The AT&T Performing Arts Center and Dallas Theater Center have announced preliminary plans to merge. The partnership is intended to save money and expand programming as both groups face financial difficulty. A written release explains that the move comes as the nonprofit arts industry experiences declining audience behavior and funding.
“The market for theater is challenged. It has been for some years,” ATTPAC president and CEO Warren Tranquada told the Dallas Morning News in an interview. “It accelerated post-COVID, but this started long before. Both institutions see that we need to do something to improve value for customers, create more flexibility and get ahead of ensuring that we’ve got the most competitive product for people to experience and turn around the loss in subscribers.
“There’s no question that the finances of producing theater have gotten more difficult over time. This will be a more efficient way for us to keep the investment focused on actors, productions and the quality of shows.”
If approved by their boards, DTC would become the producing division of ATTPAC, with redundancies in marketing, accounting and ticketing eliminated. That would mean layoffs of 10 to 12% of the combined staff according to Chris Heinbaugh, ATTPAC’s chief advocacy officer.
The administrative offices used by ATTPAC and DTC also would consolidate, as it makes sense to have employees in the same departments working side by side.
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