Ashland, Ore. - The Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Executive Director Paul Nicholson and Artistic Director Bill Rauch informed the company today about a further $650,000 in budget cuts for the 2009 fiscal year. OSF announced in October that $1 million had been trimmed from the initial 2009 budget that OSF's Board of Directors had approved in September, but after reviewing 2009 presale ticket sales trends and the continued downturn in the economy, further cuts were deemed necessary.
"We are still optimistic that 2009 will be a very successful season, both artistically and attendance-wise," said Nicholson. "We are tentatively projecting that we will run at 81% of capacity, or approximately 375,000 tickets sold. This would still make 2009 one of our top seven seasons from an attendance point of view. Our membership responded very positively during presale, and a survey of those who have not ordered yet indicates that the majority of them hope to come next season. However, ticket sales are still projected to be about 5% below budget."
Ticket sales represent only a portion of the needed revenue for the Festival to meet its budgetary goals. Contributed income is a significant portion as well, and donations across all categories are down. In addition, with the continued volatility of the stock market, OSF anticipates declines in the payout from the endowment fund and other investments in 2009.
The latest budget cuts trim the 2009 OSF budget to $24.9 million. Areas where reductions in expenses will occur include shortened employment contracts, some elimination of positions, and further reduction in materials and support services.
Artistic director Rauch was clear that OSF's work onstage will always remain the top priority. "It's tremendously difficult to deal with such a challenging financial environment," Rauch stated, "but I want our audiences to know the quality of our work will never be compromised. We continue to rely on the loyalty and generosity of our audiences, and we in turn will honor them with passionate, provocative theatre."
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