Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

By Whitney Estrin
Capital Campaign Manager
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

When I arrived at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in July, 2010 one of the first projects assigned to me was to find someone to conduct an economic impact study for us. “We have an out of date study from 2003, but we need something current and deeply quantitative to give to funders” explained my boss, Director of Development, Molly Dunn. “Oh, and we need them to do it for free.” Off I went reaching out to all of the Universities in the area, but very few of them had any kind of program that would be conducive for a project of this nature. It wasn’t until I expanded my reach to Connecticut that I was able to find the Yale School of Management Outreach Club, a consulting group that takes on 20+ projects per school year from not-for-profits in need of pro bono consulting. Our RFP was selected out of a large number of applicants, and an incredible group of graduate students was assigned to our study.

Over the course of eight months I worked closely with our four consultants as well as several key senior staff members to prepare the study. The group made two trips to New Jersey: the first to see the theatre, interview senior staff, explore the Madison area and see a production at the theatre; the second to present their findings to our board and staff. The majority of the data used in the study was collected through surveys taken by our patrons, staff, artists and students. Prior to distribution, we discussed the details and logistics of the surveys at length. What constitutes a statistical sample? What survey distribution method will yield the largest number of responses? Would an incentive “gift” given to respondents sway their answers? Should we use price points or price ranges when asking questions about ancillary spending? Conference calls were often lengthy, and while at times these conversations felt laborious, we knew that these details would guide the overall methodology used for the study, which in turn would directly affect the credibility of the final product. Once these topics were exhausted, five different surveys were crafted, one for each constituent group: subscribers; single ticket buyers; full-time, part-time and seasonal staff; contracted artists; and students who participated in our Summer Professional Training Program. The surveys were distributed electronically.

Once the data was collected, our team went to work analyzing and vetting the data, and compiling it into a readable format. Throughout the process, they sought guidance from their faculty advisors – specifically in the areas of statistics, economics and consumer behavior – to ensure accuracy and best practice. Once we received the first draft of the study, it was interesting to see how many different ways the data could be examined. Lively conversations were born out of the healthy tension between how the consultants read the data as objective outsiders and how the staff, who were more intimately familiar with both the raw data and the Madison community, interpreted the results. In the end we erred on the conservative side, using only the locally focused findings and a very low multiplier in order to make sure that the study was indisputable. The study approximates a $5.7 million annual impact on the Madison area alone – a 138% increase from the previous study. It also showed that audience members contributed $1.5 million in ancillary spending to the Madison area as a result of attending the Theatre and that 62% of the Theatre’s institutional spending goes to vendors located in the state of New Jersey.

In order to get at an impact number with a larger geographical reach, we created a supplement to accompany the Yale study. This document estimates an overall economic impact, including the Madison area and beyond, of at least $9.5 million, gleaned by applying additional tools – including the Arts and Economic Prosperity Calculator, designed byAmerican for the Arts – to the data collected for the study. This significant impact number can be attributed to the ripple effect of not only every dollar spent by the Theatre itself, but by every dollar spent by our audiences, artists, students and staff in conjunction with attending or working for the Theatre.

To-date, we have distributed the study to over 100 local funders, vendors and community leaders, and across the board the reaction has been positive. A study like this allows arts institutions to demonstrate their value as an economic engine for their community, strengthening their case for support. It also illustrates the durability of that impact during a national economic downturn — a point that is arguably one of the most important findings emerging from the data.

Whitney Estrin is the Capital Campaign Manager at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and a recent graduate of the Theater Management program at the Yale School of Drama. The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey is a not-for-profit arts institution that brings hundreds of students from all over the country to New Jersey each year, employs up to 200 actors, designers, and staff members, and welcomes 50,000 audience members through its doors each season.

A copy of the study is available upon request by calling 973-408-3685 or email westrin@shakespearenj.org.

Images courtesy the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

If you’ve been following along the last several Mondays, you know that we’ve been hearing from grantees who have recently taken part in our Board Leadership Training Series workshops and are now telling their stories about how they are applying what they’ve learned to their organizations. Today, we hear from Eddie Rogers of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey who discusses his experience joining the board as it was going through major transition and how they’ve managed to increase both the quality and the quantity of their work.

Hard at Work at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

When I was approached to join the Board of Trustees of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, I had some not-for-profit board experience, but I had not been involved with any arts organization, and there was not much that could be said of my specific qualifications. The most important factor may have been that I was filled with a passion for William Shakespeare and for the classic theater that is grist for the Theatre’s mill. I had been a subscriber to the Theatre’s season for six or seven years, and I was a modest donor with a willingness to contribute more of my “treasure” to the Theatre’s mission. I knew one other Trustee and I had some acquaintance with Bonnie Monte, our remarkable Artistic Director. I soon found out that there was much about the Theatre’s mission of which I was unaware.

A word about our mission: utilizing a company of loyal and talented Equity actors, the Theatre produces a season of six to seven plays on the “Indoor Stage”—the F.M. Kirby Theater on the Drew University campus—and one play at the “Outdoor Stage” of the Greek theater at the College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station. These productions are drawn from Shakespeare’s canon, augmented by other classic works.

