8H
Date: April 22, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Cultural Arts Commission and Shant Megerdichian, General Services Director
By: Jordan Rumery, Senior Business Manager | [email protected] Subject: Cultural Arts Commission and General Services – Accept and File 2023-24 Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation (TOCA) Annual Report. Expenditure: None.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation of the Cultural Arts Commission and General Services Director that City Council accept and file the 2023-24 Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation (TOCA) Annual Report.
FUNDING
None required.
DISCUSSION
The Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation (TOCA) has an annual agreement with the City of Torrance, in which they agree to provide general audience and children’s programming, quality artistic productions, and well-known performers. Also included as part of the agreement, each year TOCA is required to provide an annual report to the City of Torrance.
On January 27, 2025, TOCA presented the Annual Report on their 2023-24 season and 2024 TOCApalooza to the Torrance Cultural Arts Commission. The report summarized their operations and financial accomplishments, success, setbacks, outreach, and collaborations through the year.
The report also called into question labor charges for this period. Between the publishing of the report and its presentation to the Cultural Arts Commission, staff was able to investigate and explain the labor charges to TOCA. TOCA has since submitted an amendment to their 2023 -24 Annual Report acknowledging the charges’ validity and staff will continue working with the organization to keep them updated on ongoing labor costs.
A copy of the 2023-24 TOCA Annual Report as well as their 2023-24 Season Annual Report Amendment have been attached for City Council’s information. It would be appropriate for the City Council to now accept and file this report.
ATTACHMENTS
1. TOCA 2023-2024 Season Annual Report
2. TOCA 2023-2024 Season Annual Report Amendment
1 TOCA
ANNUAL
REPORT
FOR
2023/2024
SEASON
PAGE
1 To: Torrance Cultural Arts Commission
Torrance City Council Members
Re: TOCA 2023/2024 Season Annual Report
The Mission of the Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation (TOCA) is to enrich the community through the performing arts by providing diverse cultural, educational and entertainment experiences of the highest quality.
Per the Agreement between TOCA and the City of Torrance, TOCA is submitting an Annual Report that highlights its achievements tied to its annual goals as outlined in the Agreement.
The Agreement references several goals, which include providing a seasonal series of approximately ten programs for a general audience and six to eight children’s interest programs, as well as providing quality artistic productions with well-known performers to the Center.
Goals also include supporting the City and the Torrance Cultural Arts Center in its efforts to:
● Provide visual, performing and literary arts programs ● Facilitate cultural programs provided by other groups in the community ● Develop and serve the widest possible audience for cultural programs ● Promote and develop partnerships between cultural groups
2023/24 SEASON OVERVIEW
Overall, 2023/2024 was a fantastic season! Internally, Board President Wendy Shu along with Executive Director Chris Wolf led our organization to implement internal improvements and best practices. We set and held ourselves accountable to KPIs (key performance indicators), updated our bylaws, and reevaluated our strategies. Externally, we had some really great shows and fostered some long-term relationships with performing groups. Our attendance is not quite back to pre- pandemic numbers, but we’ve worked hard to stay profit neutral and ensure that we continue to fulfill the task that the City of Torrance created the Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation for 29 years ago. In an attempt to raise the level of artist recognition, we had programmed several shows with a higher than normal price tag. Bobby McFerrin, Maria Bamford and the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players production of The Pirates of Penzance. Unfortunately this year was not without setbacks, shortly after tickets went on sale, Bobby McFerrin canceled all his touring due to his health issues. However, both Maria Bamford and Pirates of Penzance did well.
While TOCA has not built a very strong audience for dance, we chose to partner with two dance companies this season. Regina Klenjoski Dance Company (RKDC) and San Pedro City Ballet. It was ATTACHMENT 1
2 TOCA ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023/2024 SEASON PAGE 2
believed that RKDC had a local reputation through the classes they teach through the City’s Cultural Services Division. Although not a South Bay group, San Pedro City Ballet had recently lost their usual performance venue when the Warner Grand closed for renovations and is very popular in the region having been the home of Ballet superstar Misty Copeland. With their solid reputation and willingness to work with TOCA on several different programs in upcoming seasons, it was decided that their participation would be a welcomed addition.
Unfortunately, RKDC did not bring in much of an audience, but San Pedro City Ballet was very successful.
We were forced to cancel a scheduled screening of the film “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret” with a post-show Q&A/talk back with the film ’s writer and director due to the Armstrong Theater’s video projector not functioning.
2023/24
Season
2022/23
Season
2021/22
Season
2020/21
Season
2019/20
Season
2018/19
Season
Number of
Shows/Events
26 28 Scheduled
31 25 20 - Virtual
5 - Outdoor
34 - Scheduled
24 -
Completed
31 Tickets Sold: 7,768 7,311 5,289 3108* 7,881 8,803
Ticket
Revenue: $273,884.00 $214,307.00 $110,643.00 $47,533.00 $154,496.00 $166,665.00 Concessions: $19,052.00 $15,424.00 $8,323.00 $2,406.00 $11,140.00 $13,135.00 Artists
Merchandise: $781.00 $1,334.00 $1,325.00 $0.00 $1,148.00 $1,684.00 DWSBS: $36,659.00 $43,596.00
Total Revenue: $293,717.00 $231,065.00 $120,291.00 $49,939.00 $203,443.00 $225,080.00 Avg. Ticket Price $35.25 $29.31 $20.91 $15.30 $19.60 $18.93 Arts for All
Tickets 585 466 650 0 530 631
* Livestream concerts (2,723 tickets) plus the five in-person summer concerts (385 tickets) on the Torino Plaza ** Dancing with the South Bay Stars has been put on hold until further notice.
