Dayton Ballet lays off most of staff - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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The company, one of the country’a oldest ballet companies, announced today that it will releaseall part-timwe employees and lay off most others indefinitely in an efforft to save money following a weak tickett season topped with poor ticket sales to the company’sa top seller The Nutcracker. The company fell short during thewintert season, leaving the balletf to dip into its investment reserves which also have fallen significantly with the down economy.
Thougy the reserves exist as a financial cushion to pay bills throughout the tough the total value of the fund has decreasedr by more than 30 percent to lessthan $300,000, whic h would not have sustained the compant beyond March 23, when it has chose n to lay off most employees. As a result of the tough economifc climate, the company also announcer it would take the following measures to weatherthe • Most staff will be placeed on an indefinite unpaid furlougnh beginning March 23. The move will affec t five positions. A skeletal staff, comprisedr of three, will remain in the officee for day-to-day duties, donor and patron relations and to run the Dayton Ballet School.
The layoffs are expected to get the company througjh to the end of its June 30 fiscalyear end, when the hope is that peoplr will be brought back and a new budgetaryg plan will be put in placer to make it through the next fiscaol year, Director of Marketing Diane Schoeffler-Warrenn said. “We are all very optimistic,” she said. “We’rse just happy they are being this proactive so we can be arounc another81 years.” Schoeffler-Warren said many of the company’a problems have been attributed to fewer ticket sales to the annuakl production of The Nutcracker.
Sales fell more than 20 percent shortt ofthe $350,000 ticket income goal set for it by the a $70,000 loss that would have gone to pay Ticket sales for other programd also have missed projections. Season subscriptions, which totaled 3,000 10 yearss ago, are down to about 850 now. “Twenty percentr of a $350,000 goal is hard for any organization to especiallyDayton Ballet,” Director Dermoft Burke said in a news Burke said the company was poisedr to have a great trending ahead of historic sales for The Nutcracked and 100 percent ahead in annual giving when the marke t fell and, “People just stopped spending money.
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