​Purpose
​Theater in Asylum believes 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 2024. This is also on our website’s transparency page, a page we launched in 2021 as a way to showcase our finances and decision-making.

Note: This is a financial summary of our work in 2024. For a non-financial review, please see our 2024 Year in Review.

Big Picture Takeaways of Theater in Asylum’s 2024 Finances

• We projected to spend $16,372, but actually spent just under $15,895.
• We projected to earn just under $16,845, but we actually earned closer to $22,599.
• We netted a profit of $6,704.
• This year’s fundraising looked different than previous years. We did not launch an official 2025 fundraiser, which would have earmarked many donations specifically for 2025’s work. The main reason for not holding a major 2025 fundraising campaign is that our 501c3 transformation is taking significantly longer than expected. We hope to have this complete in 2025, at which point we will launch a “We did it!” and a 15th anniversary fundraiser. 
• Even without a large-scale crowd-funding campaign, many of our donors gave to our “general support” this year. We are not sure if these donors will support a mid-2025 fundraiser and thus, the donations we received at the end of 2024 likely inflate our overall revenue for 2024 and will deflate our earnings in 2025.

2024 Major Projects & Expenses

• Book Club: We held three bookclub meetings in 2024. The first for Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit; the second for Doppelganger by Naomi Klein; and a third where participants read adaptations of the Faust myth of their choosing. We always offer to purchase the book for anyone who needs help acquiring it. This year no one requested a book, and therefore this program cost $0.
• The FAUST/HOPE August Workshop: TIA gathered a small group of performers for one week to create as much material as possible from our research on Faust. We then presented about 30 minutes of material to a small, invited audience. We paid 5 performers $100 stipends.* There were no props or costumes, and the space was donated. Paul, Katie, and Kathryn donated the food and drinks for the audience reception. The total cost of this project was $500. We did not charge admission or ask for donations at the showing, so therefore the revenue was $0.
• The How to Survive the End of the World Cabaret: This night of new works by both Theater in Asylum and four invited groups cost $5,525. $3,150 was spent on people, $445 on space, and $1,930 on production costs. Artist stipends were $175 each*. Tickets were sold on a sliding scale $0-$35. We brought in $885 in ticket sales. We won a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) for $5,000 ($4,600 after processing fees) to be applied to this cabaret. Total revenue for the project was $5,485, resulting in a $40 loss. Our ticket revenue accounted for 16% of the overall project’s cost. For the audience of 116 (across both nights) to have paid for this project in its entirety, the tickets would have needed to be $48 each. Instead, and with support from venues and the BAC, we are proud to have offered a sliding scale and free tickets to anyone who needed one. 31 people opted for the free ticket.
• Cold Readings: We hosted 9 readings this year with about 90 people attending, averaging 10 people per reading. The readings were held in-person and online throughout the year. Six of the readings were facilitated by Theater in Asylum’s annual staff, and three were facilitated by guest facilitators. Guest facilitators and the pianist for the musical were each paid a $75 stipend*. For in-person Cold Readings, light refreshments are provided, costing $103 this year. Seven readings occurred on Zoom and two were hybrid. The in-person space for the hybrid readings was donated. The total cost of this program was $403. Because we direct attendees to donate to other groups doing good work (and not to TIA), the revenue for this program was $0.
• Admin: We have a number of monthly subscriptions including: ART/NY ($50), Fractured Atlas ($240), Zoom ($196), Google ($545), Quickbooks ($419), Web Hosting ($37, we pay on multi-year cycles and will owe significantly more in 2025), CubeSmart Storage ($237), Brass Taxes ($807, includes tax filings), Philadelphia Insurance ($908, expensed this year to the Cabaret), and Lawyers Alliance ($575) as part of our 501c3 transformation process.

*Theater in Asylum’s annual staff do not receive per-project stipends

How We Paid People in 2024
Annual Staff
The annually contracted staff listed below each received $100/month and did not receive project stipends.

• Artistic Directors (2)**
• Managing Director (1)**
• PR & Marketing Manager (1)
• Cold Readings Coordinator (1)

**Because of Theater in Asylum’s current legal framework, payment to Paul, Katie, and Kathryn (the three partners of the LLC) are paid the company’s “profit.” Their pay, legally, is designated as “profit disbursement.” Although not legally required, all profits beyond the $100/month ($1,200 total each)  administrative stipend amount were re-invested into the company.

The How to Survive the End of the World Cabaret 

• Collaborators (18): $175 stipends. 
• This was revised upwards from $100 once we determined fewer collaborators would be hired, and we received the full $5,000 grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council.

