Helping out a friend in need

Most arts organisations struggle to get by on their ticket sales and grants. That's why they put so much store by supporters willing to donate funds, writes Mary Moloney.

Friends. We all want them, and none more so than cultural institutions in search of funds. Most organisations find it difficult to manage on Arts Council grants and ticket sales alone, so a plethora of festivals, theatres and galleries have established friends organisations with goody bags as carrots for cheque-happy supporters.

Some friends become friends. They get their shoulder pads out to see private collections in posh homes. They book early and often, go on trips abroad; Wexford Festival Opera almost has a queue to get on to the waiting list for its friends organisation. Other bodies go for a lower-key approach, depending on clever software to target the regulars they think will care enough to put their hands in their pockets.

But is it just about money? Rosita Wolfe, marketing manager at the National Concert Hall, says there's a strong social element to its friends programme, which, with its glossy pack for newcomers, is among the most highly developed in the country. The €100-a-couple scheme has attracted 1,000 members.

"It's a good basis for people who come regularly to the concert hall to be part of a club. The more we communicate the better it is for us. We get to know what the friends want. It's a well-managed scheme with its own co-ordinator. It is customer-focused and the money is used for education and to spend on the musical programme, by bringing in special celebrity artists whom we couldn't afford otherwise."

Each friend of the NCH gets discount concert vouchers, an opportunity to book in advance, lectures, a gala concert and a chance - at extra cost - of trips to Bath International Music Festival, Budapest and elsewhere.

"People join for different reasons. Some want to give back something to music, some because they consciously want to get to the concerts and they know they have priority booking."

And simple touches pay dividends, such as the friends' hospitality desk on the way in, free programmes and special offers on CDs. The more you contribute as a friend, the greater the return in terms of a goody bag.

The Abbey's patrons scheme has about 600 members, who pay €150, €500 or €1,000 for ordinary, silver or platinum status. Their benefits range from tickets to a gala night with the chance to nibble canapés with grandees like, er, themselves.

"The benefactors and patrons tend to stay with us," says Tina Connell of the Abbey. "It shows us that we're doing the thing right. The main advantage is to get monies in. It all goes into the pot." Perception is all at the Abbey, both on and off stage.

"We have to be seen to generate money from sponsorships and schemes," says Connell. The Abbey reaches its centenary next year so has special events in the pipeline. "It's a good time to focus now on this sort of fund-raising, but we will certainly be moving forward rather than back."

At the Gate Theatre it has been possible for the past 10 years to endow a seat as a gift to a family member or to honour an actor or writer associated with the venue. That's how the names of Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir, the Gate's founders, ended up as seat-back plaques. For €250 as individuals and €500 as companies, the bonus was a seat named after you. You could book it every time you went to the Gate, assuming it was still available for the performance you wanted to attend.

Commitment matters. The Gate has a loyal audience "spanning generations", according to Marie Rooney, its deputy director. "Market research shows that a large majority of our audience are regular attenders," she says. "Whenever the Gate has faced a major challenge companies and patrons have rallied to the cause. Various building projects and major refurbishments could not have been undertaken without such generous help."

And this is the cue for more. The Gate has just embarked on a project to build a three-storey structure that will upgrade backstage facilities, provide a rehearsal hall and a wheelchair lift and facilitate creative development. It will cost more than €3 million, so new sponsorship and patronage schemes are to be launched.

An example of what the Gate has in mind is a recent gala night that coincided with the 50th anniversary of the first production of Waiting For Godot. The theatre used its computer database to mailshot regular credit-card bookers. "It was a great evening. People got to chat." Did they dress up? "Not really . . . " says Rooney, which at least shows it's not all about show.

Technology is helping some organisations with limited resources to try harder. The smaller theatres have to be more imaginative. Andrews Lane Theatre in Dublin is intimate but has had commercial success with the likes of 12 Angry Men and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

"We don't have funds at our disposal to print lovely brochures, so we use the box-office system. We have software with a marketing programme which, based on credit-card box-office records, can isolate anyone who has seen five shows in the past year," says Emer Dooley of the theatre. "We can then send these people special offers, such as a two-for-the-price-of-one preview or two-for-one on Monday nights."

The scheme has had a huge response. It involves a lot of postage but has paid off, and not only for An Post, says Dooley.

Art galleries also make the most of their friends services, among them the National Gallery of Ireland. Its well-established scheme even has a house in Merrion Square at its disposal. It's a self-funding organisation with two full-time employees and a membership stretching to 2,000. Started 11 years ago, it has received "huge interest" since the Millennium Wing was opened, says Maureen Beary Ryan, the friends-scheme administrator. "It's not only important from an informative and educational point of view," she says, "it's also a very significant social organisation. We have lectures every Friday, with a large group of regulars who have come to know each other. They also have the use of a reading room in 90 Merrion Square, where they can make coffee and read newspapers, so it's a club as well. Obviously the art is the big draw, and we look at collections on our trips."

These have included visits to Sicily, Denmark, Belgium and England, with Prague this autumn. "Our trips aren't cheap," says Beary Ryan, a former art historian, "but members get very good value." Also popular are annual candlelit dinners, a midsummer dinner and invitations to private views of all the exhibitions. "The concessionary rate of €35 is more than earned back."

