As you may have seen in the past, I’m pretty big on creating more financial transparency in the arts and have posted the various amounts of money I’ve made doing different kinds of work. I do this primarily because I think this kind of transparency is necessary to create a more equitable culture for the arts (it was a trend that originally started in the tech field to address the gender pay gap), but I also see a number of artists, especially in the early part of their careers, trying to get a handle on what it costs (and how to raise money) for their ambitious projects. Such transparency among the people immediately around us can help clarify what’s within our reach and how we might be able to accomplish it.
 
So, in the same spirit of transparency, I wanted to share with everyone a general breakdown of expenses for the initial production of Conference of the Birds, which was a multi-part development process. The below financial information is focused on the workshop performances and culminating premiere at the Broad Stage,  both of which had about a 4 week rehearsal process with about 2 full cast rehearsals and 2 principles-only rehearsals each week. I hope it helps!

EXPENSES

• Performer fees - approx $25,000
  • This is the biggest part of our budget. There is a cast of over 20 performers. Each was paid a flat rate based on the scheduled number of rehearsals based on a rate of $50 a rehearsal. Each performer was paid the flat rate regardless of whether or not they missed a rehearsal or two.
  • these flat rates were about $500-800 per person for each set of shows (including an initial week of workshops that was poorly attended due to covid).
  • For context, Each full cast rehearsal costs over $1k and each principles-only rehearsal about $400. About half of this was for the workshop performances including presentations at Scripps College and A Noise Within, the other half is for the Broad Stage.

 

• Creative Team - TBD (but probably should be around for $15k for composer, music director, librettist, and director/choreographer. This doesn’t include a commissioning fee, which was originally going to be another $15k before COVID and now is $0).
  • With a self-produced project of this size, the creative team is the last to be paid. We werecompensated about $2,300 each for the week long residency at Scripps as part of them presenting the workshop performance, but we also donated it back to the show to make sure we could cover the performer costs. There are additional unavoidable costs for the director/choreographer who came from out of state including travel and lodging. Luckily, we received support from the institution where he works to cover those costs (or he paid for them out of pocket directly).

 

• Rehearsal Space - Donated. 
  • This was HUGE for us. When we couldn’t get the space donated it cost about $100 per rehearsal. If we had to rent a space for every rehearsal and workshop the cost would have been around $5,000

 

• Designers and Crew -  $6,000
  • Includes lighting and costume design, production manager and stage manager

 

• Costumes - $2,000
  • Materials and additional labor for costumes

 

• Other Production expenses (broad stage) - approx. $25,000
  • I’ve included this line item to capture the general production costs for the Broad Stage. In a typical production agreement,  we wouldn’t need to worry about these expenses at all. Because this is a co-production, however, the Broad Stage is essentially taking a risk on the show and is covering these expenses through ticket sales. If ticket sales surpass their in-house production costs, we will split the excess 60/40 (we get 60%).

 

• Other production expenses (ANW and Scripps) - ?? (But probably $10k-$15k for each venue)
  • These producers provided full production support for our workshop presentations including rehearsal/performance space, front of house staff, technical staff, health/covid support, lights, box office, custodial infrastructure, marketing and PR, program design and printing, and probably a bunch of other stuff I’m not even aware of.

INCOME

• Foundation Grants
  • New Music USA gave us $5k for an early workshop not including in the above budget.
  • The Farhang Foundation (a major supporter of Persian culture related programming in Southern California) supported a good portion of the performer fees for the Broad Stage show as well as additional marketing support.

 

• Government Grants
  • The Resonance Collective didn’t receive any grants directly, but our presenting/performing partners did. C3LA received money from the Department of Cultural Affairs towards this project and Scripps College received NEA funding for it (some of which will go towards a future recording!)

 

• Institutional Support
  • Scripps and A Noise Within properly produced the workshop productions at their institutions including paying the performers. Scripps also supported the show by awarding an O’Brien residency to the creative team and we used both our fees and additional residency funds towards the production. Our main soloist also used her faculty recital funds to support the cost of the show
  • In addition, the University of South Carolina covered all of the director/choreographer’s travel and lodging over the last 3 years of workshops and development.

 

• Individual Donations
  • We are in the middle of this part right now :) we have a CharityBuzz campaign going and a crowd-funding both of which directly support our expenses. Our goal is a total of about $15,000 between the two platforms. 
  • Normally, the division for most performance based non-profits is an equal split between individual donations, grants, and ticket sales, but for us individual donations are a relatively small part of the overall budget. Still, that $15k we are hoping to raise will ensure all expenses are covered and might even all the creative team to get paid a little too :)

It’s worth noting that all of the institutional/foundation/government support came from various artists and community members involved with the show who really believed in the message and story of this piece. I can’t stress enough how important developing a strong community of like-minded folks is to bringing a project to life and there is absolutely no way this could have happened without many people stepping up, offering their resources and the resources of the institutions with which they are associated. 

Any questions? Add them to the comments below.

I'd like to share with you the the serendipitous story of how our telling of The Conference of the Birds came to be:
 
In 2018, when my friend Anne Harley approached me about setting Attar's The Conference of the Birds to music, I had a sense the time had come to finally give it a try. I took a trip to the Last Bookstore in DTLA to see what translations were available. 

Browsing along the shelves, reading the various spines, one book caught my eye. Unlike the other books on the shelf, it was turned out so I could see the simple but beautiful cover. I picked it up, seeing that it had been published only a few months earlier and that the writer, Sholeh Wolpé, happened to also live in Los Angeles. It was at this moment that a child, no higher than my hip, ran by, craning his neck upward at all the books and started yelling "It's so big! I'm small! I'm small!". 
 
Dumbfounded by what seemed like a mystical revelation coming from this young person, I turned to a random page in the book. The modern poetry, both elegant and straightforward, engulfed me immediately.
 
...But if you come to it as a pure drop,
you will lose yourself in the Ocean,
becoming one with its vast water.
The Ocean's currents
will become yours, too –
its shining beauty, yours.
You will be and not be.

How can that be?
It's beyond mind's comprehension.
 
I knew this was the right translation, so I bought the book and immediately emailed Sholeh telling her I was interested in putting it to music. She responded the same day and invited me for some tea in her neighborhood, walking distance from where I lived at the time. We hit it off, and I told her the story of how I came across her translation and she said:

"I did that. I went to the Last Bookstore to make sure they were carrying the book and I pulled a copy out and turned it so the cover was facing out. I put it there so you could find it."

While I've wanted to create this piece for 10 years, It's only now, with the help of my incredible collaborators, I finally feel ready to bring to life Attar's story of the Conference of the Birds. The entire process of creating this work has challenged and enriched me throughout, but serendipity has also followed the process along way – a series of astonishing coincidences that have amplified the size and impact of the piece until it grew into the fully staged, movement-driven oratorio. If you haven't yet, you can buy your tickets using the link below.

Buy Your Tickets Now