Saving Performing Arts: How to Keep Organizations Financially Healthy and Artistically Vibrant

By Ernest Auerbach

When Ernest Auerbach took the helm at Austin Opera in 2011, the organization had been in existence for twenty-five years and was near bankruptcy. In the years leading up to the financial disaster, the Operas well-meaning board of trustees and staff leadership had somehow lost sight of the fact that while opera is an art, running an opera is a business. Now it was up to Auerbach to save it from collapse.

Auerbacha seasoned military leader and corporate executiveprovides insight into the business model he developed to achieve a financial and artistic turnaround at Austin Opera as well as examples, methods, and tools that will help other performing arts organizations design their own sustainable business model and avoid a downward turn. Nonprofit leaders will learn how to:

Recognize signs of an impending disaster Gain trust and effectively communicate with allies Develop priorities during a financial crisis Focus on organizational details while maintaining a mission Keep patrons, donors, and trustees happy

Saving Performing Arts is a concise survival guide designed to help performing arts organizations avoid trouble and become successful organizations with excellent future prospects and money in the bank.

A great lesson in leadership for those in every sector of the performing arts. Kevin Smith, Opera America field consultant

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491759332

Ernest Auerbach

Ernest Auerbach was president of Austin Opera from 2011 to 2013 and remains a trustee. He is a retired United States Army colonel whose subsequent assignments in law and management included Xerox, N.L. Industries, CIGNA, Andersen Consulting, New York Life, and AIG. He lives with his wife, Jeanette, in Austin, Texas.

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Copyright © 2015 Ernest Auerbach.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-5934-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5933-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015901566

iUniverse rev. date: 02/12/2015

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1    Signs Of Impending Disaster

Chapter 2    In A Crisis, Strong Leadership Is Key

Chapter 3    Taking Action

Chapter 4    Beyond Damage Control

Chapter 5    Those Who Serve For The Long Haul: Who Are They? How Do You Keep Them Happy?

Chapter 6    Parting Comments

Chapter 7    Curtain Call

About The Author

PREFACE

If you believe performing arts organizations have the best chance to succeed when they are run like businesses, then this book is for you. In these pages you will find advice on how to design a sustainable business model, as well as examples and techniques to get you there.

The business model described in this book was developed for the Austin Lyric Opera after it came close to collapse. Since the writing of this book, the Opera has changed its name to Austin Opera. However, I have used the earlier name in these pages. Thanks to the work of loyal supporters who gave substantial time and money and supported the major changes we had to make, the Austin Opera is now a successful nonprofit performing arts organization with excellent future prospects. While I use our opera experience as the primary nonprofit model in this book, many of the lessons we learned and the steps we took to get ourselves on the right track apply to all performing arts organizations.

I’d like to acknowledge with thanks the advice of Tanya White, whose insights greatly helped shape the work, and Gwynne Middleton, a splendid editor who made the piece more readable. Also, a hearty thanks goes to Leslie Hibner, who designed the appealing book cover. Any errors in