Cuts, fundraising put SPAC in black despite lost season
2021 season will happen “one way or another”
Originally facing a projected deficit of $1.3 million after having to cancel all of its planned performance season because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center will finish 2020 in the black as a result of strong fundraising and financial cuts, management said.
SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol announced the news Thursday during the final 2020 meeting of SPAC’S board of directors. Held virtually, the meeting covered the developments of an unprecedented season, from the cancellations to the conceptualization and execution of SPAC Reimagined, which offered more than 50 hours of new, commissioned online programming.
Among SPAC Reimagined elements were a jazz series presented with Caffe Lena; videos featuring artists from resident companies the New York City Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; the world premiere of a radio play about Beethoven, coproduced with Saratoga Shakespeare Company; performances by Joshua Bell and Time for Three, filmed in Saratoga and at SPAC; and “Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK,” a GPS - enabled work of public art in the Saratoga Spa State Park that used music to illuminate the natural environment.
Although mainstage performances were not allowed, more than 800 events, capped at 50 people each and conducted
with current safety precautions in place, brought about 8,000 people onto SPAC’S grounds from July through December, Sobol told the board. Most took place in and around The Pines @ SPAC, a new indoor/outdoor venue on the upper lawn. Events included dinners by local chefs; classes in wellness, art, dance and drumming; screenings of classic films, chamber music, orchestral music and dance; and meetings and other gatherings that could not have been held in their usual indoor locations under
current health restrictions.
Canceling the planned season, which was projected to provide 60 percent of the revenue for SPAC’S $10 million annual budget, “felt literally like walking off a cliff,” Sobol said.
But, she added, “Thanks to our incredible community, we were able to do what SPAC does best: provide, even in the midst of a global pandemic, communal gathering around art, artists and community. Thanks to our generous SPAC family of contributors, we kept the
flame burning.”
Uncertainty about what prevailing conditions may be next spring and summer is prompting SPAC staff to plan for a variety of contingencies and season options for 2021, Sobol said.
She said, “What we know is this: One way or another, there will be a SPAC season — and one way or the other, we are committed to ensuring a Saratoga presence by our beloved resident companies.”
In other news from the meeting, Martin Mbugua, vice president of communications and marketing for Skidmore College in Saratoga, was introduced as a new member of the board. Mbugua has led Skidmore’s Office of Communications and Marketing since 2017 and has held posts in the communications departments at both Carnegie Mellon and Princeton universities, SPAC said.