Funding Woes Lower Curtain On Theater Company
Filed Under Curt Hennig | Posted on October 9, 2008
Jeanna Whitaker’s dream was to create art. Her goal was to create a reputable theater company.
“The problem is operating a non-profit in a for-profit world,” Whitaker said. “For the first two years, just about everything came out of my own pocket because as a non-profit, you can’t get business loans and you can’t get investors because you can’t give them any money back.”
To make up for inadequate funding and to keep the theater financially afloat, Whitaker took out personal loans, used credit cards, and burned through her savings. But the weight of operating costs, coupled with production expenses, overwhelmed intermittent ticket revenue and supporters’ donations. Deep in personal debt, Whitaker turned off the lights last July.
But the fallout hasn’t dulled her dream. Fiscal lessons learned, she plans, once she is financially able, to start another theater with a new, for-profit business model.
Tags: business loans, business model, credit cards, curtain, fallout, investors, jeanna, money, personal debt, personal loans, production expenses, profit business, profit world, theater company, ticket revenue, whitaker, woesRelated posts
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