In the past, sudden downturns in ticket
revenue could in part be credited to outside factors such as the 9/11 attack, a contentious presidential election, or
serious
significantly.
2014 had some positives in terms of how individual events performed. In reviewing the 12 concerts held during
calendar year 2014, four concerts featuring artists who had performed at the Center before actually had stronger
attendance in 2014 than for earlier appearances.
However, the positives were outweighed by the negatives. Two concerts in fall, 2014 (Bodeans, Broadway Boys
Holiday Show) did much less than expected. The Bodeans seemed a natural sellout for us, but ended up with
attendance of 590 (507 paid). This difference left a potential income of $4,500 on the table. Similarly, our holiday
shows usually do very well. The past three had attendance of 680, 701 and 608. But, the Broadway Boys filled 484
seats (333 paid). This left a potential $5,500 on the table.
Beyond these two events, two factors most impacted total sales in 2014. First, outside of the Bodeans whose full
price ticket was $38, all of the concerts in 2014 had very modest ticket prices, ranging from $20 to $26 for full price
and a high percentage of people purchased tickets at a discount. So, for example, while Chastity Brown sold well
for a Tuesday evening concert, because her highest ticket price was $20 the total income was relatively modest.
The second related factor is that the big, national acts in season 2013-14 fell in 2013 and in 2014-15 fell in 2015.
This was the result of changing touring schedules. While we try to evenly space out the events with most sales
potential over a season, events tend to shift. For example, Mavis Staples was originally scheduled for spring 2014
but after three changes in date ended up in 2013. Taking into account facility fees, she brought in $21,843 in ticket
salesa sellout crowd at a high ticket price. Her last minute local replacement brought in $7,590, a difference of
over $14,000 to the 2014 budget. Other scheduling challenges meant we had only one national act with sellout
potential in 2014 when we usually have 3-4.
The good news is that ticket sales are up in spring 2015. We should end May with ticket income (after being
adjusted for facility fees) of $67,600 or slightly more for 2015. With three strong concerts lined up for fall, 2015,
we should see an upturn in ticket income.
Admissions
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Adjustments for the future include raising our average ticket prices, eliminating the Early Bird discount, and trying
to more evenly space and consistently present events with high income potential. Also, we are in a transition
period with our audience and must address that -- our new patrons are seeking a different mix of events. In our
2015-16 season we will include events that should appeal to our loyal, long-time patrons but will also have events
for younger adults and national touring acts chosen to draw in new audiences. We are working hard to get the