Austin may not have seen any of its leading cultural institutions shut down because of the economy as so many cities have, but that doesn’t mean its arts organizations aren’t suffering in the current downturn. Philanthropic support has dropped across the board, and in many cases, attendance has too, which means groups are having to slash budgets, eliminate programs, and, in extreme cases, lay off staff. Austin Lyric Opera is among the latest to resort to this last drastic measure. Prior to its 2009-2010 fiscal year, the company had sliced its $5 million budget by 10%, but with ticket sales in a slump and giving down, that still wasn’t enough to offset the red ink. So ALO determined that it needed to pare away another $200,000 for the coming year, and it did so by cutting two full-time staff positions and one half-time job. Among the staff members being let go is Director of Public Relations Molly Browning, who has been with the company for 17 years. According to ALO General Director Kevin Patterson, “This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and we examined every angle to see if there was a way around making any of these cuts, but unfortunately there was not.”
This article appears in July 9 • 2010.