Five of Dallas’ major performing arts organizations have announced a new collaboration that will seek to maximize operational efficiencies by combining key organizational functions.
According to a release sent out by the AT&T Performing Arts Center today, the center will join the Dallas Opera, Dallas Symphony, Dallas Theater Center, and Dallas Summer Musicals in exploring ways they can cut costs by combining functions. The initial collaboration cites sharing of healthcare and benefits, ticketing and box office, scheduling and capacity, artistic collaboration and facility management.
Collaboration has been a major buzz word among local arts groups ever since the opening of the Performing Arts Center in 2009. Until now, those collaborations have largely involved artistic partnerships, such as the Dallas Opera and Dallas Theater Center’s co-production of the chamber opera The Lighthouse in March 2012.
In the meantime, a challenging economy and curtailed public funding saw both the opera and the symphony taking measures to reduce operational deficits. The organizations involved now hope that pooling some resources will help the large arts organizations stay healthy.
The partnership also has the support of corporate benefactor AT&T, which has donated consulting hours to the organizations. The release states that the groups believe the partnership could produce a model of “best practices” that could be emulated by other communities around the country.
