Deb Rathbun confesses to a latent desire to be a performer. “My parents gave me dance lessons when I was young and I spent a lot of time in high school behind the stage,” she said, “but I never participated in any talented way. Probably, some part of me wants to get up on that Mahaiwe stage.”
Instead, the membership and development manager for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass., has found a satisfying career promoting the arts by finding the necessary support for its annual operating budget.
“I am so lucky to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, to have one of the most beautiful commutes from my home in Sharon to Great Barrington, and then to do this in a great town, with this creative group of people,” she said happily.
Her role as development manager for the emerging performing arts center is a far cry from the political science degree she originally envisioned for herself, but the first art history class she took in college redirected the path of her career. Suddenly, she knew her real passion was in the arts. In her role as development manager, she must discern a similar passion in others and then connect those people to the part of the Mahaiwe’s mission that most satisfies them.
“One of the things that I love about being a development officer is talking to people, asking questions and learning about them,” she said. “A key aspect of my work is to find their passion and to connect them to the Mahaiwe. I find myself listening to so many stories [of people with long associations with the historic theater.] There is so much history there—there have been so many performances, so many great movies, so many romances that were cemented there.
“Theaters hold these spiritual experiences, and that is what makes it so exciting,” she continued. “It is such fun to watch a young child walk in and look up at the stage for the first time and say, ‘Wow!’ We take that very seriously—for many children the Mahaiwe is their first theater experience.”
Indeed, the beautiful old theater has been the site of much of Great Barrington’s cultural history in the 20th century. The theater opened in September 1905, at the dawn of cinematic age. In its earliest days, it presented touring vaudeville acts featuring eminent performers such as comic Eddie Cantor, and marching band maestro John Philip Sousa. It was transformed into a movie palace in 1930 and has been in continuous operation for more than 106 years.
As the decades rolled by, time took its toll on the aging theater, however, and new multiplex cinemas began to wean away the movie-going public. It entered the second stage of its long history in December 2002, when the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center was formed. It launched its first six-month season with a Centennial Celebration in May 2005. Slowly, the theater was brought back to its former beauty, with great attention to historical detail and at a cost of more than $9 million.
The restoration was overseen by noted architect Hugh Hardy, with engineering and construction work being done by skilled Berkshire craftspeople and artisans. The theater received support from Save America’s Treasures and the historical restoration has been certified by the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the National Park Service. In addition, the Mahaiwe is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Since the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center was formed, the historic building has become a year-round performing arts center presenting music, dance, theater, opera and classic films. The organization has presented hundreds of live events—its schedule for the next few weeks includes performances by country-western singer Lyle Lovett, eight-time Grammy-winner Spyro Gyra, family entertainers The Paperbag Players, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples, to name a few—as well as classic films and Metropolitan Opera “Live in HD” broadcasts. Continued…
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It was the Met’s broadcasts that first introduced Ms. Rathbun to the Mahaiwe and sparked her interest in it. “In 2007 I brought my mother-in-law to a live broadcast of the opera, ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ Frankly, I had thought, ‘How interesting can an opera on a screen be?’” she said. “I was blown away by how beautiful the theater was and how effective the opera was on the screen.
“At the same time someone told me they were advertising for a development manager. If I had heard about the opening before seeing the opera, I might not have been interested. But having seen the performance, I knew it would be fun. Somehow, it seemed a serendipitous coincidence.”
Ms. Rathbun already had some development experience while working for Salisbury School in Salisbury, and had worked with both the Hotchkiss and Scoville libraries in Sharon and Salisbury. She has also volunteered with the Lake Wononscopomuc Association in Salisbury and worked with Literacy on the Green, tutoring non-reading adults.
All these experiences impressed upon her that small nonprofits could benefit from informed fund-raising efforts. She returned to school to study at New York University’s George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising. “I got my feet wet in a more professional way,” she recalled of her years at Salisbury School, adding that for schools fund-raising “is almost a science.”
