The City of Tacoma, faced with a shortfall in its general fund estimated at $26 million, is considering a number of new revenue-generating measures, including a 5% admission tax on all arts and cultural events.
I attended a study session several weeks ago that included discussion of the proposed tax. I left with an increased appreciation for the challenges the City Council is facing. I’m impressed with the thoughtful approach they are taking to solving this puzzle. These are dedicated public servants wrestling with a huge financial crisis.
That does not mean I support the proposed arts tax. On the contrary, I believe its potential revenue gain is outweighed by the blow it would strike to Tacoma's cultural ecology.
Although the measure would impact the whole cultural community, its effects would be different for different organizations. I can best speak to how such a policy might affect the TSO. Our concerts are the core of our mission; our 80 professional musicians are our bricks and mortar. While we present high quality guest artists, we don’t put our resources into bringing in major celebrity soloists. Serving an ever-widening group of patrons, music lovers, children and musically underserved members of the community is our whole focus. We don’t own a building, but perform at the city-owned Broadway Center for the Performing Arts as one of its primary resident arts organizations. We don’t tour or maintain residencies outside of Tacoma; every self-presented performance we offer takes place downtown.
As with many other performing arts, ticket revenue only covers a percentage of the TSO’s expenses. The balance is covered by a mix of contributions, grants and other revenue. What many people don’t realize is that earned revenue doesn’t even cover direct expenses for most concerts, let alone the TSO’s total operating budget. (They earn every penny, but think about it: 80 musicians is a lot of people to pay – I’ve been to plenty of recitals and chamber concerts with fewer people in the audience!)
The TSO is not unique among orchestras in this. No professional orchestra covers its expenses through ticket sales alone. If we were to price our tickets to cover all expenses, it would make the TSO inaccessible to all but the most financially affluent.
Instead, we have established a deliberately broad price range, and kept the majority of seating areas as low as possible so that they are accessible to people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. We haven’t raised our prices since the start of the Great Recession back in 2008. In fact, we’ve taken steps to make our concerts more accessible to the entire community.
Several years ago, in response to economic conditions, we created a $12 section of the hall. (Twelve dollars! You can’t even see a movie for that these days – except at Tacoma’s excellent nonprofit Grand Cinema.) We rescaled seating in the Pantages and Rialto this season to further expand this seating area. We give away a portion of tickets for virtually every concert to area financially disadvantaged via the Pierce County United Way.
During the study session, one City Council member commented that he had recently attended the Margaret Cho and Joan Rivers performances at the Broadway Center, and that a 5% tax to the city would not have prevented him from doing so. We can only hope that everyone is so enlightened – but there is a difference between buying tickets to a celebrity-driven event and buying tickets to a locally-based theater group, orchestra or chamber music group.
The venue where we perform, the extremely well-run Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, practices “event-based ticket pricing,” where tickets vary depending on the pull of the act. Bigger celebrity acts are priced higher. While this model makes total sense for them, the TSO’s business model precludes this. We’re not in the business of marketing out-of-town celebrities; our whole reason for being is the orchestra itself – the orchestra that is onstage for every concert. That’s our “product”; that’s what we exist to promote. And I imagine this is similar for our colleague organizations such as the theater, dance, and chamber groups.
Perhaps the councilmember is right: if you are sufficiently motivated to buy a ticket to see Joan Rivers, maybe a 5% admission tax won’t deter you. But the sales dynamic for resident ensemble arts organizations is very different. I happen to think the TSO is an exceptional orchestra – but there’s an orchestra in Olympia, Bremerton, Federal Way, and Auburn, not to mention Seattle. None of these has an admission tax to contend with. The TSO has made significant inroads in recent years attracting people from outside Pierce County, many of whom live closer to one of these other towns. An admission tax to the city of Tacoma is going to be a turn-off for these folks.
And let’s be frank: a big part of our challenge is selling people on the idea of going to a concert at all. Many start with all kinds of psychological barriers and mistaken impressions about orchestra concerts. Add to that the disincentive of a down economy, and an admission tax on top of that where none existed before, and the job has gotten that much harder.
We are fortunate in Tacoma to have the support of the city through the Tacoma Arts Commission, of which the TSO is an anchor organization. However, it appears likely that the arts commission budget will be cut. If that happens, the TSO and other anchor organizations could get hit twice – our grants reduced on the one hand, and a 5% admission tax on the other.
Our arts and cultural organizations are key to the revitalization of Tacoma. I’ve only been here four years, but everyone tells me what the city center used to be like. Even today, the amount of retail in downtown Tacoma – though growing steadily – is lower than in many comparably-sized cities. Collectively arts and cultural organizations bring thousands of people downtown, and generate critical business throughout the city.
And yet, as successful as Tacoma's arts appear, the cultural ecology strikes me as still a work in progress. Whether or not it will continue evolving in a direction that promotes healthy, sustainable arts and cultural organizations remains to be seen -- and depends on the choices we make along the way.
The city’s cultural organizations are already struggling in this economy with reduced attendance and contributions. If fewer people patronize these organizations, it will make that struggle worse -- and incidentally work against the city’s financial interests. For-profit businesses that cater to arts patrons -- restaurants, nightclubs, and parking garages – will feel the financial effects of reduced patronage – and there will be less tax revenue to pass along to the city.
Times are tough and the City Council is facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Having had this opportunity to watch them, and the City Manager's staff, in action, I am filled with admiration for the job they are doing.
So my message to them -- as a citizen of Tacoma, music lover and arts administrator -- is sent in a spirit of respect, and I hope it is received as such.
And that message is this: The admission tax on the arts would take Tacoma in the wrong direction. It would weaken the city's cultural ecology, and increase the fragility of a sector that is critical to its future.
It isn't worth the price.
If you're concerned, act now. This issue is coming to a vote in December. On December 6 there will be an all-afternoon study session of the City Council at the Municipal Building, starting at noon. Members of the public are welcome but are not permitted to speak. In the evening, starting at 5 p.m., there will be a public forum on the issue, and this is open for public comment. In the interim, write, call or email Mayor Strickland and the members of the City Council. If you're a Tacoma resident, contact your representative. This link will take you to the City Council webpage, where you'll find their names, addresses, phone numbers and email.