“It was just much, much closer this year than it ever had been before,” said Jane A. Black, executive director of DVAC, founded in 1991.
DVAC’s operating budget for fiscal 2010 was $332,571. Current totals on Tuesday, July 27, were $328,869 in operating income and $328,805 in expenses, producing a $64 surplus, Black said. The actual audit will be done at the end of August, she said.
DVAC’s slim margin of success is a sign of the tough climate for arts groups in Dayton’s current economy, said Kathy Hollingsworth, interim president of Culture Works, the region’s united arts fund and arts service agency.
“We all are finding that our revenue sources are shifting as companies have left and large sponsorships have changed,” Hollingsworth said.
“Whether it’s $1.27 or $107, anyone who can break even in this time is doing a great job of managing their business,” Hollingsworth said. She declined to comment on the financial health of other area arts organizations.
DVAC has an operating reserve budget of approximately $287,000, raised as part of a 2005 capital campaign when it relocated to 118 N. Jefferson St. “We have not had to take anything out of it, not even the interest we are earning, until this year,” Black said.
DVAC transferred about $2,500 in interest from the reserve to its operating budget to cover lost interest income from falling certificate of deposit rates. The group was able to make up that amount in interest by moving the reserve fund from low-paying CDs to the Dayton Foundation’s Community Select Fund Investment Pool, Black said.
DVAC benefitted this year from new income that included a $4,200 Ohio Arts Council grant and a $6,000 Dayton Foundation grant, both to help fund a three-year technology initiative. DVAC also received a $10,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant for its long-running Reach Across Dayton project in collaboration with Sinclair Community College and the EboNia Gallery.
“We have worked really hard to build revenue streams by helping artists sell art,” Black said.
Given the uncertain economy, Black will budget flat for the coming year.
“We’ve always been really conservative so it’s not that hard for us,” Black said. “We’ve always only counted money that was practically in our hand already.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2419 or dlarsen@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author