Holiday joy adds up to more than $1 million in arts-related economic activity in Portland.
In a season that began with concern about the economy and its impact on spending patterns, arts groups celebrate Christmas this morning with the comfort of knowing their coffers are well stocked.
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Here are some numbers to consider:
• This year, about 15,000 people bought $532,000 worth of tickets to see the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s “Magic of Christmas” concerts over two weekends at Merrill Auditorium. Those numbers far exceeded the symphony’s goal, said executive director Lisa Dixon. The ticket income represents roughly 20 percent of the symphony’s total budget of $2.5 million.
• At Portland Stage Company, 8,235 people saw “The Snow Queen” over 38 performances that began Dec. 2 and ended Christmas Eve. They paid between $12 and $40 for each ticket, generating about $190,500 in ticket sales.
Another 2,000 people saw “The Santaland Diaries” in the Portland Stage studio theater, generating $38,500 in income. Between the two shows, that’s $229,000 in ticket income toward an annual operating budget of $2 million, or 11.5 percent.
• Three visual arts sales — the Maine College of Art Holiday Sale on Dec. 2-3, the Society for East End Arts sale over the weekend of Dec. 2-4, and the Picnic Holiday Sale on Dec. 11 — produced a total of about $200,000. The MECA sale alone accounted for half that sum.
“This is a great little economic development story,” said Jessica Tomlinson, MECA’s marketing director. “Between the visual arts and the performing arts, that’s almost $1 million in arts-related economic activity in the month of December alone. And the good news is, almost all of that money goes directly to local artists.”
Indeed, the success of the holiday season for Portland-area arts groups represents the classic buy-local mentality: Local people supporting local artists and local arts groups.
The $1 million figure is a conservative estimate based on returns from only a handful of arts organizations. That sum does not account for myriad other shows and sales that occur in and around Portland between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
When all ballets, holiday plays, Christmas concerts, gallery shows and arts-and-crafts sales are factored, holiday-related arts spending soars to well over $1 million, Tomlinson said.
And that’s just in Portland.
STUDENTS BENEFIT
Small towns up and down the coast and inland Maine rely on holiday spending to either keep the budgets balanced or to supplement income to take on additional activities.
Since 2006, the Boothbay Region Art Foundation has given artists 12-inch-square canvases and asked them to create original pieces of art to be sold as a fundraiser for the foundation’s student scholarship fund.
The sale begins the day after Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas week. This year, the foundation sold 120 paintings, generating $3,000 for the scholarship fund. Each painting sold for $100, $75 of which went to the artist and the rest to the fund.
“We are trying to develop more student-mentoring programs, and the scholarship fund allows us to do that,” said show coordinator Lynne Seitzer. “The scholarships do not come out of the annual budget, so this show is essential. And it’s successful.”
A bad season at the box office can doom the symphony or a local theater group. Conversely, a good season not only brings an important source of income, but helps build audiences for the future.
“From the big-picture standpoint, ‘Magic’ is wonderful,” Dixon said. “For many people, ‘Magic’ is their introduction to the Portland Symphony. It allows us to connect with lots of new folks.”
“Magic” is a gift that keeps on giving, because it supports year-round symphony activities. While 15,000 people saw “Magic” over two weekends, the symphony sells tickets to about 9,500 individuals for other concerts during the course of the entire symphony season from October to May. Many of those 9,500 are subscribers or loyal fans who attend multiple concerts.
“Magic” is a family event, and the audiences are comprised of multiple generations and hundreds of children. This year, conductor Robert Moody made an additional appeal: He asked attendees to consider making a $10 donation to help fund the PSO’s plan to develop a Discovery Concert Series, targeted specifically to families.
The on-stage appeal was enormously successful, Dixon said.
“We are fairly confident that with the donations we received, we will fully fund one whole entire Discovery concert for next year,” she said. The cost of a Discovery concert is roughly $35,000.
SOLD OUT
Anita Stewart, Portland Stage’s executive and artistic director, said the response to the theater’s holiday shows felt overwhelming. The theater sold virtually every available seat to “The Snow Queen” and “The Santaland Diaries.”
“Santaland” sold out its entire run, and “The Snow Queen” began its sell-out streak during opening weekend. “Santaland” was at 100 percent house capacity, and “The Snow Queen” ended up at 98 percent. There were 70 seats for “Santaland” in the studio theater, and 287 seats in the mainstage theater.
Ticket demand created awkward moments at the box office. Many people were turned away disappointed.
As box office employee Donald Smith explained to one would-be ticket buyer, “We’ve sold every square of carpet, and that’s still not enough.”
Stewart thinks she understands why so many people reacted so enthusiastically to “The Snow Queen.”
“It’s nice to see little girls all dressed up in their holiday dresses come in, enjoy the show and get their holiday cookie at intermission,” she said. “That’s the experience that we offer. This is something people remember. It’s better than going to the mall. It’s about being a family.”
Dixon observed much the same at Merrill during “Magic.”
“People are looking for an opportunity to connect with friends and family. We are able to help facilitate that through music,” she said.
Mild weather helped. Neither the symphony nor Portland Stage canceled or postponed a single show because of winter weather. Warm weather gave people confidence that the shows would go on, said Carole Harris, marketing director at Portland Stage.
“The box office phone stops ringing as soon as people see snow in Milwaukee,” she said. “This year, we never had a bad-weather forecast. When we opened ‘Santaland,’ we had 62-degree weather. People had confidence to book in advance.”
And they did, making this a very merry Christmas for local arts.
Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or:
bkeyes@pressherald.com
Twitter: pphbkeyes
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