2021 Transparency Report

Theater in Asylum believes that transparency enables the sharing of power and responsibility. We commit to being open with how company decisions are made and money is spent. Below please find an overview of our finances in 2021. This is also on our website’s transparency page, a page we launched earlier this year as a way to showcase a snapshot of our finances and decision-making.

Big Picture

Some Takeaways of Theater in Asylum’s 2021 Finances:

• We projected to spend ~$25,000 in 2021, but actually spent ~$21,000.
• We projected to earn ~$25,000 in 2021, but actually earned ~$27,000.
• We received extra support from grants, along with donated performance and rehearsal space.
• We will enter 2022 with a healthy reserve to get new projects started.

2021’s Major Projects:

• The Debates 2021, created by Theater in Asylum, was originally envisioned as a live production that would tour around New York City. Due to the pandemic, the piece was presented live on Zoom May 27 and 28, 2021. Approximately 100 people watched it live, 50 people watched it streaming on demand.
• Occupy Prescott, by Andy Boyd, was presented October 16-31, 2021 outside at the Jalopy Tavern. We sold out all six scheduled shows and one added show. About 200 people saw the production.
• Cold Readings were mostly online, with 3 in-person. We held 33 readings in all with approximately 15 people at each, 500 people total.
  

2021 Expenses

Budgeted Expenses

• Personnel: $11,900
• Production Costs: $6,930
• Space: $3,900
• Administrative: $1,100
• Anti-oppression training: $600
• Contingencies: $1,092
• Total Budgeted Expenses: $25,522

Actual Expenses (as of 12/2/21)

• Personnel: $14,141*
• Production Costs: $3,670**
• Space: $1,003***
• Administrative: $1,147
• Anti-oppression training: $300
• Contingencies: $838
• Total Actual Expenses: $20,882

* Personnel expenses rose when we unexpectedly won grants from the NYC Artist Corps, allowing us to increase collaborator stipends for Occupy Prescott.
** The Debates 2021 was revamped from an in-person production to an online production, drastically reducing production costs.
*** Our space costs fell drastically with the revamping of The Debates 2021 to an online production, as well as space donations for Occupy Prescott.

How Theater in Asylum paid people in 2021

• The Debates 2021: 15 collaborators were paid an equal stipend of $200.
• Occupy Prescott: 19 collaborators were paid an equal stipend of $399, plus a $100 “cost-of-living” reimbursement.
  
• Cold Readings: 9 people guest facilitated a total of 14 Cold Readings. Facilitators were paid $50 for each Cold Reading they facilitated. One guest theater company was paid $100 for facilitating.
  
• Theater in Asylum company leadership were not paid for their general administrative work, nor their work facilitating Cold Readings. They were compensated as collaborators in The Debates 2021 and Occupy Prescott, receiving stipends equal to all other collaborators on each project.
  

2021 Revenues

Projected Revenue

• Donations: $12,500
• Grants: $3,000 
• Tickets: $6,600
• Drawdown of previous years' surplus: $3,000 
• Total Projected Revenues: $25,100

Actual Revenue (as of 12/2/21)

• Donations: $13,517 
• Grants: $10,700*
• Tickets: $2,654**
• Drawdown of previous years' surplus: $0 needed
• Total Actual Revenues: $26,871

* We won support for our 2021 Season from the Brooklyn Arts Council and the New York City Artist Corps.
** With the revamping of The Debates 2021 to be an online production, ticket revenue was lost as we were not able to tour to different neighborhoods (with different audiences).

How Theater in Asylum Charged Audiences in 2021

• The Debates 2021: Sliding scale tickets from $0-$20. Roughly a third of people paid less than $10 per ticket, while another third paid the full $20 per ticket.
• Occupy Prescott: Sliding scale tickets from $0-$30. Roughly a third of people paid less than $10 per ticket, while a fifth of people paid the full $30.
  
• Cold Readings: Free for all attendees. Donations were solicited for organizations doing good work at online readings. Donations were solicited to cover the cost of wine and snacks at the two in-person Cold Readings we had during the summer.
  

Conclusion

We are so appreciative of our community, who has helped us organize our company, our budgets, and our work. We invite feedback (contact info on our Community page) as to how we can make Theater in Asylum more transparent and fruitful for all.

Thank you,
Paul, Katie, and Kathryn
Theater in Asylum