In addition, the Theatre is an educational institution. A touring company called “Shakespeare LIVE!” carries skillfully abridged versions of Shakespeare’s favorites to schools throughout New Jersey and beyond. We operate a Summer Professional Training Program offering comprehensive theatrical training, both performance and technical, to young people seeking a career in the theater. And finally, we provide an introduction to serious acting for middle and high school students through our Junior and Senior Corps programs. The Theatre also offers residency programs to local schools seeking a more concentrated Shakespearean experience.

F.M. Kirby Theater at Drew University

The Board is as focused on the success of these educational programs as on the more “public” aspects of the Theatre’s activities. Not only do they open the way to a broad range of potential financial support, they also enhance the institution’s stature and, most importantly, lay the foundation for a new generation passionate about Shakespeare.

When I joined the Board , I was advised that the Board of Trustees had recently been through a certain turmoil, in the course of which about one-half of the Trustees had resigned. The Board was in serious need of “reconstituting,” and one could say I was part of the “reconstitution.” In terms of board “lifecycles,” the Theatre was pretty definitively in the “Turnaround Stage.” We were facing significant challenges:

• Finding new Trustees to fill the many vacancies;

• Financing ongoing operations in a hostile economic climate;

• Finding a way to eliminate a cumulative deficit;

• Finding new support facilities to replace the distant and dangerous scene-building facilities we had been utilizing.

The “old” Trustees (most of whom had considerable tenure on the Board) strongly believed that proper Board organization was critical to addressing these issues. The Board Committee on Trustees (since renamed the Governance Committee) had the unenviable task of assuring an adequate Board membership, and during 2009 virtually doubled the size of the Board. I might say in passing that having been in the position of attempting to recruit not-for-profit board members myself, I regard the accomplishments of this Committee and the Board’s leadership as awesome. The recruitment of quality Trustees was critical to the Theatre’s fundraising goals, but it was also important to find role players to spread the Theatre’s message. The Board was rigorous in defining the qualities required from any new trustee and unwavering in ensuring that all newly-appointed trustees met the very highest standards that we had set. Whatever success we have achieved has been the result of a constant review and culling of the candidate list by the Governance Committee and remorseless focus on the goal by a core of Trustees and the Artistic Director. (more…)

By Wendy Liscow, Program Officer

Last week I wrote about the importance of recognizing and instilling public value for the arts. So how do we do this? Are there things you are doing as an organization or as an individual that are helping people recognize the importance of the arts in their lives?

Cultural institutions often approach the task of creating value by working to engage people in an experience that goes beyond the basic activity of witnessing the final product of a creative process. They look for ways to deepen the practice of viewing a play, dance, music event, or exhibition by finding unique ways to connect to the lives of their patrons. This requires ingenuity and thinking outside the standard marketing tactics box.

For example, over the past three years, the George Street Playhouse has been connecting their audiences to theatre through an innovative Book Club Package that converts the theatre viewing experience into a three-step engagement. Through a “Reading, Talking, Seeing” process they enhance a book discussion group’s ability to transform the solitary reading practice into a communal activity that takes the words off the page and live onto the stage. And, as an enthusiastic book club member, I am willing to bet it will be even more fun! (more…)

Laura Aden Packer, Program Director, Arts

I just received a postcard announcing the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey‘s summer schedule, which features their production of The Tempest (see a recent article about the production in the Daily Record).

For me, summertime is inextricably linked to Shakespeare.

As a teenager, big trucks pulled up to my neighborhood playground one hot summer day and set up a stage in the middle of the basketball court. My friends and I learned that the New York Shakespeare Festival was touring a musical production of Two Gentlemen of Verona around to city parks and that for the next two nights, there would be a show right there, in our playground.

Well, what a show it turned out to be! Raul Julia and Clifton Davis were Proteus and Valentine, and that show spoke to me, and many of my friends, in a way we had never experienced before.

After that, we spent our summers at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, watching free Shakespeare in the park; throughout the rest of my school years and well into my professional life, I devoured Shakespeare plays and worked for theatres devoted to Shakespeare, including the exquisite, outdoor American Players Theatre, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, which is renowned as one of the country’s finest Shakespeare companies.

American Players Theatre (Spring Green, Wisconsin)

Although I no longer work for a Shakespeare-related organization, summer still means Shakespeare to me, and folks in New Jersey need look no further than the campuses of Drew University and the College of St. Elizabeth in Madison where the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, under Bonnie Monte’s inspired artistic leadership, presents brilliant productions of Shakespeare (and other classics), night after night, in the Kirby Theatre at Drew and under the stars (my favorite) at St. Elizabeth’s.

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at St. Elizabeth’s

You won’t want to miss their production this summer of The Tempest, which opens on June 24th and will be presented in the beautiful outdoor Greek amphitheatre on the St. E’s campus. Pack a picnic and treat your family to the show. You can buy tickets here or call (973) 408-5600.

We want to know: what are your favorite Shakespeare experiences? Do you have favorite memories of Shakespeare in the summer too?