Financial Management for Nonprofit Theater Companies
Arts FMS provides outsourced financial management for nonprofit theater companies across the United States. With principals and team members who have held senior financial roles inside some of the country's leading producing theaters, Arts FMS brings theater-specific expertise and an integrated approach that allows theater organizations to focus on their artistic work and community mission.
Why Nonprofit Theater Companies Work With Arts FMS
The finances of a nonprofit theater company are rarely straightforward. In addition to managing an annual operating budget, theaters must budget and track individual productions, process payroll for staff and artists, reconcile box office activity, manage restricted funding, and plan for significant fluctuations in cash flow throughout the season.
Union agreements with Actors’ Equity Association, IATSE, SDC, and other organizations create additional payroll and reporting requirements. Government grants and foundation funding require careful compliance and fund tracking. Production schedules also mean that expenses are often incurred well before related ticket revenue or contributed income is received.
Together, these responsibilities can make a theater company’s finance operation considerably more complex than that of another nonprofit with a similar operating budget.
Our Team
Arts FMS's principals and team bring direct experience working inside theater institutions at every level. Principal Andrea Scala Nellis served as General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of The Public Theater (one of the country's most prominent nonprofit theater producers) and previously held financial leadership positions at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and New York City Opera. Principal Lucy Mallett served as Director of Finance and Administration at Elevator Repair Service, the acclaimed experimental theater company.
Team members across the firm have worked in finance, administration, and management at Signature Theatre (DC), Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, Disney Theatrical Group, Mint Theater Company, Soho Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and many others.
Current theater clients include Signature Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Cleveland Public Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Company One, Mint Theater Company, and Bushwick Starr, among others.
The integrated, full-service model Arts FMS offers is particularly well-suited to theater companies that have outgrown the capacity of a single finance staff member but are not yet ready (or do not want) to build and manage a full internal finance department.
Rather than hiring a bookkeeper, a controller, and a CFO separately, a theater company working with Arts FMS gains access to the full depth of the firm's expertise across all of those functions, delivered by a team that already understands the specific financial realities of running a producing organization: production cost accounting, development office coordination, box office reconciliation, and the financial rhythm of a theater season.
Full-Service Financial Management for Nonprofit Theater Companies
Arts FMS provides nonprofit theater companies with full-service, integrated financial management. Once engaged, Arts FMS works directly with staff and board to assess what systems and structures best serve the theater, building on what is already working while introducing improvements where needed.
The standard Arts FMS engagement with a theater company includes:
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Full-service, GAAP-compliant accounting and bookkeeping, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger management, payment processing, and investment accounting.
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Payroll processing for theater staff and artists, including support for union payroll under Actors' Equity Association (AEA), IATSE, and SDC contracts.
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Annual budgeting and season financial planning, cash flow planning and forecasting, financial statements, board reporting, and grant and funder reporting tailored to the foundation and government funders that support the nonprofit theater field.
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Coordination with external auditors and support for the annual audit and Form 990, including the production-level financial documentation that theater audits typically require.
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Financial system assessment and conversion, chart of accounts design (including production cost accounting), internal controls and policy development, and HR operations support including employee benefits and new hire paperwork.
Our Nonprofit Theater Clients
Arts FMS has partnered with nonprofit theater companies across the country, from early-stage producing organizations building their financial infrastructure for the first time to established institutions managing multi-million dollar budgets, multi-production seasons, and complex union labor agreements.
“Arts FMS has assembled a terrific team of finance professionals who have extensive experience working with arts organizations in budgeting, tracking income and expenses, timely reporting, and managing cash flow. Our board of directors is pleased with the strategic and practical information that it receives from the Arts Financial Management Team and as the executive director, I sleep better at night knowing that our finances are in good hands. I highly recommend them to you.”
— Timothy J. McClimon, Executive Director, Signature Theatre Company
“I began working with Andrea & Lucy in 2016 and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. My small nonprofit organization now benefits from a level of financial expertise and experience I could not otherwise afford--and at the same time, I have greater stability and continuity than ever before. All that, plus they happily adapted themselves to my existing systems, rather than imposing something new.”
— Jonathan Bank, Founder & Producing Artistic Director, Mint Theater Company
Arts FMS has partnered with nonprofit theater companies across the country, from early-stage producing organizations building their financial infrastructure for the first time to established institutions managing multi-million dollar budgets, multi-production seasons, and complex union labor agreements.
Learn more about the services we provide to theater companies and the full client list.
Ready to Talk About Your Theater Company's Financial Management?
Whether your theater company is navigating a leadership transition, growing into a larger budget, or simply needs financial management that can keep pace with the complexity of a producing organization, Arts FMS is ready to help. Reach out to discuss how an integrated financial management engagement could work for your theater.