Cold Readings

• Guest facilitators (3): $75 per facilitation
• Guest Pianist (1): $75
• Readers and listeners are welcomed on a volunteer basis.

The FAUST/HOPE August Workshop

• Collaborators (5): $100 stipends.

Grants
We had a good year with grants!

This past year we applied to:

• The Actors Equity Foundation ($250): We won this grant. 
• BAC’s Brooklyn Arts Fund (up to $5,000): We won this grant at the full $5,000 level. A renewed victory after losing it in 2023.
• ART/NY’s Small Theaters Grant ($5k-$10k across 2 years): We lost this grant.
• IndieSpace’s “Pay Your People” Grant ($1,000): After many years of trying, we finally won this lottery grant!

Learnings and observations for future grant applications:

• Due to a change at the state level (NYSCA), we continue to be ineligible for ART/NY’s Creative Opportunity Grant, a grant we had a good track record of winning before this eligibility change. We hope to be eligible again once our 501(c)3 transformation is complete.
• Brooklyn Arts Council: After multiple grant cycles, we recognize a trend wherein our proposals that spread grant money thinly across many artists (our cabarets) are more successful than proposals where grant money is more deeply invested in fewer artists (our productions).
• After multiple years of receiving negative feedback on our video work samples, we decided to change tactics. Sitting on grant panels and looking at the kinds of applications that won, we learned that it is not any kind of sampling of work that tends to do well, but fully-produced short documentaries about the process instead. Winning applications had music, transitions, and multiple camera angles. In 2023, we created one of these process documentaries for The Nobodies Who Were Everybody and included it in our winning 2024 BAC application.

Fundraising
Fundraising takes a lot of time, but we are lucky to have an incredible group of donors who continue to support our journey! 

• Our 2024 fundraiser (running December 2023-January 2024) yielded $11,822 before fees. This was 107% of our $11,000 goal. There were 83 donors with an average donation of $142 and a median donation of $82.
• General support donations throughout the year yielded $5,067 before fees. There were 69 donors with an average donation of $79 and a median donation of $27. This general support fund includes three superstar monthly donors.

While we normally launch a fundraiser December-January in anticipation of each new year, we did not hold a December 2024-January 2025 fundraiser. We had hoped that our 501(c)3 transformation would be complete by now and that the fundraiser could have celebrated this milestone. We believe some folks who normally donate to that fundraiser donated to our general support fund instead. This may lower the amount we can raise in 2025 if we launch a mid-year fundraising campaign, because many of our donors appear to be on an end-of-year donation cycle.

Ticketing
116 attended The How to Survive the End of the World Cabaret in person, with tickets on a sliding scale $0-$35.

• 8 people paid the “Hero” price at $35/ticket.
• 21 people paid the “General” price at $25/ticket.
• 56 people paid the “Student/Artist/Low-income” price at $15/ticket.
• 31 people paid $0 in advance and donated what they could at the door.* This resulted in $60, or an average $1.94/ticket.

*Keeping a free ticket option available at every event is a priority for us. We do not want cost to be a barrier to seeing our work. Free tickets are obtainable to anyone who needs one, no questions asked. 

Revenue Take-Away: Individual Donors Continue to be Critical to our Work
Individual donations are by far our biggest income-source (70.6%). We are incredibly lucky that this is even possible, as we have a community that is both generous and able to donate a combined $15,944. Ticketing accounted for 3.9% of our income and grants accounted for 25.5% of our income this year. 

We are deeply grateful for all these avenues of financial support, and we acknowledge and want to praise two incredible institutions without whom we would not be able to make our work. 

The Episcopal Actors' Guild (EAG), where Paul works, allows us free use of their space as a perk of Paul’s employment. This saved us rehearsal costs for both the August FAUST/HOPE Workshop and the Cabaret. We also frequently host our Cold Readings at EAG, another huge saving for us.

The Jalopy Theatre is another tremendous supporter, working with us to provide space that is within our budget. The amount we pay them in rental fees is, shall we say, below market. This is a true feat of generosity. Jalopy also lends us incredible trust with their lighting system, auxiliary spaces, and ticketing.

EAG and Jalopy are those rare spaces in New York City where weird stuff is still happening because artists can actually afford to get in the door and make work. Read any arts publication these days, and you’ll see that the arts venue landscape is grim. Despite this, there are still true heroes tucked away in Red Hook and above a little Midtown church finding ways to truly support artists, and generously house groups like Theater in Asylum.

