How that #@%& Sandy impacted Off-Broadway
When circumstances beyond your control negatively affect your business, it’s bad.
It’s easy for all of us to just say, “Man, this is bad. This sucks. Business is horrible.”
But in bad times, it’s actually important for all business owners and industry leaders to step back and say, “This is bad. Now let’s figure out how bad.”
That question, not only puts your mind to work and prevents you from dwelling too much in the misery of what’s happening, but it also gathers data that could help you minimize the “badness” of a future similar situation.
I’m sure that’s what motivated the studious NYC & Company (the official marketing, tourism and partnership org for NYC) and The Off-Broadway League to coordinate a report on the impact of Sandy (as well as the Nor’easter that followed) on the Off-Broadway market.
Here’s what they found out:
- Average number of days that venues were closed or not operational was 7 days.
- Average number of days that administrative offices were closed was 3 days (Note from KD: Theater people are way too passionate to keep away from work!)
- A total number of 102 performances were “lost.”
- Total estimated reported loss either from revenue or expenses (in the case of production expenses) was $742,246. Effected ticket revenue was reported to be $564,954.
- A majority of Not-For-Profit productions (56%) did not encourage patrons to donate back their tickets rather than getting a refund or reassign.
- The Internet was the main vehicle of communication source members used to let the public and their ticketholders know of their cancellation policies. Others were email, their production website, and social media.
- Members believed that the most effective source of information in letting the public know of their policy was Facebook, followed by their ticket vendor and Twitter. (Note from KD: !!! Facebook is now a news source.)
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Podcasting
Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.
