Solano Creative Arts

A Letter from our Directors’
February 24, 2009

Dear Friends,

Normally, at this time of year we would be kicking off our annual appeal.  This letter would tell you about our exciting season, the wonderful work of our students and the amazing talent and dedication of our faculty and staff.  It would also be asking you for a donation.  This year has not really been normal for any of us, and it’s probably not a good time to ask for money, so we are not going to.  We are going to ask for your support.

As you may be aware, Solano Community College is facing an uncertain future in regards to its budget.  It currently has a significant structural deficit and the administration, in partnership with the faculty, staff and the Board of Trustees, is exploring options for reducing expenses.  One of the proposals presented to the Board as an option would eliminate funding to the Solano College Theatre Association (which acts as our employer) and prevent us from using apportionment (the state funding mechanism based on student enrollment) generated by our classes for our operating expenses.  Another proposal would eliminate the Community Services program. Taken together, these actions would make it virtually impossible to mount fully-staged productions of the plays and musicals for which Solano College Theatre and Solano Youth Theatre are known.  In fact, it is questionable whether we would be able to stage performances at all.  No other department’s classes or programs were targeted for such cuts.

All of us involved in the theatre at Solano College are wholeheartedly in support of the college’s efforts to reach solid and sustainable financial footing.  We are committed to doing our part, but we believe that any solution needs to be equitable and take into consideration all of the contributions of a program.  We are working on a restructuring plan to make our programs both more cost-effective and more attractive to the community.  We understand and embrace our responsibility to simultaneously reduce costs and increase enrollment in all theatre programs.  We firmly believe that the best way for us to do this is to continue to produce high quality shows which engage our students and the community.  We believe that our programs are a gateway into Solano College for students.  If you agree, we ask that you contact your representative on the Board of Trustees, as well as the SCC administration and your local media to express your support for the arts, arts education and live theatre in Solano County.

We have included contact information and some important points to think about when discussing Solano College Theatre and Solano Youth Theatre. Thank you very much for your consideration and for the support which you have so generously given us in the past.  It has been a pleasure to work in and serve this community.

Sincerely,

Chris Guptill
Managing Director

George Maguire
Artistic Director

Important facts about Solano College Theatre and Solano Youth Theatre:

• Graduates of SCT have gone on to such prestigious institutions as Harvard, Juilliard, NYU, Columbia University, UCLA, USC, and numerous UC and CSU campuses.
• SCT students have enjoyed successful careers in the theatre (on Broadway and national tours), film and television, education, business and the military. Our graduates include local high school theatre instructors, performing arts professionals and a current pilot of Air Force 2 (for Vice President Biden).  They tell us that whatever their career path, SCT helped them achieve success.
• More than 550 students were enrolled in Theatre Department and theatre-related Community Services courses in the fall semester.
• During our 2007-08 season, more than 21,000 people attended an SCT or SYT performance, generating nearly $220,000.
• The 2008-09 season has already had more than 10,000 audience members and earned nearly $100,000 in ticket revenue.
• We are the most-honored performing arts group in Solano County, with dozens of Artys (Solano), Ellys (Sacramento) and Dramalogue (entire Bay Area) Awards.
• Solano Youth Theatre provides low-cost, high-quality after school enrichment and arts education to nearly 600 students annually in addition to offering 12 student matinee performances to the county’s K-12 schools.

Solano Community College Board of Trustees:

Tom Henry
Special Trustee
4000 Suisun Valley Road
Fairfield, CA 94534-3197
(707) 864-7000, ext. 4454
FAX (707) 864-7213
E-mail: Tom.Henry@solano.edu

James M. Glaffey
Special Trustee
Area 2 – Fairfield, Travis AFB,
Cordelia, Green Valley
4000 Suisun Valley Road
Fairfield, CA 94534-3197
(707) 428-3407
E-mail: Jim.Claffey@solano.edu

Denis Honeychurch, J.D. – Vice President
Area 2 – Fairfield, Travis AFB,
Cordelia, Green Valley
823 Jefferson Street, Suite C
Fairfield, CA 94533
(707) 429-3111
E-mail: Denis.Honeychurch@solano.edu

Pam Keith
Area 3 – Vallejo
4000 Suisun Valley Road
Fairfield, CA 94534-3197
(707) 864-7112
E-mail: Pam.Keith@solano.edu

Stephen Murphy, J.D.
Area 1 – Vacaville, Dixon, Winters
3500 Harbison Drive
Apartment 834
Vacaville, CA 95687
(707) 514-5182
E-mail: Stephen.Murphy@solano.edu

Phil McCaffrey
Area 1 – Vacaville, Dixon, Winters
4000 Suisun Valley Road
Fairfield, CA 94534
(707) 365-1126
E-mail: Phil.McCaffrey@solano.edu

A. Marie Young – President
Area 3 – Vallejo
4000 Suisun Valley Road
Fairfield, CA 94534-3197
(707) 552-6480
E-mail: AMarie.Young@solano.edu

Rosemary Thurston
Area 4 – Benicia, Vallejo, Suisun
4000 Suisun Valley Road
Fairfield, CA 94534-3197
(707) 643-2450
E-mail: strustee@solano.edu

Hello, Paul Fondersmith here.  I am the consortiums webmaster and co-designer. I am the fellow who worked with you on the Arts Gone Wild Gala and the fellow with whom each performance group’s POC will have the majority of interaction.  I will do all the web postings, assist with issues regarding the web and will assist your Etix POC Bill Seymour, with issues regarding the new comprehensive ticketing solution by Etix.