Detailed Numbers

Looking to 2025
Major Projects

• Becoming a 501(c)3. Somehow, sometime in 2025, this process will complete. We believe we are mere days away from being ready to submit all our documents to the IRS. Once they have it, approval should come within six months.
• Celebrating our 15th anniversary! Once we become a 501(c)3, we plan to host a party, inaugurate our board, and launch a celebratory fundraiser.
• Continue developing Faust. We are planning a reading (or two) and will also have another workshop to move this piece closer to production.
• A cabaret in the fall. Pending grant funding, we plan to host a cabaret this fall, commissioning artists to present new work around a unified theme.
• Cold Readings will continue on a slightly smaller scale, with a budget for three guest facilitators and one pianist for the musical.

Grants for FY2025 that we have applied for so far:

• ART/NY’s Small Theaters Grant ($5,000–$10,000 across 2 years): Should hear back about this grant in February 2025.
• ART/NY’s Creative Opportunity Grant (up to $5,000): We applied for this grant believing that our 501(c)3 process would be complete by now. Unfortunately, because that process is not complete, we are now ineligible for this grant. We contacted ART/NY to remove ourselves from consideration.
• BAC’s Brooklyn Arts Fund (up to $5,000): Should hear back by May 2025.
• Puffin Foundation (up to $3,500): Should hear back by June 2025.

Ticketing

• We are planning to offer tickets to the fall cabaret on a sliding scale from $0-$35.
• $0 tickets will continue to be available to anyone who needs one, no questions asked.
• Cold Readings will continue to be free for all attendees.

2025 Payment Structure

• Annual Staff: We are planning to keep our contracted, annual staff stipends at $1,200 for all work during the year (annual staff does not receive project stipends). The annual staff will consist of two Artistic Directors***, a Managing Director***, and PR & Marketing Manager. We are also looking  to hire a bookkeeper because our books will be under more scrutiny when we become a 501(c)3. Marcella, our incredible Cold Readings Coordinator for 2024, is moving on to new projects while settling herself in her new home in Cleveland. She will sadly not be continuing as the Cold Readings Coordinator. We thank her for all her hard work in 2024! With fewer Cold Readings planned in 2025, Paul and Katie are planning to helm the program this year.
• Cabaret Collaborators: Collaborator stipends for the fall cabaret are dependent on grant funding, but we aim to match 2024 levels at $175 per person.
• Faust Workshop: We are unsure yet how long this workshop needs to be and how many collaborators will be needed for it. But we aim for stipends to be at least $100.
• Cold Readings: Facilitators will continue to receive $75 per Cold Reading facilitation. Readers and listeners will continue to be welcomed on a volunteer basis.

***With Theater in Asylum’s current legal framework, payment to Paul, Katie, and Kathryn (the three partners of the LLC) are paid the company’s “profit.” We align the profit disbursement to match the stipend amount for the annual staff.

Thank you
We are so grateful to this incredible community that continues to make so much possible. Thank you for holding us accountable and always asking us to be better. More of our transparency commitments, as well as previous years’ reports, may be found on our Transparency page. We also always invite feedback and contact info may be found on our Community page. Thank you all for making Theater in Asylum a vibrant community and fruitful for all involved.

With gratitude, 
Paul, Katie, and Kathryn
Theater in Asylum

Ps. Please consider donating to Theater in Asylum!

Theater in Asylum believes 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 2023. This is also on our website’s transparency page, a page we launched in 2021 as a way to showcase our finances and decision-making.

Note: This is a financial summary of our work in 2023. For a non-financial review, please see our 2023 Year in Review.

• We projected to spend ~$38k in 2023, but actually spent ~$34k.
• We projected to earn ~$37k in 2023, but we actually earned ~$33k.
• We netted a loss of about $1,600 in 2023, which we were able to cover with savings from previous years.
• After our annual fundraiser underperformed and learning that we did not win a number of grants, we rehauled our budget mid-year, cutting costs in all categories.
• While we usually only fundraise once per year (Dec-Jan), to address the budget shortfall in 2023 we launched a mid-year fundraiser, which did exceedingly well.
  
  

• The Nobodies Who Were Everybody, created and produced by Theater in Asylum, performed August 3-20, 2023 at the Jalopy Theater. 367 people attended. Due to union rules, we did not livestream or film this production. 
• Cold Readings, held in-person and online throughout the year. We hosted 9 readings this year with 135 people attending, averaging 15 people per reading. 6 were facilitated by Theater in Asylum leadership/annual staff, with 3 facilitated by guest facilitators.
  
