If there was a sector that took it on the chin during the pandemic it was the performing arts community. Closed venues and lockdowns were devastating and government emergency supports were the only thing that kept them going.
Now, have a bit of an assessment on how they have recovered from the ordeal. StatsCan has just released financials for the sector for 2024. And it was not all that pretty for some in that community.
There are two kinds of players in the performing arts sector – the for profit and the not-for-profit. It was the latter, the not-for-profits, that are still living with the after effects of the pandemic.
For profit players have done much better. Operating margins in 2024 rose to 21-percent, exceeding levels seen prior to the pandemic. That was largely the result of improved revenues and expense management. In the other camp, operating margins at the not-for-profit fell into negative territory despite higher revenues.
The other key observation was that patrons were increasingly choosing single event ticket purchases as season subscriptions fell below pre-pandemic levels.