“But,” she added, “I think I always knew I wanted to work in the arts. Ever since I was an art history major, I couldn’t get enough of the arts in my life.”
She said part of the mission of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is to provide a wide variety of programming at reasonable costs to make it accessible to the community. Because the center strives to consistently bring in excellent performers, she says, it encourages patrons to come to events they might not be familiar with. “We have tried to set a high standard for our programming so people will trust that our events will be good and will feel free to try a lot of different things,” she said.
She said the organization’s managers all have their separate areas of expertise, but all join in bringing thoughts about programming to the table. They also receive input from donors and members about acts they would like to see. “We’re a diverse group,” she said, “but we are very respectful of each other’s backgrounds. We help to inform the executive director’s [Beryl Jolly] decisions about what we should fund.
“For instance, we brought in Noche Flamenca [Spain’s most successful touring flamenco company]. I probably would not have sought them out, myself,” she said. “But to see people coming in because we had brought a flamenco program to Great Barrington—and then to look up at the stage and see those dancers here … I think it is important that we bring culturally diverse groups to our stage.”
Obviously, a robust fund-raising effort is essential to this process, especially in an organization “that is still pretty young,” she said. She noted that the 700-seat auditorium is both a benefit and a challenge for the organization.
“That is what makes the Mahaiwe feel really intimate,” she said, “but it makes it a little challenging if you want to have great performers. It is a lot easier for a 1,500-seat theater to raise money through ticket sales. That is where fund-raising kicks in. Continued…
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“Sponsors are very significant to us,” she continued, “and we want our customers to know how they can support the Mahaiwe and its mission.”
She said many members join at the lowest level, as a “Friend” at $65, which brings discounts on tickets, priority ticket ordering and a season program listing. They may later decide to upgrade to “Contributor” at $100, with the above benefits, as well as ticket exchange privileges and a member appreciation event.
Others opt for the $250 “Supporter” level, which brings the previously listed benefits, plus preferred seating and invitations to special meet-the-artist receptions. “Sustainer” members pay $500 for the added benefits of two complimentary tickets upon request and invitations to an event with the Artistic Council members.
Three final categories are “Patron,” $1,000 with the additional benefits of earliest ticket ordering privileges for Met Opera broadcasts, behind the scenes tours for groups of up to six persons, and a donor listing in the lobby; “Benefactors,” for $2,500, which provides for an intimate pre-show dinner with board members and executive staff; and finally, “Angels,” who enjoy all the benefits as well as sponsorship benefits and the opportunity to host a private dinner on the Mahaiwe stage.
“Memberships are the main part of our annual operating budget,” Ms. Rathbun said. “I have seen many people go from $100- and $250-levels to $1,000. For people who are giving $500, the stretch to $1,000 is not that much, but for most of our donors the support is given not because of the benefits but because they see the importance of having a year-round performing arts experience in the region.”
In addition to these opportunities to support the Mahaiwe, donors can become a part of the theater’s history by sponsoring a chair. “Our seat-naming campaign allows people to name a seat with an brass plaque on the arm rest in return for a tax-deductible donation,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be in memory of someone—it could commemorate a special date, celebrate a grandchild, or even remember that you sat there with a friend when you were 19. One woman used the words from an aria that were meaningful to her.”
Seats can be named in different locations in the theater for between $500 and $5,000.
In conclusion, Ms. Rathbun reminded readers that the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center operates all year. “Many other cultural organizations are focused toward the summer season,” she said. “When the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center was organized it was decided it would be open year-round. We are becoming less fragile financially, but we have a bit of a challenge for the end of the year. We are not as healthy as last year, but I think it can be done. We just need to rally our membership and funding underwriters.”
Those interested in donor opportunities or the performance schedule for coming months can go to www.mahaiwe.org. To speak to Ms. Rathbun, call 413-644-9040, ext. 102. n
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Deb Rathbun confesses to a latent desire to be a performer. “My parents gave me dance lessons when I was young and I spent a lot of time in high school behind the stage,” she said, “but I never participated in any talented way. Probably, some part of me wants to get up on that Mahaiwe stage.”
Instead, the membership and development manager for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass., has found a satisfying career promoting the arts by finding the necessary support for its annual operating budget.
“I am so lucky to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, to have one of the most beautiful commutes from my home in Sharon to Great Barrington, and then to do this in a great town, with this creative group of people,” she said happily.
Her role as development manager for the emerging performing arts center is a far cry from the political science degree she originally envisioned for herself, but the first art history class she took in college redirected the path of her career. Suddenly, she knew her real passion was in the arts. In her role as development manager, she must discern a similar passion in others and then connect those people to the part of the Mahaiwe’s mission that most satisfies them.
“One of the things that I love about being a development officer is talking to people, asking questions and learning about them,” she said. “A key aspect of my work is to find their passion and to connect them to the Mahaiwe. I find myself listening to so many stories [of people with long associations with the historic theater.] There is so much history there—there have been so many performances, so many great movies, so many romances that were cemented there.
“Theaters hold these spiritual experiences, and that is what makes it so exciting,” she continued. “It is such fun to watch a young child walk in and look up at the stage for the first time and say, ‘Wow!’ We take that very seriously—for many children the Mahaiwe is their first theater experience.”
Indeed, the beautiful old theater has been the site of much of Great Barrington’s cultural history in the 20th century. The theater opened in September 1905, at the dawn of cinematic age. In its earliest days, it presented touring vaudeville acts featuring eminent performers such as comic Eddie Cantor, and marching band maestro John Philip Sousa. It was transformed into a movie palace in 1930 and has been in continuous operation for more than 106 years.
As the decades rolled by, time took its toll on the aging theater, however, and new multiplex cinemas began to wean away the movie-going public. It entered the second stage of its long history in December 2002, when the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center was formed. It launched its first six-month season with a Centennial Celebration in May 2005. Slowly, the theater was brought back to its former beauty, with great attention to historical detail and at a cost of more than $9 million.
The restoration was overseen by noted architect Hugh Hardy, with engineering and construction work being done by skilled Berkshire craftspeople and artisans. The theater received support from Save America’s Treasures and the historical restoration has been certified by the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the National Park Service. In addition, the Mahaiwe is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Since the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center was formed, the historic building has become a year-round performing arts center presenting music, dance, theater, opera and classic films. The organization has presented hundreds of live events—its schedule for the next few weeks includes performances by country-western singer Lyle Lovett, eight-time Grammy-winner Spyro Gyra, family entertainers The Paperbag Players, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples, to name a few—as well as classic films and Metropolitan Opera “Live in HD” broadcasts.
It was the Met’s broadcasts that first introduced Ms. Rathbun to the Mahaiwe and sparked her interest in it. “In 2007 I brought my mother-in-law to a live broadcast of the opera, ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ Frankly, I had thought, ‘How interesting can an opera on a screen be?’” she said. “I was blown away by how beautiful the theater was and how effective the opera was on the screen.
“At the same time someone told me they were advertising for a development manager. If I had heard about the opening before seeing the opera, I might not have been interested. But having seen the performance, I knew it would be fun. Somehow, it seemed a serendipitous coincidence.”
Ms. Rathbun already had some development experience while working for Salisbury School in Salisbury, and had worked with both the Hotchkiss and Scoville libraries in Sharon and Salisbury. She has also volunteered with the Lake Wononscopomuc Association in Salisbury and worked with Literacy on the Green, tutoring non-reading adults.
All these experiences impressed upon her that small nonprofits could benefit from informed fund-raising efforts. She returned to school to study at New York University’s George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising. “I got my feet wet in a more professional way,” she recalled of her years at Salisbury School, adding that for schools fund-raising “is almost a science.”