  

Annually Contracted Staff

• Artistic Directors (2): $1,200 for all work during the year (does not receive project stipends).*
• Managing Director (1): $1,200 for all work during the year (does not receive project stipends).*
• PR and Marketing Manager (1): $1,200 for all work during year (does not receive project stipends)
• Cold Readings Coordinator (1): $1,200 for all work during year (does not receive project stipends)
• Fundraising and Grants Coordinator (1): $359 for all work during the year (also received a stipend for The Nobodies January reading and for The Nobodies August production).

The Nobodies Who Were Everybody

• January reading actors: $125 stipend
• August production: 
  • Full collaborators were paid an $800 stipend. **
  • Folks who come in just for performances (or are not doing the whole pre-production / rehearsal process) were paid a half stipend, $400. 
  • Hourly load-in and load-out labor was paid at $25/hour.

Cold Readings

• Cold Reading facilitators (up to 5): $50 per facilitation
• Readers and listeners are welcomed on a volunteer basis.

*Midyear budget revision: Artistic and Managing Directors were originally budgeted to receive $1,200 for all work during the year (does not receive project stipends). After the mid-year budget revision (March 2023), this was taken down to $120 for all work during the year (does not receive project stipends). Once all the dust had settled on 2023 expenses, the decision was made to reinstate the full $1,200 stipend for the Artistic and Managing Directors.

**The Nobodies... Collaborators were originally budged to receive $900 stipends for this project. After mid-year budget revision (March 2023), this was taken down to $800.

We had a particularly tough year with grants in 2023. With our fiscal sponsorship, we were limited in what grants we could apply to.

This past year we applied to:

• The Puffin Foundation ($2,000): We won this grant.
• The Actors Equity Foundation ($250): We won this grant. We applied for $1,000 but were awarded $250 due to a shortfall in funds at the foundation.
• ART/NY’s Small Theaters Grant ($5k-$10k across 2 years): We lost this grant.
• ART/NY’s Design Enhancement Grant ($5k-$10k): We lost this grant.
• BAC’s Brooklyn Arts Fund (up to $5,000): We lost this grant. 
• NYFA’s NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music, and Theatre (up to $50k): We lost this grant.
• Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation’s Performance Grant (up to $10k): We lost this grant.

Learnings and observations for future grant applications:

• Due to a change at the state level (NYSCA), we became ineligible for ART/NY’s Creative Opportunity Grant, a grant we had won in previous years.
• Although we have had success with BAC’s Brooklyn Arts Fund in the past, we did not win the grant this year. We believed that our application which focused on The Nobodies Who Were Everybody was perhaps our strongest grant application ever, but upon receiving feedback from BAC, we understand that this was a particularly competitive year and that there is still room for improvement in our applications (particularly our work samples).
• We have repeatedly received feedback that our video samples are weak. Due to Actors’ Equity (the actors’ union) barring the filming of their members without prohibitively expensive contracts, we have very little video documentation of our work. In addition, it seems from grant feedback that footage of our work is not what is desired in a “work sample.” Successful grants tend to include short documentaries, fully-produced short films with music, multiple cameras, and sophisticated editing. We have not prioritized this in the past, but are doing so now with an incredibly skilled video collaborator.
• We seem to have more success writing grant applications for cabarets (which spread money thinly across many artists) than for productions (which hires fewer artists with higher stipends for a more intensive collaboration).
  
  

Fundraising is always a challenge for us as it is so time consuming.

• Our 2023 fundraiser (running December 2022–January 2023) yielded $11,352 (or 81% of the $15,000 we attempted to raise). There were 81 donors with an average donation of $153 (median: $76). *
  
• Our emergency Spring 2023 fundraiser (running April–May, 2023) yielded $6,648. There were 38 donors with an average donation of $175 (median: $60).*
• Mid-year donations not tied to a fundraiser yielded $4,435. There were 64 donors with an average donation of $69 (median: $27).*

*Fiscal sponsorship and credit card processing fees not deducted.

367 people saw The Nobodies Who Were Everybody, with tickets on a sliding scale from $0-$40.

• 35 people paid the “Hero” price at $40/ticket.
• 110 people paid the “General” price at $30/ticket.
• 79 people paid the “Student/Artist/Low-income” price at $20/ticket.
• 38 people paid the TDF discounted price of $14/ticket.
• 105 people paid $0 in advance and donated what they could at the door.* This resulted in $417, or an average $4/ticket.

*Keeping a free ticket option available at every event is a priority to us. We do not want cost to be a barrier to seeing our work. Free tickets are obtainable to anyone who says they need one, no questions asked.

