Four years since a grand reopening, the fiscal health of the State Theatre is a dramatically mixed bag, tax documents and interviews show.
As of Oct. 31, 2009, the nonprofit State College landmark remained about $3 million in debt, most of it related to building renovations. Private contributions and grants in fiscal year 2009 plummeted, falling to $144,084 from $486,466 in fiscal 2008. (A one-time grant of $250,000 had made 2008 a particularly strong year for private support.)
On top of that, the theater’s expenses have outpaced income by more than $130,000 in each of the last two fiscal years, according to tax filings.
That’s the bad news.
The good news? The financial outlook is steadily improving, theater treasurer Heather Pleskonko told StateCollege.com. She said the organization, 130 W. College Ave., has no plans to reduce its public offerings. Donations and operating revenue — the main sources of income — both are up for 2010, and the budget deficit is shrinking, she reported.
This year, ‘we’re actually ahead of our budget (projections) through July,’ she said. ‘ … We feel like we’re making progress financially. We’ve worked really hard the last few years to bring in shows that people want to see.’
The State’s executive director, Mike Negra, announced earlier this month that he will leave the organization. He declined to comment publicly on the theater’s financial situation, referring a reporter’s inquiries to theater board members including Pleskonko.
She said the worsening economy during the theater’s 2009 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 31, undercut contributions. But they are rebounding impressively now, having reached about $172,000 with three months left in the 2010 fiscal year, Pleskonko said.
Likewise, income from ticket sales and facility-rental fees continues to grow. It climbed from $945,316 in the 2008 fiscal year to $1.18 million in 2009, and Pleskonko said it’s on pace to reach higher yet this year.
Overall expenses last year were about $1.67 million, slimmed through belt-tightening measures from $1.8 million in fiscal 2008. Meanwhile, the number of paying visitors to the theater jumped 17 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to an IRS document. Counting free events, total theater usage grew about 36 percent in the same period.
Another high point: More than $100,000 in debt has been paid off in the past 15 months, bringing the current debt level to roughly $2.9 million, Pleskonko said. She said the theater is working with creditors to restructure the remaining obligations and make them more manageable.
‘Our theater can’t survive just with the operations’ revenue, Pleskonko said, echoing a point made since the 1938 theater became a nonprofit venue in 2006. ‘We have to have public support. No performing-arts theater like ours can survive just on operations.’
On that score, the State Theatre does better than average. Nonprofit theater usually generate only 70 percent to 80 percent of their overall budgets from general operations, such as ticket sales, Negra has said.
But the State gains roughly 85 percent to 86 percent of its annual budget from those non-philanthropic sources, he has said.
Still, Pleskonko acknowledged, ‘we need to raise more money. There’s no doubt about that.’
In the longer term, the theater may attempt to establish an endowment fund. That would allow more fiscal stability and more affordable facility access for nonprofit groups wanting to use the stage, she said.
‘I’m not worried about the future as long as we’re able to have community support,’ Pleskonko said. ‘That’s our main goal right now.’
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