As they prepare for their fourth consecutive season affected by COVID-19, Milwaukee’s performing arts groups admit they are still climbing out of the pandemic hole.
The United Performing Arts Fund’s 14 member groups “experienced a collective revenue loss of nearly $38 million over the past three seasons,” UPAF wrote in a letter to the Journal Sentinel.
Returning to public performances in 2021-22 after operating mostly online the previous season, they reported ticket sales 20% to 50% lower than pre-pandemic levels. “Many of these losses stemmed from audiences being reluctant to return to our venues” as well as 98 cancellations of performances forced by breakthrough infections among performers and staff, UPAF wrote.
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As these nonprofits face the 2022-23 seasons, they are budgeting for increased costs for safety and COVID-19 inflation, while strategizing how to find the missing segments of their former audience on back.
They’re also planning for life without the $15 million in federal funds — mostly grants for Closed Center Operators and allowable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program — that helped them survive in previous seasons.
“The lack of future government support is what keeps me up at night because we’re not expecting pre-pandemic projections of high ticket sales for the next three to five years, but our production costs — from lumber to wages — continue to additional hires — a meteoric rise with inflation,” Renaissance Theatreworks managing director Lisa Rasmussen wrote in response to Journal Sentinel questions.
“Without a significant increase in community attendance and support, we are facing the reality of a community with far fewer performing arts experiences,” UPAF warned in its letter.
UPAF board chairman Tim Mattke, chief executive officer of MGIC Investment Corp., sees Milwaukee’s arts performances as an important aspect of downtown and a thriving Third Ward. It supports live performances there as part of an ecosystem that attracts workers to this city.
Recognizing the critical nature of the situation, the UPAF board has approved an additional $750,000 for this season in funds for its member groups ($700,000) and affiliates ($50,000) over and above the normal allocations, UPAF executive director Patrick Rath said.
