Grosse Pointe Theatre

(continued) Grosse Pointe theatres major 2024 accomplishment was to conclude its 76th season by maintaining a strong and stable financial condition. A few key indicators support this assessment. Achieving operational profitability from year to year is challenging and must include both the revenue and expense sides. Ticket revenue continues its post-covid rebuild process and a strategy to assist in this, was by offering a broader variety of shows. These have been more technically complex shows, with greater costs and also a need for a different type of casting. The plan is to reach potential Theatre patrons who appreciate the technical aspects of performing. With respect to expenses, effective cost management controls and policies are followed in both the production and administrative areas. The board of directors actively and regularly monitors the budget to actual status. An added strain has been rising show production costs like royalties and facility rentals, which had large year over year increases 24% and, 27%, respectively. Offering a broader variety of ticket price levels has helped to offset some of these challenging expense burdens. In summary, gpts most significant achievement was to reach modest operational profitability for the year. A second major accomplishment has been the drive to continually diversify the organizations revenue streams in order to support profitability. The board of directors works tirelessly in this regard. Contribution revenue from a variety of sources such as foundations, grants, annual fund campaigns and solicited sponsorships are sought. These funds are expected to grow as cultivation efforts become more frequent and sophisticated. Additionally, board members have committed significant personal funds as part of their fiduciary responsibility to gpt. The sum of all of these sources has increased by 25% from the previous year. The third major accomplishment has been with the youth education program. An expanded curriculum of classes combined with two production/performance classes area are offered annually. However, the demand for this type of arts education is far greater than the supply of classes. Gpt continues to assess this situation and wants to provide more educational opportunities for children and youth, without sacrificing the quality of its programs. Investing in the youth program is seen as a pipeline to develop the talents and skills of future gpt members.