Dear friends of the Journey Theater community,
Winter shows:
We are excited to announce our winter shows (pending dates and performance venues) Disney’s High School Musical and the classic broadway hit, Annie. Students have been asking for both of these shows for many years, so we are excited to finally be able to do them! While we know these will audition first thing in 2025, other dates and locations are still being worked out. And that leads to our program update on performance venues.
Did you Know?!
For each production Journey Theater does, we have to first request and then pay for a license from the entity that owns that title. It’s never a guaranteed “yes”. For example, we have been requesting Annie each year for the last 3 years and were denied, we think because the professional version of it was touring. We are so excited to have it approved for this year!
Performance venues:
While Journey Theater has been blessed to perform in school auditoriums over the last two decades, the landscape has shifted dramatically in just the last few years. Prices have climbed at most spaces (some triple the cost from just a few years ago), and a nine day auditorium rental now costs $12,000-$19,000. Space availability has also been more limited than ever, and we are waiting longer for responses and finding more doors closed than open.
Because of this new reality, we will be testing out several non-traditional (what we call in the industry “found”) performance spaces starting this season. While we will not be moving away entirely from traditional auditoriums this season, this adjustment will help in several ways both now and in the future. Short-term benefits for found spaces (such as a warehouse, church or gym) include affordability, ease of scheduling, and unique creative opportunities for our artistic teams to match space with story. For example, we’re hoping to perform High School Musical on an indoor basketball court!
For the long-term, we have a greater potential of having one of these spaces become a permanent home, which is part of our overall strategic vision that we will be sharing more about soon. Once that happens, we will be able to make permanent physical improvements for theatrical performance, plan show titles and dates a year plus in advance, and dial in a program flow that is smoother for families and staff alike!
More context:
Beyond rising venue prices, the last two years have been extremely difficult financially as we have attempted to build the program back after the shutdowns. While our expenses have returned in full force, revenues have not bounced back to where they need to be. And while our faithful monthly and annual donors have helped bridge some of the gap (thank you!) it is clear that things need to change in order for the program to stay affordable for families.
We will continue to share about this as well as the strategy to achieve sustainability, but for now please take a look at the graph below for a quick visual of the situation.
More info coming:
Our leaders would be more than happy to sit down with anyone to explain in more detail, so please reach out with any questions you have. Also, keep an eye out for more program updates and opportunities to help (for example, we will be raising money for portable stage lights and professional stage decking!) Because we want our Journey community to be informed on what’s happening “behind the scenes” we are planning to provide regular news updates that will be shared via email and on our website as well.
Also, please mark your calendars for the first day of fall classes (9/9 and 9/10) when we will have an informal, in-person Q and A with Journey’s Executive Director and members of the Board of Directors.
Thank you all for making this community so special. Looking forward to seeing where God takes us in the coming months and years!
Sincerely,
Stephen Pick
Executive Director