Case Study – Rose Children’s Theatre
Rose Children’s Theatre was founded by Celeste Rose in 1978 and became a non-profit organization in 1989. Since becoming a non-profit they are independent of any city funding and receives all support from private donations, grants, and volunteer based fund-raising. Their mission is “to strengthen our community by empowering children and their families through the experience of performing arts and the magic of theater”. They work from a pool of directors and musical directors to select scripts that will work well with the children of the community. They primarily hold their performances at the Wildish Theater, local gymnasiums, and other community centers.
Case Study Analysis Part I – Environmental Scan
I. Economic Scan
While I couldn’t find a lot detailed information on Rose Children’s Theatre’s financial history, I was able to find some information on past taxes, various grants, donors, and earned income. Through their website they list different tiers of donor gifts:
Producer’s Circle $5,000 & above
Spotlight Circle $1,000 – $4,999 (Eight donors in 2016)
Director’s Circle $500 – $999 (Seven donors in 2016)
Actor’s Circle $100 – $499 (Twenty-eight donors in 2016)
They also stated that they were the recipient of a $15,000 grant from Daryl L. and Patricia L. Swenson Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation this year. Also through their website they give the option to be a sponsor. This is different from a donor because the sponsor will get to advertise their business on all display ads and show posters, they are thanked publicly and they receive complimentary tickets. They have two types of sponsors: season sponsorships are $2,500, and show sponsorships are $500. They also offer ad space in their programs, half page is $100 and a full page is $200. They do charge for each show, and tuition for the children involved in either the plays or other programs they offer. You can also purchase DVDs of each performance from their website. Cost of attending a performance is usually $12/person and participation costs are listed below:
Camps: $75-$275
Jr. Musical: $195
Plays: $155
Benefit Concert: $100
Main Stage Musical/Concert: $195
Workshops: varied
They do offer scholarships for low-income families so that everyone can participate.
The only source I could find that listed any tax or budget information was from: http://nonprofit-990.bugaco.com/nonprofit/930984036/rose-children-s-theatre/overview
May or may not be reliable, but thought I would share what they stated: “It had revenue of $71,335.00 and expenses $69,887.00 between August 2011 and July 2012 Subsequently it had revenue of $87,039.00 and expenses $88,283.00 between August 2012 and July 2013 Next year it had revenue of $88,421.00 and expenses $89,820.00 between August 2013 and July 2014 Next year it had revenue of $122,068.00 and expenses $118,988.00.” This shows that for two of the four years listed they were profitable, but there were two years that they had more costs than revenue. This also is showing that their revenue has almost double in four years, which is amazing.
II. Demographic Scan
The participants of the organization is school aged children (K-12) within the community. They offer workshops and summer camps for different age groups, and all ages are encouraged to audition for the performances. They encourage family members to volunteer, and they often are the ones helping with production. The audience is mostly friends and family of the actors, but this is a community theatre and they state that their mission is to “strengthen our community by empowering children and their families through the experience of performing arts and the magic of theater”. This community theatre is there for the community so everyone is encouraged to attend.
III. Cultural Scan
The culture of this organization seems to be one of inclusion. They provide scholarships for children specifically if they are on the free or reduced lunch list at school, but they also help families out that have recently fallen on hard times. They have a pretty large board but the majority of the members are somehow related with children or the arts outside of this organization. The directors the theatre hires to produce the plays are required to choose scripts that are “enjoyable and with positive messages that kids connect with and understand”. They put on plays, such as: Elf, Jr., BIG the musical, Shrek Jr., Willy Wonka, and so many more. This organization helps provide the community with a fun, theatrical experience that they can enjoy with friends and family.
IV. Other Environmental Elements
I would say that income of the participants is an external factor in regards to the scholarships they offer. They do make it clear that they help those on the free/reduced lunch at schools, but they also mention they help those on hard times – not sure how they qualify each family. Another factor would be finding enough age appropriate scripts for the children. It seems as if there are a lot of adaptations of adult scripts which is helpful, but I just wonder if they might run into issues finding printed scripts later on.
Case Study Analysis Part II – SWOC Analysis
Cultural products:
- Strengths: they are meant to appeal to the community at large and provide children with scripts that they can relate to and learn from.
- Weaknesses: because the scripts are meant for children, it may not actually appeal to all community members maybe just friends and family or those with children.
- Opportunities: maybe incorporating some scripts that are age appropriate but not “childish”
- Challenges: the challenges to choosing other scripts is that even though it may appeal to a greater audience, the children just might not understand them
Pricing:
- Strengths: they do charge admission to all shows, and require tuition for all participants. This helps with production, props, cast party, etc.
- Weaknesses: they require tuition for all participants. While necessary for production, I just wonder if it discourages some families. They do offer scholarships based on free/reduced lunch and families that have fallen on hard times, but how do they decide this?
- Opportunities: all ticket pricing is $12 per person (I believe they offer $10 for students). I’m wondering if they could do tiered pricing? This was the pricing at Wildish Theater. Maybe they could offer cheaper matinees or different pricing levels based on seat? Not sure if this is reasonable for those attending the show.
- Challenges: finding a price point that allows for everyone to participate. Again, they offer scholarships but will these allow for every child in need to be able to participate?
Place (Access):
- Strengths: they use community centers for all productions, which makes these shows accessible to a wide range of people. Because they are using partner venues they don’t have to worry about owning their own theater for performances – reduces costs.
- Weaknesses: because they are using community venues, these might not be easily accessible to all participants in the organization since they will require rides to get there.
- Opportunities: have a consistent space for performances, or develop some sort of car pool for the kids performing if it is an issue with getting them to the location.
- Challenges: having the availability at a single location on the dates needed. They also may want different locations to encourage different audiences.
Promotional efforts:
- Strengths: when I google their name I find them being promoted by a wide variety of websites from pediatric medicine sites to after school program sites. This is great promotional material which may not be costing them anything. They do have a Facebook page which they post to frequently. They also have programs and show posters which promote the performances.
- Weaknesses: I’m not sure of any specific weaknesses, but they did receive a large grant specifically for their marketing and promotion.
- Opportunities: maybe more wide-spread promotion and marketing. I don’t recall seeing any of their promotional material prior to this project. They probably are promoting within schools and areas that involve children, and they should maybe reach out to more of the community.
- Challenges: it costs money to increase marketing.