By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
The Arts Council of Princeton has seen growth in its programs and a turnaround in its budget, thanks to great supporters of the arts.
Jeff Nathanson, executive director of the Arts Council of Princeton, talked about expansion of programs and a 42 percent budget growth in the past two years at the Princeton Merchants Association meeting Tuesday morning. Education programs doubled and outreach programs tripled in that time, as well.
”We were able to weather the economic storm and increase our programs and end the year in the black,” he said. “At the end of this fiscal year, we’ll be back on track in terms of the bottom line.”
Income for the 2009-2010 year was $1,134,127 and expenses were $1,093,865, with a surplus of $40,262, according to the organization’s annual report. For the 2008-2009 period the income was $1,001,185 with expenses of $1,132,107, a deficit of $130,922 due to the opening of the council;’s Paul Robeson Center on Witherspoon Street.
”We had projected the deficit, and it was the perfect storm for non-profits and it was a terrible year for fundraising,” said Mr. Nathanson. Income for the first year of operation was $797,675 with expenses of $746,489.
”We work our tails off,” he said. “Every day is a challenge.”
Much of the 2009-2010 income 46 percent comes from program revenue. Contributions add 28 percent; fundraising adds 16 percent. Membership and investments, make up the rest at 8 and 1 percent. Expenses were mainly for programming at 65 percent. General expenses of 22 percent and administration and fundraising, development and membership make up the other expenses at 13 percent.
Difficult decisions had to be made in the 2008-2009 year to have a surplus.
”We were forced to cut expenses, which included layoffs and decisions about the amount of printed marketing materials we produced and started going more and more to electronic marketing,” he said. “We were relying on print and it turns out that electronic marketing and putting more effort into our e-mail blasts and website have been more effective in getting the word out and reducing our costs.”
The Arts Council also built up its volunteer core with more than 500 people on its list, with 200 of those actively involved on a regular basis. Volunteers offered more than 5,150 hours of service throughout the year.
”It has allowed us to engage more people and get more people involved without increasing our staffing,” he said. “Now that we’ve reached a new level of financial stability, we do have plans to incrementally increase our staffing because we do need professional support that our volunteer resources do not provide us.”
One successful revenue generator is renting the space for corporate, private and non-profit events, which in turn exposes more people to the arts when guests come to the facility.
Hand-in-hand with financial growth, the Arts Council has seen program growth.
In 2009-2010, the Robeson Center hosted 30 concerts, 18 exhibition-related events, 15 fine arts exhibitions, 11 “Café Improv” events, nine film screenings, nine theatrical events and four poetry/literary events among other events.
Communiversity, a festival of the arts held in downtown Princeton for the past 40 years, and has seen huge growth. Over the past five years attendance has gone from 15,000 to 35,000 last year, he reported.
Also, the Halloween parade has also tripled in attendance and participation from 500 to 1,500 over the past couple of years.
”Partnering with other organizations has helped,” he said. “Last year we joined forces with the library and that helped grow the event. It also gives the Arts Council the opportunity to engage other people.”
Partnering with other businesses is almost easy in Princeton, because the community “values collaboration and has a spirit of cooperation. It seems like everyone in Princeton is trying to make this a better environment,” Mr. Nathanson said.
In 2011, the Arts Council will try to expand free and reduced-cost programs to expose people to the arts who would otherwise not have these opportunities.
”One of our goals is greater accessibility for the community; cost should not be an obstacle to the arts,” he said. “A big challenge for us this year is hoping to retire our mortgage, which will give us more money to subsidize our programs.” There is $1.9 million left on the mortgage.
The Arts Council of Princeton is privately funded, no municipal money supports the building, salaries or programs.
New Jersey State Council on the Arts has recognized Princeton Arts Council for several years with a citation of excellence and recognition as a major arts provider.

