Maine
Maine’s performing arts venues are back. But audiences haven’t joined them.
The drawn-out pandemic stored folks on their couches for thus lengthy that they received out of the behavior of leaving dwelling for reside performances.
This fall, audiences are slowly returning to indoor performing arts occasions, however ticket gross sales have but to rebound to pre-pandemic ranges in Maine or the nation. And patrons, extra averse to long-term planning, are ready longer to buy tickets than they did three years in the past, making it more durable for performing arts organizations in Maine to foretell their money circulate at a time after they want the income.
All of it quantities to dangerous information for organizations that rely totally on ticket gross sales for earnings.
That features the Penobscot Theatre Firm in Bangor, which has a brand new inventive director this season however has but to see its viewers rebound.
About 70 % of its annual income comes from ticket gross sales, with the remainder from donations, grants and sponsorships, in accordance with Jen Shepard, the group’s govt director. However the theater firm noticed a 50 % drop in attendance throughout its 2021-22 season in contrast with pre-pandemic years.
The venue has gotten by with the assistance of a federal Shuttered Venue grant that was a part of a $16 billion COVID reduction program for arts organizations nationwide, in addition to company assist and particular person donations, Shepard stated.
“We’re working arduous to maintain producing on the similar degree that individuals have come to anticipate from us, whereas maintaining prices down, however one thing must change if we don’t see extra folks coming again to theater,” she stated.
Penobscot Theatre isn’t alone in seeing a big drop in attendance. Portland Stage noticed a 50 % drop in its 2021-22 season from pre-pandemic years. The Theater at Monmouth, a summer season repertory firm, had a 30 % drop.
Teams that aren’t as depending on ticket gross sales, together with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, will climate the income loss extra efficiently.
Previous to the pandemic, 40 % of the symphony’s earnings got here from ticket gross sales, with different income coming from donors, grants and sponsorships, Govt Director Brian Hinrichs stated. That determine fell to twenty % final season, as attendance was down about 40 % in contrast with 2018 and 2019.
Attendance at Opera Home Arts in Stonington this yr has been on par with pre-pandemic ranges, however single-ticket patrons are ready longer than ever earlier than to buy tickets, Govt Director Tony Adams stated.
“Probably the most vital change is the timing of ticket gross sales,” he stated. “The bulk this yr have been inside 72 hours of a efficiency.”
That has additionally been true on the Collins Middle for the Arts in Orono, in accordance with Danny Williams, the middle’s govt director.
The middle delayed mailing out its brochure from July to September this yr as a result of ticket patrons usually are not planning as far forward as they did pre-pandemic.
Audiences did return to out of doors live shows in massive numbers, which is a part of a nationwide development, in accordance with Alex Grey of Waterfront Live shows, which books live shows on the Bangor Waterfront. Nevertheless, older concertgoers, who could also be extra weak to the coronavirus, are slower to return than youthful audiences.
Some Maine theater teams that historically carry out outdoor in the summertime drew crowds this yr. Ten Bucks Theatre ’s annual manufacturing of “Romeo and Juliet” attracted among the largest audiences it’s ever seen in its last week at Fort Knox State Historic Web site in Prospect, in accordance with Ten Bucks founder Julie Lisnet.
One step some performing arts organizations have taken is to supply programming they’re assured will appeal to patrons.
The Bangor Symphony’s season, for instance, options common works conductor Lucas Richman is aware of will herald an viewers, together with Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 and Richard Strauss’s “Additionally Sprach Zarathustra.”
“I feel all of us received used to staying inside throughout the pandemic, and all of us have a wealth of leisure choices to make the most of from the consolation of dwelling,” Hinrichs stated. “Add to that the difficult political and cultural setting, ongoing well being considerations with massive gatherings and the pressures of inflation, and I feel it’s protected to say there’s a normal malaise that has set in.
“It’s going to take time, at the start, but in addition actually bold, inventive programming to get audiences again.”
For its twentieth season, Good Theater Firm in Portland selected two traditional exhibits — “Carousel” and “You Can’t Take It With You.” The corporate, based mostly on the St. Lawrence Arts Middle on Munjoy Hill, may even produce the beloved comedies “Crimes of the Coronary heart” and “Nureyev’s Eyes,” which is about Maine painter Jamie Wyeth.
“I imagine that individuals’s theatergoing habits modified throughout COVID. It’s more durable to get folks to the theater except it’s one thing they know they wish to see,” cofounder Brian P. Allen stated.
Good Theater is also providing one thing different corporations usually are not — two performances every week, on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons, the place masks are required. Tickets for these performances offered out shortly, in accordance with the corporate’s web site.
Whereas organizations final season required proof of vaccination and masks, all have dropped that requirement this yr.
Maine performing arts group leaders aren’t certain what it’ll take to get folks again of their venues’ seats apart from time.
“We’re nonetheless, as a society, working our manner again to regular,” Shepard stated. “We’re unsure after we’ll get there, however we stay hopeful.
“What we provide — the chance to see glorious reside theater, join along with your fellow neighborhood members and to witness tales that interact patrons each in moments of shared recognition and discovery — can’t be had anyplace else. You’re not going to get that have in your sofa with Netflix.”