Business of the Arts: Support That Lasts

Any stage is dark between productions, but the Historic Fox Theatre seems especially bleak with the news that Springfield Contemporary Theatre will no longer be mounting performances there.

The SCT was the resident company for the theater, but it announced on July 11 what it called a pause.

Karen Sabo, president of the SCT board of directors, explained in a July 15 interview that “pause” is an optimistic term.

“We’re calling it a pause, but we are, for all intents and purposes, closing up shop,” she said. “We’re closing the door, but we’re not locking it.”

In other words, there is no discussion of reopening the three-decade-strong organization, she said, but there is always a chance it will be resurrected one day.

Meanwhile, the staff is being let go. That includes artistic director Brandon Thomsen, who moved to the Queen City from Illinois less than a year ago.

Thomsen declined to be interviewed for this story, saying simply that he was feeling pretty low.

Two part-time employees are also being laid off.

“We’re looking at how to close down the offices and what to do with our many years of accumulated props, set pieces and things like that,” Sabo said.

ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer put SCT revenue at $5.08 million in 2024, with expenses of $2.93 million – a seemingly positive financial scenario. But Sabo said the challenges faced by the organization were steep.

“The rising cost of nearly everything, along with trying to find our footing in a post-COVID world, was a very challenging combination,” she said.

Beth Domann, artistic director of the Springfield Little Theatre, knows this to be true.

“Royalties are just going through the roof,” she said.

Not long ago, royalties for a typical show were in the range of $100-$150 per performance, she said. Now they’re about $1,000. That’s even higher for musicals, she said, noting the SLT 2025 performance of “Oklahoma!” cost $19,000, compared to $6,000 when it was mounted by the company 20 years before.

Likewise, the cost of lumber rose substantially after the COVID-19 pandemic, and it still hasn’t come back down. Costuming, including the price of material, has skyrocketed. Added to that, Domann said, is the fact that much of what the organization needs comes from other countries, meaning tariffs are a factor.

“People don’t realize, really, how fragile the arts are,” Domann said. “It’s so important to invest in the arts – they’re a reflection on who we are, and our joy. I do think that sometimes we take things for granted.”

Domann has made it her focus this year to establish a $5 million endowment for SLT. One of the first fundraisers for that was a standup performance by Domann herself.

That’s the kind of sustainable support arts organizations need, according to the 2024 Community Focus Report, which identified funding challenges as a red flag for the arts sector.

“Organizations must diversify funding,” the report stated. “Inflationary pressures are especially acute in the arts.”

The report noted that organizations keep expenses low, but the cost of programming for many organizations can far exceed the revenue it generates.

The report recommended that donors invest in operational needs, such as fully staffing organizations.

“Nonprofits are thrifty, but leaders report the exhaustion of ‘doing more with less,’” the report noted. “Diversifying funding and expanding donor pools together with public funding are critical steps to doing more with more.”

Tax revenue helps
The good news for arts organizations: There is some progress locally with sustainable funding.

Leslie Forrester, executive director of the Springfield Regional Arts Council, said the city’s tourism tax – a 5% tax on hotel, motel and short-term rental occupancy, passed in April 2023 – is the biggest win local arts organizations have ever had.

SRAC administers 4.5% of those funds, which amounted to $340,000 for 2025-26, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. The agency has opted to support five organizations with $20,000 per year for a three-year period in operational support, and with the remainder of the money, it provides smaller one-time grants to arts organizations.

The five organizations receiving multiyear funding are KSMU, Moxie Cinema, Ozarks Lyric Opera, Sculpture Walk Springfield and the Springfield Art Museum, according to the SRAC website.

The multiyear funding is geared toward sustainability. Each of the five groups is trying something different, Forrester said – from acquiring donor support databases to hiring social media managers – and the pilots should result in strategies other local organizations can adopt.

Last year, SRAC with the Musgrave Foundation and Community Foundation of the Ozarks gave out $220,000 to arts programs, Forrester said, noting the city-generated lodging tax stayed with Springfield organizations.

Forrester said arts organizations need to have a diverse set of funding sources.

“We’re not looking for one big flash in the pan; we’re looking for a lot of support in a lot of different areas,” Forrester said. “That way, if one of them goes away, we’re not up the creek without a paddle.”

Ashley Walden, vice president of community impact for CFO, was former executive director of the Springfield Ballet Inc., and she knows the challenges arts organizations face.

“Creatives have always had to be creative in finding funding,” she said.

CFO suggests nonprofits, not just in the arts, pursue two specific forms of diversified funding, Walden said: endowments and planned gifts.

“Events are their own special snowflake,” she said. “They’re a lot of work, but they’re a great way to attract new donors to build that relationship with them to become a yearly donor, and then maybe a major donor and a lifetime donor.”

She said events should not be the main focus, but rather the mission should.

“Part of the education piece is really showcasing what the arts can actually do for folks and how meaningful they are – how they increase the quality of life,” Walden said.

When she helmed the Springfield Ballet, she said, she had many supporters who understood what the organization and the art form provided, even if they were new to ballet.

“There were a handful of them who had no idea about ballet, but they were so inspired by the mission and the programming we provided that they wanted to be a part of it,” she said.

Walden added that the arts have substantial economic impact on the community. In 2022, arts expenditures in Springfield totaled $89 million and generated 1,610 jobs, according to the Americans for the Arts survey. 

Putting on the ritz
Tery O’Shell, development and gifts manager for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra Inc., now entering its 91st season, said her organization relies on a mix of funding, including events that range from a golf tournament to an annual gala.

O’Shell declined to share specific figures for fundraising efforts, but Nonprofit Explorer notes the symphony’s revenue in 2024 was $1.47 million, with expenses of $1.25 million.

One special fundraising event is Vintage & Virtuoso, which invites guests to dine on the stage at Juanita K. Hammons Hall while they experience a multicourse dinner inspired by musical selections. The February 2026 event is already planned and will feature French cuisine, French wines and French-inspired music at a single-ticket price of $250.

O’Shell said the symphony has started to focus more on planned giving, and she noted the Legacy Society is a support organization composed of people who have included the symphony in wills, trusts or insurance policies.

“We already have a group, but we want to start growing it,” she said.

“We need to always not forget about growing so we can be around for the next 91 seasons,” O’Shell said.