Warning Bells
Mon, 22 Nov 1999, 11:05 pmGrant Malcolm1 post in thread
Warning Bells
Mon, 22 Nov 1999, 11:05 pmThe very recent controversy at Don Russell Performing Arts Centre has potential ramifications for many companies that are sharing community venues with other users. I think it may also sound warning bells for some other companies with "exclusive use" of community facilities.
The meagre bit of homework that i've done shows that councils examine very closely the costs and benefits associated with maintaining community halls and centres. If you check the figures you might be dismayed to find that the council is very heavily subsidising users at your local hall. You will probably also discover that the venue is empty pretty much most of the time.
For example it is not uncommon to find that a community hall in the City of Canning is occupied anywhere between 3-36% of the available time and returns only 3-37% of operating costs in hire fees.
There's a pointer here for community theatre companies, if you are looking to find a venue of your own, or looking to protect your existing exclusive or preferred access. The keys are "occupancy rates" and "income as a percentage of operating cost".
A company doing 4-6 shows per year will struggle to demonstrate an average 10 hrs occupancy per week, you need to break 20 hrs/wk to come close to being able to claim preferential use. How many companies with exclusive use of their facility can seriously demonstrate an _average_ occupancy of 20 hrs per week? Watch out if the council decides to do an occupancy audit!
Anything your company can contribute to reduce the operating cost, and thereby raise the percentage of your contribution to that cost will lift your chances of finding or maintaining access to a venue. You may be looking at demonstrating to council that earnings will be 20% of operating costs. Do you know how much it costs council to maintain your venue? What returns can you demonstrate for that support?
There must be people out there with more experience of this than me. What have you discovered? What trends are you aware of?
Cheers
Grant
The meagre bit of homework that i've done shows that councils examine very closely the costs and benefits associated with maintaining community halls and centres. If you check the figures you might be dismayed to find that the council is very heavily subsidising users at your local hall. You will probably also discover that the venue is empty pretty much most of the time.
For example it is not uncommon to find that a community hall in the City of Canning is occupied anywhere between 3-36% of the available time and returns only 3-37% of operating costs in hire fees.
There's a pointer here for community theatre companies, if you are looking to find a venue of your own, or looking to protect your existing exclusive or preferred access. The keys are "occupancy rates" and "income as a percentage of operating cost".
A company doing 4-6 shows per year will struggle to demonstrate an average 10 hrs occupancy per week, you need to break 20 hrs/wk to come close to being able to claim preferential use. How many companies with exclusive use of their facility can seriously demonstrate an _average_ occupancy of 20 hrs per week? Watch out if the council decides to do an occupancy audit!
Anything your company can contribute to reduce the operating cost, and thereby raise the percentage of your contribution to that cost will lift your chances of finding or maintaining access to a venue. You may be looking at demonstrating to council that earnings will be 20% of operating costs. Do you know how much it costs council to maintain your venue? What returns can you demonstrate for that support?
There must be people out there with more experience of this than me. What have you discovered? What trends are you aware of?
Cheers
Grant