The nonprofit theater reported another year of strong financial results. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Twelve years into a renaissance, the Count Basie Theatre continued to grow its economic impact on the Red Bank area last year, officials said.
Show-related spending on everything from babysitters to gasoline to dinners downtown grew to $12.75 million in the year ended June 30, the nonprofit theater estimates in its latest annual report.
That level, a record for the venue, represents a $1 million increase from the prior year, CEO Numa Saisselin tells redbankgreen.
“That supports a lot of restaurant and bar jobs,” he said, citing an estimate of 300 full-time-equivalent jobs made possible by the theater’s programming.
CEO Numa Saisselin says the Basie is now $12 million into a master plan calling for $21.5 million in upgrades. (Click to enlarge)
Other highlights of the report:
• Overall revenues rose $425,000, to $6.67 million, including a slight decline in ticket sales, to $3.7 million.
• A $350,000 jump in theater rental revenue, to $1.25 million.
• A slight rise in individual donations, to $282,000.
• A record number of donors contributed, at 1,496.
• Attendance, at 187,381, was just second only to the record 199,000 seats filled in the 2007-’08 season, even with far fewer performances – 79, versus 92.
• For events presented by the theater itself, shows were at an all-time high of 75 percent of capacity.
• The number of performances rose for the third consecutive year, to 178, after a steep dropoff in 2008-’09 due to construction closures.
Here’s the report: count-basie-annual-2011