If tickets alone were to fund our work this year, we would have had to charge $94/ticket. This is obviously not feasible, but a dynamic we are always considering when balancing tickets, grants, and fundraising. At present, our work is only possible because of the incredible generosity of our community of donors. This community generated 65% of our income this year, and while we know that second major ask in the middle of the year was unprecedented we are deeply humbled and grateful that the community stepped up to make our year of work possible.

Becoming a 501c3

• At long last, it is time for Theater in Asylum to graduate from being fiscally sponsored to our own 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 
• Why do this? As you may have heard us grumble about, 2023 brought new rules to New York State arts funding (NYSCA), barring us from eligibility for a grant we had consistently won in years past. In addition, most grants (including DCLA grants) are only available to 501(c)3 nonprofits. As our company continues to grow, this fiscal transformation will restore and also open valuable funding streams for our work. 
• So what’s the big deal? Why do you need money to do this? We are a small team working on TIA part-time, and becoming a 501(c)3 is a considerable investment of time, resources, and money. In addition to needing a lawyer to file this transition for us, we’ll need to upgrade our bookkeeping to the rigorous levels required of nonprofits. In 2023, we began a transition to Quickbooks and paid people high enough to require 1099 filing for the first time. We hope to continue this in 2024 and add a bookkeeper to our team.

Grants for FY2024 we have applied for so far:

• ART/NY’s Small Theaters Grant ($5k–$10k across 2 years): Should hear in February 2024.
• BAC’s Brooklyn Arts Fund (up to $5k): Should hear in February 2024.
• Actors Equity Foundation: TBA grant value and when we will hear back.

Ticketing

• We are planning to offer tickets to the How to Survive the End of the World Cabaret on a sliding scale from $0-$35.
• $0 tickets will continue to be available to anyone who needs one, no questions asked.

2024 Payment Structure

• Annual Staff: We are planning to keep our contracted, annual staff stipends at $1,200 for all work during the year (annual staff does not receive project stipends). The annual staff annual staff will consist of 2 Artistic Directors, 1 Managing Director, 1 PR & Marketing Manager, 1 Cold Readings Coordinator, and one TBD financial role. We are considering the hire of a bookkeeper and phasing out the Grants and Fundraising Coordinator. Movement on this decision is paused until the 2024 fundraiser is complete.
• Cabaret Collaborators: Collaborators on the How to Survive the End of the World are budgeted to receive $100 stipends. Any grant money we win will primarily go towards this Cabaret and the collaborator stipends will most likely increase.
• Cold Readings: We plan to raise the facilitator fee to $75 per Cold Reading facilitation. Readers and listeners will continue to be welcomed on a volunteer basis.
  

 

We are so appreciative of our community, who has helped us organize our company, our budgets, and our work. Thank you for holding us accountable and always asking us to be better. More of our transparency commitments, as well as previous years’ reports, may be found on our Transparency page. We also always invite feedback and contact info may be found on ourCommunity page. Thank you all for making Theater in Asylum a vibrant community and fruitful for all involved.

With gratitude, 
Paul, Katie, and Kathryn
Theater in Asylum

Ps. We are currently fundraising for 2024! Please consider supporting us with a donation here.

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 2022. This is also on our website’s transparency page, a page we launched last year as a way to showcase our finances and decision-making.

Budgeted Expenses

• Personnel: $14,393
• Production Costs: $1,750
• Space: $2,085
• Administrative: $2,061
• Development: $600
• Contingencies: $871
• Total Budgeted Expenses: $21,760

Actual Expenses (as of 12/29/22)

• Personnel: $12,944
• Production Costs: $1,295
• Space: $1,274
• Administrative: $1,147
• Development: $210
• Contingencies: $1,085
• Total Actual Expenses: $18,849
  

Projected Net

• Projected Expenses: $21,760
• Projected Revenue: $15,050
• Projected Net: -$6,710 
• Note: We had surplus from previous years if needed. Our large discrepancy here was in anticipation of not winning as many grants as we did.
  

Actual Net

• Actual Expenses: $18,849
• Projected Revenues: $21,222
• Actual Net: $2,373
• Note: We were very successful with grants this year and able to add to our surplus fund, which we plan to spend on The FTP Show in 2023.
  

We are so appreciative of our community, who has helped us organize our company, our budgets, and our work. More of our transparency commitments, as well as previous years’ reports, maybe be found on our Transparency page. We also always invite feedback and contact info may be found on our Community page. Thank you all for making Theater in Asylum a vibrant community and fruitful for all involved.

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

Ps. We are currently fundraising for 2023! Please consider supporting us with a donation here.

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.

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