I apologize for the delay of our first meeting of the consortium. This was needed owing to some folk’s personal and business schedules as well as soon to be ironed – out city legal issues.  It appears that Thursday, Feb 12th at 6:30 p.m. fit most of your schedules. The location would be Missouri Street Theatre. IT IS ESSENTIAL TO HAVE ALL OF US (MEANING AT LEAST POC’S) IN ATTENDANCE FOR THIS FIRST MEETING.

The Plan is to have a tightly structured decision oriented meeting.  All you need to do is listen, think, speak up and vote. The business model and such is strong but YOU NEED maximal attendance for this first meeting. Most other meetings will be of smaller groups with information sent through blogs and email. I NEED RSVPS PLEASE- BOTH WITH THE NAME OF YOUR POC, THEIR EMAIL AND A PHONE NUMBER.  My number is (707) 317-2052.

If you have not yet decided to join in, please remember

• the state of finances for the City of Fairfield,
• the obvious strength in numbers,
• the lack of dedicated FCCA web site now and almost certainly in the future,
• The very real possibility of FCCA dwindling away — that is a major performance venue for many
• the great power of a comprehensive ticketing solution to include on line as well as outlets and on the phone,
• the savings in advertising costs that a central web will provide,
• the probability of getting larger grants as well as advertising dollars that a larger heavily traveled site affords
• and YES, it is free to all of you. Gala funds are paying for three years of web maintenance and such and the Etix is at no cost to you.
• You lose nothing by showing up

This meeting should take no more than two hours. A conceptual thumbnail agenda is attached. Your job is to show up, engage, vote when asked and be ready to identity a POC for your venue who is the principle person I interact with regarding your calendar of events, audition, posting of print, audio or visual material etc.  That is the person who passes on your wants, I do the work.

I know each of us has a busy schedule, but it is vital that we rally as many people together for the first meeting to get the consortium rolling.  I know it can be done; remember the success of the Arts Gone Wild event?  It’s time to once again show the public that the arts can rally together during tough times and help each other become less dependent and more interdependent.

Summarized below are a few reasons you should ban together during this economic downturn.  Use this for your boards if need be, but please show up.
1. In addition to a comprehensive ticketing solution (online, over the phone, and outlets), there is a revenue avoidance and generation piece  that might lead to more financial independence.

2. Advertising costs go down when you have an advertising and informational platform (the website) associated with ticketing.  Events, programs, archived reviews, newsletter’s, and sample audio and video, all viewable from the website (no need to print it out).
3. Revenues are generated with the same platform and a self identified large population, you
a. Can sell web space
b. Have premium benefits for levels of donations
c. Have continuous arts online auctions
d. Sell audio (CD’s), video (DVD’s) and other promotional items
e. Sell ad space on every ticket printed
f. Garner state and federal grants owing to a county wide scope, outreach to youth, youth at risk, seniors, and the disabled

4. Grantors find you attractive when you have
a. Good governance and stability
b. Big numbers (a dominant presence with a clear focus)
c. Track record in business and mission
d. Relevant reach to grantor
e. Target populations with excellent data and information pieces (metrics and accountability)

So what are you going to do? Are you going to sit back and do nothing or are you going to pull together with other artist and local businesses and find other ways to generate revenue for future events. The ball is in your hands.  Make a difference. Get involved.  I know I am.

Here is a thumbnail of the agenda:

• Introductions
• State of Arts
• Where are we politically with cities and FCCA and county e the arts and it is not good
• California Arts Council (CAC)
• Review of website —not nit picking –an executive summary brief only
• Presentation of business Model and Marketing Plan
• Revenue sparing
• Revenue Generation (five types): gifts, grants, ads, coupons, auction, on ticket ads, premiums for donation
• Overview of Etix and Power of Data and numbers
• Typical ticket
• Questions at Point of Sale (gather more potential data) Overview only
• Action items

1. Governance Lead Agent
2. Solano arts council revisit
3. Holding of funds – disbursements – account- co signatories-transparent- on web
4. Hire advertising director and plan
5. POC’s for Etix training and submission of materiel to Paul  calendar  AV and special- auditions promo, archives, programs, published reviews over the Phone Scripts
6. Outlets
7. Consolidate emails  and sponsors
8. PAL outreach POC
9. Youth outreach POC
10. Senior outreach POC
11. Recovery outreach POC
12. Disadvantaged outreach POC
13. City by City POC
14. School Boards POC
15. Realty and Chamber  POC
16. Plan launch-press release
17. Contact city councils and city managers

Thank you and look forward to seeing all of you again,

Paul Fondersmith