As you can see from the above chart, ticket sales are approaching pre-covid levels, seats sold per show are rising, and overall this was a very profitable year even compared to pre-covid seasons.
3 TOCA ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023/2024 SEASON PAGE 3
2024 TOCApalooza (previously known as the South Bay Festival of the Arts)
2024
TOCApalooza
2023
TOCApalooza
2022
Festival
2021
Festival
(Virtual)
2020
Festival
2019
Festival
Approx.
Attendees: 3,000 4,000 3,500 109 0 4,000
Total Fundraising: $65,434.00 $97,658.00 $115,331.00 $43,105.00 $0.00 $123,823.00 Total Expenses: $38,742.00 $53,478.00 $52,297.00 $9,555.00 $0.00 $60,226.00 Net Fundraising: $26,692.00 $44,180.00 $63,034.00 $33,550.00 $0.00 $63,597.00 City Support: $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $6,124.00
In addition to being a wonderful community event, TOCApalooza is intended to serve as our annual fundraiser - in lieu of a traditional gala. With that in mind, this year we overhauled the TOCApalooza concept and learned some very positive lessons and some painful ones. First off, you can see that our expenses are way down. We found some ways to save considerable amounts of money and staff/board time. In addition, we addressed some attendee concerns regarding portion size of food.
Those who attended will notice that we also did not continue the Fine Arts and Photography contests this year. While it was never profitable, it was clearly popular. The board is currently evaluating bringing those back at next year’s TOCApalooza.
Due to the overhaul, in-earnest planning and marketing got off to a slow start. This is what we believe caused the lower than usual attendance and fundraising.
That said, we are excited to put the lessons we’ve learned this year to use next year and our TOCApalooza committee has already begun planning under TOCApalooza Committee Chair and longtime Board Member Heidi Cunningham.
2023-24 Marketing
Using social media and email blasts, TOCA continues to grow its reach with more than 8,790 people on our email list, 27,000 on our mailing list, and social media numbers that include 3,500 followers on Facebook, 1,986 on Instagram and 211 YouTube subscribers.
Every year, we print approx. 65,000 season brochures which are mailed to our list, inserted into the LA Times within the South Bay area and distributed throughout the city at different outlets which include Torrance City Hall, Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Welcome Center at Del Amo Mall, Red Car Brewery, local business centers, PTA meetings, and more.
Additional marketing efforts include listing all shows on many online event listings, press releases, and more.
This year, in addition to City Cable, ABC7 News attended TOCApalooza, hosted a booth, and featured the festival on their channel and on social media. 4 TOCA ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023/2024 SEASON PAGE 4
2023-24 Season Financial Performance
2023/24
Season
2022/23
Season
2021/22
Season
2020/21
Season
2019/20
Season
2018/19
Season
Total Income: $591,978.00 $589,816.00 $400,190.00 $312,227.00 $593,035.00 $567,427.00 Total Expenses: $592,864.00 $469,801.00 $404,119.00 $283,627.00 $480,408.00 $608,666.00 Net Income: -$886.00 $120,015.00 -$3,929.00 $28,600.00 $112,627.00 -$41,240.00
Season Recap:
One reason that the revenue numbers from 2019/20 and 2022/23 appear higher than other years would be the amount of grants received due in part to the Covid pandemic.
Unfortunately, the two aforementioned shows that were canceled for reasons outside of our control would have helped bring in much needed funds.
Another major concern this year is a dramatic increase in theater tech labor charges from the city.
Our MOU with the city grants us $50,000 in in-kind theater labor, which until this year we have never exceeded. Surprisingly, we have been charged $62,894.15 for this season - $12,894.15 over budget.
This was surprising especially because we have had many more shows in previous years without ever going over budget. We kno w that we aren’t the only organization in Torrance that has been surprised by these dramatic cost increases this year. Our staff is working with the City of Torrance to analyze how this happened.
The planning for TOCApalooza, our annual fundraising arts festival, got off to a late start , but the lessons learned this year in cost-cutting will serve us well in the years to come.
OTHER SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:
Community Outreach
TOCA is committed to giving back to the South Bay community through ed ucation, charitable contributions and supporting the underserved.
With respect to supporting other charitable endeavors and supporting the under -served, TOCA donated a total of 585 tickets to families in need through our “Arts for All” program. These free ticket vouchers allow families and young people to experience live performances that might not otherwise be able to afford them.
Respectfully submitted,
David Kartsonis Christian Wolf
2024-2025 Board President Executive Director
5 ATTACHMENT 2
TOCA ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023/2024 SEASON PAGE 1
To: Torrance Cultural Arts Commission
Torrance City Council Members
Re: TOCA 2023/2024 Season Annual Report AMMENDMENT
In the 23/24 Season Annual Report, it was stated that a concern TOCA had was the tech labor charges from the city. The overage of $12,894.15 seemed excessive from our perspective.
Upon further investigation and working cooperatively with city staff, we have not only found the causes of the overage, but have also come up with a system of checks and balances that will help keep TOCA informed on their in-kind tech labor charges.
TOCA would like to acknowledge to hard work of city staff in working with TOCA to resolve this concern and their cooperation in helping to keep TOCA updated.
Respectfully submitted,
David Kartsonis Christian Wolf
2024-2025 Board President Executive Director
6