The budget is similar to the past year's budget, but like other businesses, we have increases in salary and benefits to attract and retain staff. We've seen increased costs to utilities, marketing (printing and postage) and additional office space to accommodate staff.

It is a belt-tightening budget. We cut where we could cut.

The center has a reputation for presenting diverse, high-quality programs. Like every theater, we know that some of our shows will exceed expectations and others will not. Given our strong advance sales for the rest of season, we expect our ticket revenue to balance out.

It will probably take a few years for it to boil down to what they think is their niche. Building trust with the audience takes time. You have to prove yourself. This is a tough business.

The city and the community have continued to demonstrate passionate support for this project.

In the past six months, we've gotten a much larger piece of a much smaller pie.