Other rates range from €50 for basic friends membership to €650 for a corporate membership. "We're not an exclusive organisation," says Beary Ryan. "There's something for everyone."

The Royal Hibernian Academy earns €51,000 from its friends organisation. It has 600 members who pay from €48 to €1,300. The biggest event is the annual exhibition each May, with Varnishing Day the previous Saturday. Friends can usually buy on that day, but there are also more specialised events, such as visits to private collections, among them the home of Marie Donnelly in Killiney and that of Michael Carroll of AIB in Dalkey. There have also been visits to the studios of Tom Ryan, Brendan Earley, Conor Fallon and other artists.

"Having a friends organisation helps to bring life in the academy," says Audrey Brennan of the gallery's marketing department. "It's wonderful to let the academicians meet people who are interested in their work. We have 20 openings a year and different crowds every time. A lot of people just want to support us."

Festivals like friends too. One of the most successful in this respect is Wexford Festival Opera. It has 1,000 friends - and a waiting list.

Jerome Hynes, the festival's chief executive, says: "One of the benefits of the friends organisation is priority booking. If we had any more members the friends wouldn't have sufficient opportunity to book. We get great support."

Wexford has a strong social focus; among the benefits are parties, lectures and an introductory CD. For Hynes friends organisations are a critical and valuable part of any arts organisation. The key aims, he says, are to encourage regular attendance, to facilitate a deeper relationship between the audience and the organisation and to generate an additional stream of financial support.

"Clearly, while people are joining to avail of the benefits which members enjoy, they are also providing a degree of financial support to the arts organisation. This has become an important part of the funding mix essential for us to operate," he says. Friends cannot be taken for granted. "It is critical that arts organisations take them seriously and maintain an active friends operation, so that friends feel a real level of contact and, where appropriate, privilege. Any scheme needs to be well designed, well sold and well maintained if it is to consistently satisfy members."

The social aspect of being a friend is something Dublin Theatre Festival is trying to expand, says Ross Keane, its commercial manager. "Priority booking is of huge benefit to members, but we have a festival club during the festival, so people can turn up on their own and feel part of a group. We have some outings throughout the year, and we're trying to increase the number. The whole idea is that friends should feel they belong."

Galway Arts Festival is another organisation making a big effort for its friends. A body with limited resources, it received 28 per cent of its income last year from sponsors and friends. The festival employs a friends co-ordinator, who helps arrange events. Becoming a friend costs €150 and includes an invitation to the festival's gala opening, priority booking and two complimentary tickets to the opening night of one of the principal theatre shows. Business friends, who sign up for €381, get four tickets. Gold friends pay €635 and get six. You can also pay €1,270, receiving 10 tickets and also a framed limited edition of a signed festival poster.

You can be almost too successful, of course, which is what happened to the After Dark Circle at the National Museum of Ireland. It cost €125 for the chance to shimmy into the museum's branches after hours. And 200 glad souls signed up, coming along to monthly previews at which they could chat, drink wine, nibble canapés and listen to music - and to which they could bring a chum.

"It became uneconomical," says Amanda Gregan of the gallery's marketing department. "So many people turned up. It was very expensive to feed and water everyone, but it was a strong brand. It was good to get feedback and to know that what we were doing was popular." The museum is replacing the After Dark Circle with one-off After Dark events, designed to bring more people into the museum, such as tomorrow week's Little Black Number fashion event.

Among the events was an alfresco evening at Collins Barracks, with summer music and refreshments from a leading restaurant. An Evening with Eileen Gray coincided with the exhibition of the fashion designer's work. There was also a Christmas shopping evening, as well as Celtic and medieval evenings.

"We might go for one-off events and fund-raise that way," says Gregan. "We may pay for special exhibitions, linking up with other institutions. It's all at the organising stage just now."

Indeed, it's a common view that extending present programmes is the way forward. Most cultural bodies have some sort of scheme on the go. Dress up, dress down, but to be a friend of somewhere will likely matter more and more as the organisations increase the size of the goody bag.

What Friends Say:

Micheal O'Siadhail, poet

Friend of Dublin Theatre Festival

"I also bought one of the seats in the Gate Theatre. I absolutely love theatre. I want to support the whole thing and to support the development of adventurous productions."

Tom Owens, director, Eason

Friend of the NCH, silver patron of the Abbey, Dublin Theatre Festival

"I get so much out of theatre and music, I want to give something back. I'm not in it for the social scene. I also feel that, generally, the State's attitude to the arts lacks something. We don't have a strong enough appreciation of the arts. It's better to do something than just complain."

Francis Wintle, writer

Gold patron of the Abbey

"The cause is an important one to me. I think it is vital that the theatre is helped to continue producing plays and that playwrights have the opportunity to have their work staged in a live setting."

Michael Lloyd, academic

Friend of Dublin Theatre Festival

"I joined the friends of the Dublin Theatre Festival mainly to give some financial and moral support, because I enjoy the festival so much. I didn't expect to get anything out of it, although they actually organise all sorts of events and have a good newsletter. In fact I probably save money, because of the free tickets and discounts."

Aileen Hooper, teacher

Friend of the NCH and Dublin Theatre Festival

"Being a friend gives you a kick-start into going to things. