Comstock's magazine 0620 - June June 2020 | Page 41

The delicate balance of the company’s
already compact season, producing
six musicals from the ground
up in three months, complicated by
actors and staff traveling from across
the country, gave them no choice.
“You can’t pick up the phone and call
somebody and say, ‘OK, when is it going
to be safe for 2,000 people to collect in
one building?’” says Lewis. “There is no
answer to that. Even today, there is no
answer to that.”
The year started strong
The waiting and wondering when live
performances will start again is particularly
frustrating for the many regional
organizations that had such positive
momentum this spring.
“Things were really on a fantastic
path, and artistically, the orchestra is
growing and improving all the time,”
says Alice Sauro, executive director of
the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.
Sauro has overseen a five-year renaissance
of that organization, which canceled
part of its 2014-15 season before
she took over in 2015.
“We actually held our first-ever annual
meeting (in 2019),” Sauro says. “We
shared with our folks that we had two
years in a row of balanced budgets, and
we even were able to manage our expenses
so well that we paid off a little bit
of a carryover deficit that we had from
2017.” A report by the organization details
five years of growth in tickets sold,
ticket revenue, contributed revenue
and number of donors. For the 2018-19
season, the organization surpassed $2
million for the first time in both operational
growth and revenue growth. It’s
1,324 subscribers is a record too.
Sauro says having popular music
on every program has made concerts
more accessible to the general public.
“That has been really a great model
for us,” she says. “Within that, then
we can stretch them a little bit.” The
organization also made the best of
being displaced by renovations to the
SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts
Center retrofit by giving performances
at different venues around Sacramento,
including Fremont Presbyterian
Church and the Cathedral of the Blessed
Sacrament.
Pier says the Harris Center also has
been on an upward trajectory. It’s three
performance spaces opened Feb. 11,
2011, and have generated approximately
$10 million in impact on the local
economy each year. “Our actual full last
season was our best season ever,” Pier
says. “Attendance was over 185,000, our
sales were $7.5 million.” The center had
planned a yearlong celebration of its 10-
year anniversary starting this fall and
flowing into 2021. The events now will
be concentrated closer to early spring.
The B Street’s closing of The Sofia
in Sacramento and the postponement
of its theater programming for adults
and families has had a domino effect.
The Sacramento Ballet’s “Homegrown”
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June 2020 | comstocksmag.com 41