The organization oversees and unites all three art forms in Dayton, and backers say it was the first tripartite merger of its kind (opera, ballet and philharmonic orchestra) in the nation.
What made the merger more challenging perhaps is that each organization had decades of experience, lore and support behind it.
It’s no secret that non-profit art groups, especially in smaller and medium-sized cities like Dayton, face real challenges. The last recession wasn’t kind to arts organizations.
But two key donations — a $750,000 commitment from an unnamed foundation and a $500,000 gift from the Dayton Foundation — clinched the deal. Three became one.
We recently sat down with David Bukvic, marketing and communications director for the alliance, and Angela Whitehead, communications and media manager for the alliance, to talk about how the group is weathering today’s environment. This is a continuation of last week’s Three Questions interview with Bukvic.
Q: So what is the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance? Let's start there.
Bukvic: "The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance is a unique merged organization that's not a collaboration, although we are very collaborative among the three art forms. But it is a soup-to-nuts merger of three art forms – the Dayton Ballet, the Dayton Opera, the Dayton Philharmonic.
“In the early days, when we were crafting the merger, we called ourselves ‘BOP’ B-O-P. Ballet, Opera, Philharmonic. Sometimes I wish we kind of kept that name. I think’s almost more expressive of what we are.
“But we came together under one umbrella in order to be able to deliver a higher level of art forms on a more efficient platform. And of the course, the three art forms have got a long history. The Philharmonic being the longest of them all, going back to 1933 here in Dayton.”
Q: How common is this kind of arrangement? And how do you make it work?
Bukvic: "It's an unusual kind of scenario. It's totally unique in this country that three art forms have merged. There are a handful of others that are merged orchestras and operas. …
“We started offering a shared subscription package virtually the first year. One of the planks of our platform – if we were a political party, we’d talk about our platform — one of the planks is, ‘Thou should not step on each other.’ In the early days, pre-merger, we were presenting our art forms on the same days. We were constantly fighting each other, competing.
“And we put an end to that. We are now programmed as three art forms. And we look at the calendar and we say, ‘OK, the ballet is performing that day, the orchestra is not going to.’ And that’s a lot more difficult than it sounds (chuckles). Because we only have a few venues where we can perform here. …”
Q: Is this the path to survival, this kind of efficiency?
Bukvic: "It makes it possible for us to operate on more of a national scene. So we're able to now attract funders and programs from the national arena that we were not able to before. …
“It was very,very exciting for those who work here and I think for many of our patrons who over the course of time are getting to understand it.
“In the first year of our merger we came together with our programs already in place. So we had overlays still. And in the second year of our merger, we called it the ‘Signature Series.’ We called it that because we were signed on the dotted line, yes, these three three groups are signed to an approach that we’re going to take, and that approach is to not step on ourselves.”
Whitehead: "We've talked about it. Other cities have their opera house and their own (opera) marketing person. … We have 75 shows a year that we're trying to market. It's fast and furious."
Bukvic: "Yes. We have 42 programs. We have 75 instances of when the orchestra or the ballet or the opera or some combination thereof is in the hall or in a venue somewhere.
“So we’re (performing) virtually every weekend, basically.”
Know someone who can handle Three Questions? We're looking for behind-the-scenes-but-still fascinating Miami Valley residents with something to say. Send your suggestions to tom.gnau@coxinc.com.
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