Hawaii Theatre Center

In the last six months the Theatre has made a concerted effort to reach out and reengage past donors. Many of these patrons actively participated in the restoration of the Theatre 22 years ago. We are seeing a return of these long-time patrons and they are reengaging with the Theatre again. We have also grateful for the gracious support provided by President Emerita Sarah Richards and her willingness to assist with the fundraising efforts.

The Theatre has operated at a deficit for the past few years. Last year, the deficit was reduced nearly in half. It is likely we will end our current fiscal year in a deficit, but much lower than in years past. As we move forward, operating under a new business model, which includes the new theatre rental fee structure to was designed to generate an operating surplus & begin to fund depreciation, has shown a dramatic increase in HTC's realized income over the course of the last six months, and will very ably place HTC on a course for sustainability

The Theatre networks in various ways in and out of our sector. As a public performance venue, Hawaii Theatre Center's reach is global. Most of the networking on the large scale is managed through our website, social media and email. HTC is a key source of economic development in the Chinatown neighborhood. When the HTC has a show, the neighboring restaurants and retailers benefit with the increased foot traffic. The Theatre hosts monthly neighborhood meetings where business owners, groups, police and City and County Officials gather to discuss the issues and create solutions for the neighborhood. The Theatre also has a strong Dining Partner program for its members featuring discounts at participating neighborhood eateries and shops. Our “pARTners for the Arts" program allows us to collaborate with artistic groups in bringing a production to the Theatre. We have also been able to expand our collaboration efforts outside of the Theatre's auditorium by providing Box Office services.

Hawaii Theatre is in a constant state of engagement and learning in the community we serve. We recently launched a new “texting" system whereby patrons can now “text" us any questions or concerns. The Theatre is supported by a very large volunteer group who helps us with ushering, staffing special events, helping with fundraisers and being the Theatre's biggest champions out in the community. We simply could not do what we do without the help of our volunteers. In the past year we have changed the way we do things based on the input of our community. Guaranteed and affordable parking was also a challenge and now we offer self-parking at 1132 Bishop for many of our shows. We are still working on long lines at our concession stands, but have already started to make progress with pre-paid concessions, express pickup lines and creating satellite concession stations. We value our community input and strive to provide the best customer service and experience for our patrons.

Hawaii Theatre has also made some operational changes to increase the level of customer service and removing pain points for our patrons. For example:
- Accessibility to picking up tickets and the long lines to enter the Theatre have been reduced by at least 50% with the introduction of online ticketing which allows patrons to print their tickets at home or download them to their smartphones.

-We recently launched a new “texting" system whereby patrons can now “text" any questions or concerns and receive timely responses.

-We are still working on long lines at our concession stands, but have already started to make progress with pre-paid concessions, express pickup lines and creating satellite concession stations.

-As a result of our revamping of our member engagement software and ticketing system, we have seen our membership numbers grow nearly 20% over where they were last year at this time.