OotB’s artistic goals are dual; a) giving opportunities to experienced theater professionals, primarily over the age of 50, to perform well-known roles that they may not have had the opportunity to be previously cast in or would be considered too old to play elsewhere and b) to stage artistically compelling productions within a limited budget. Our primary outreach goal is to give our audiences the opportunity to enjoy professional performances by these veteran actors at an affordable price. OotB’s specific operational goals are to: (i) increase our annual programming from one to two full theatrical performances or one full production and one reading, and to organize one fundraiser; (ii) increase the number of diversity actors’ participation in the audition process and consequently increase the number of diversity actors performing in the productions; (iii) develop our audience following and increase the size of the audiences attending our productions; (iv) increase the number of senior citizens utilizing free vouchers to attend our productions; (v) increase the number of volunteers we can call upon for offstage and backstage help.

Fundraising efforts: In order to increase the number of productions, OotB needs to gain more financial support. OotB needs to find additional sources of funds and apply for additional grants. In 2019 OotB has received the NY Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) grant. For 2020 we have reapplied for NY DCLA grant and we applied for the 2020 Manhattan Community Award Program (MCAP) grant. For 2021 we plan to reapply for NY DCLA and MCAP grants and apply for the New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA) grant. Additionally we are in the process of researching other private and public grant-giving sources. Diversity expansion: In 2019, in addition to three scheduled auditions, the OotB Board reached out to diversity actors and held an extra auditioning session for ten individuals. Going forward, in order to attract more diversity participation, OotB will revise its language in audition announcements posted with Actors’ Equity and Actors’ Access to explain OotB’s mission of nontraditional casting and strongly encourage diversity actors to participate. OotB will also reach out directly to diversity actors and directors who previously worked with us to seek additional candidates on our behalf. Audience development: In 2019 OotB dramatically redesigned its website, thus increasing its general appeal and ease of navigation. The website is now actively managed and dynamically updated. OotB communicates with its patrons via Facebook, emails, and regular mail in accordance with each patron’s communication preference. In order to increase audience following, OotB will create a compelling advertising, provide frequent updates on its upcoming programs, explore new advertising sites such as the Goddard Riverside Community Center website, create alliances with local businesses to allow display of OotB advertising at their locations, and reach out to local media and bloggers. Senior Free Voucher Program augmentation: In the past OotB formed strong bonds with several senior citizen centers. OotB needs to increase number of centers that are willing to effectively distribute free senior citizen vouchers. In order to accomplish this goal, OotB board members will make personal appearances in the new centers, getting to know the managing personnel and to find customized and most effective ways of communicating and voucher distribution for each center. Volunteer number growth: In order to increase volunteer interest among actors, OotB includes an “I want to Volunteer” option on its audition form and subsequently contacts the interested individuals and assigns volunteer responsibilities. In addition, board members, performers, and technical designers seek and recommend volunteers from their groups of friends and communities.

OotB board members work tirelessly to meet our objectives. The Out of the Box board members are all over age 50, reflecting the population we serve. They are theater professionals, educators, and/or corporate executives with experience in theater arts and in strategic project and organizational management. They are all involved in selecting the plays and directors, selecting and contracting designers and technical crew, and in all other aspects of production. Six of the board members have performed in some of the shows; one board member has directed shows. They are all active in fundraising, grant writing, and soliciting donors. In 2019 we added a new member to the advisory board to help us with his expertise and offer a new perspective.

For the past seven years OotB has been tracking, every year in a more detailed manner, its results. OotB now generates and publishes biannually its financial statements. Each production’s expenses are tracked in detail and compared to the past productions results. The Board conducts a production post-mortem discussion to analyze the results and to flesh out production challenges and determine improvement opportunities for the future. The matrix is developed for each production identifying daily audience attendance and the sources of ticket sales and amounts, including attendance by free voucher recipients, Actors’ Equity members, comp recipients, and theater professionals. In addition OotB tracks daily donations and concessions sales amounts. Subsequent to the production the donor list is updated and thank-you notes are sent, the production numbers are reviewed, and the historical performance matrices are updated. The Board analyzes the matrices and the trends and recommends improvements or increase in focus when necessary. The fundraising events’ attendance, expenditures, and revenues are all subject to detailed tracking. For the past four years each year’s fundraising outcome is reviewed and compared to the past years’ results. Our key progress indicators are (i) maintaining financial health and continued financial growth, (ii) increase in the audience numbers from one year to the next, (iii) positive audience feedback, (iv) increased diversity in the auditioning cast and increased diversity in our audience, (v) addition of new names to our mailing and donor lists, (vi) positive press reviews, and (vii) increased volunteer participation. Most importantly, we gauge our project’s success by increased community participation and support.

OotB’s website has been redesigned to its new dynamic form and is presently professionally managed. During the last production we engaged a professional photographer to generate compelling images for the play advertising. Consequently, the images were used by on-line advertisers and ticket agencies. During the audition process we created an additional auditioning session for diversity actors. The improvement in attracting diverse actors will continue from now on in a proactive fashion as outlined in the strategies above. During our last production we increased the number of shows to 10 from 6 in the previous year. Our last production was financially the most successful to date with an increased box office intake of 26% over the previous year, and donation and concession sales increases of 116% and 150%, respectively. However, the audience numbers and senior citizen numbers remain the same, and audience building remains our critical goal to be achieved by amplifying the community outreach efforts. OotB has also experienced 25% growth in our donor base and 50% in our volunteer base