September marks a shift in personal priorities on the home front. For the past three years I have been the Artistic Director of a small professional theatre company. And for anyone who has spent time working in the arts in BC these past few years, that means major sacrifices have been made in income to allow the NPO to survive. While the most consistent aspect of producing in the non-profit sector has been severely restricted budgets, the situation does demand a heightened sense of creative problem solving coupled with a very clear priority list. In other industries with a larger profit margins, such as film, a problem or issue could actually be solved with throwing more money at it or the challenge faced by a creator of work could be how to get more money out of the production manager. Sometimes the easiest and most cost efficient way to remove a problem is to spend. Especially if you will save more in the long run. But theatre does not allow for the spending more option. It is usually a strict matter of priorities and sticking to them.
The small theatre producer with a budget of $50,000 cannot simply pick up the phone and ask for more money from distant funder. They must be constantly revisiting, revising, and reconsidering their priorities.
