My small group has a decent 27 year history, a small and rapidly dying off core audience, some board members who are afraid of change, and a tiny budget. Now the good news: We have been offered an opportunity to move into a converted school which will now become a community center. We will be solely in charge of the theatre, have the opportunity to teach classes, run kids theatre programs, etc. While this is great news, the all-volunteer board is overtaxed taking care of all of the details (planning, organizing the move, renovation, fundraising for renovation, runing the current season,etc, etc.) Plus, with our desperate need to start filling seats we need outreach and audience development ASAP! We would like to hire a full time person to start carrying some of this load as producer/manager/????. This would be our first paid employee. (We offer honorariums to directors, TD's, etc.)
Unfortunately, we have no funds for this. Any ideas about where to begin? I know that some community groups manage to maintain a paid staff- but HOW? Also, I would love to hear ideas for funding sources for renovating an elementary school theater!