“But,” she added, “I think I always knew I wanted to work in the arts. Ever since I was an art history major, I couldn’t get enough of the arts in my life.”
She said part of the mission of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is to provide a wide variety of programming at reasonable costs to make it accessible to the community. Because the center strives to consistently bring in excellent performers, she says, it encourages patrons to come to events they might not be familiar with. “We have tried to set a high standard for our programming so people will trust that our events will be good and will feel free to try a lot of different things,” she said.
She said the organization’s managers all have their separate areas of expertise, but all join in bringing thoughts about programming to the table. They also receive input from donors and members about acts they would like to see. “We’re a diverse group,” she said, “but we are very respectful of each other’s backgrounds. We help to inform the executive director’s [Beryl Jolly] decisions about what we should fund.
“For instance, we brought in Noche Flamenca [Spain’s most successful touring flamenco company]. I probably would not have sought them out, myself,” she said. “But to see people coming in because we had brought a flamenco program to Great Barrington—and then to look up at the stage and see those dancers here … I think it is important that we bring culturally diverse groups to our stage.”
Obviously, a robust fund-raising effort is essential to this process, especially in an organization “that is still pretty young,” she said. She noted that the 700-seat auditorium is both a benefit and a challenge for the organization.
“That is what makes the Mahaiwe feel really intimate,” she said, “but it makes it a little challenging if you want to have great performers. It is a lot easier for a 1,500-seat theater to raise money through ticket sales. That is where fund-raising kicks in.
“Sponsors are very significant to us,” she continued, “and we want our customers to know how they can support the Mahaiwe and its mission.”
She said many members join at the lowest level, as a “Friend” at $65, which brings discounts on tickets, priority ticket ordering and a season program listing. They may later decide to upgrade to “Contributor” at $100, with the above benefits, as well as ticket exchange privileges and a member appreciation event.
Others opt for the $250 “Supporter” level, which brings the previously listed benefits, plus preferred seating and invitations to special meet-the-artist receptions. “Sustainer” members pay $500 for the added benefits of two complimentary tickets upon request and invitations to an event with the Artistic Council members.
Three final categories are “Patron,” $1,000 with the additional benefits of earliest ticket ordering privileges for Met Opera broadcasts, behind the scenes tours for groups of up to six persons, and a donor listing in the lobby; “Benefactors,” for $2,500, which provides for an intimate pre-show dinner with board members and executive staff; and finally, “Angels,” who enjoy all the benefits as well as sponsorship benefits and the opportunity to host a private dinner on the Mahaiwe stage.
“Memberships are the main part of our annual operating budget,” Ms. Rathbun said. “I have seen many people go from $100- and $250-levels to $1,000. For people who are giving $500, the stretch to $1,000 is not that much, but for most of our donors the support is given not because of the benefits but because they see the importance of having a year-round performing arts experience in the region.”
In addition to these opportunities to support the Mahaiwe, donors can become a part of the theater’s history by sponsoring a chair. “Our seat-naming campaign allows people to name a seat with an brass plaque on the arm rest in return for a tax-deductible donation,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be in memory of someone—it could commemorate a special date, celebrate a grandchild, or even remember that you sat there with a friend when you were 19. One woman used the words from an aria that were meaningful to her.”
Seats can be named in different locations in the theater for between $500 and $5,000.
In conclusion, Ms. Rathbun reminded readers that the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center operates all year. “Many other cultural organizations are focused toward the summer season,” she said. “When the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center was organized it was decided it would be open year-round. We are becoming less fragile financially, but we have a bit of a challenge for the end of the year. We are not as healthy as last year, but I think it can be done. We just need to rally our membership and funding underwriters.”
Those interested in donor opportunities or the performance schedule for coming months can go to www.mahaiwe.org. To speak to Ms. Rathbun, call 413-644-9040, ext. 102. n
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