We’ve never been in the money

But ticket sales generally account for no more than 50 percent of a theater company’s operating budget; the rest comes from individual contributions and foundation or corporate support. And in a culture that tends either to encourage upstart youth or to reinforce behemoth institutions, that’s not great news for companies in between.

“Even in the best of times, we face a huge challenge in how to support midlevel companies,” says Peter Handler, program officer for the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, which gives grants to Chicago’s smallest start-up theaters. “If all foundations went away, there would still be a lot of companies doing a lot of work. But you would see fewer companies having a third and fourth season.”

Handler notes that of Chicago’s 200-plus nonprofit theaters, 54 percent have budgets of less than $100,000, and that organizations that small are accustomed to working on a shoestring, recession or no, and will continue to do so. But continuing support is something the system tends not to offer them.

Clapp concurs: “Most definitely, it’s those theaters that are in the $500,000–$2 million range that are at the most risk.” Midlevel companies that depend on foundation income of $250,000–$500,000 a year “don’t yet have the support of deep-pocketed individual donors that can step up in times like these and make up for that shortfall,” she adds.

Although lack of midlevel backing is troubling not just from a business perspective but from an aesthetic one—“We’d be naive to think 25-year-old directors can tell us everything we need to know about the world,” Handler wryly observes—neither Clapp nor Handler suggests that panic is an appropriate response, as Chicago theaters might be uniquely equipped to weather the storm. As Handler says, “Historically, art has always found patrons.”

And patronage for Chicago theaters is more literal than it is for New York counterparts. One-off events are far fewer here, and subscriber audiences’ familiarity with the artists they support tends to be more intimate. As cloying as the constant bombardment of touchy-feely “we’re a community of artists and we’re here to serve you” sentiments can feel, in tight times like these, it could have a payoff. Clapp notes that through personal mailings soliciting reasonable donations rather than sizable ones, and sponsored events that put artists and patrons in the same room, local theaters are doing what they can to remind Chicagoans they’re playing for the same team.

That, combined with the relative affordability of an average Chicago ticket, might be reason to stay calm. For now.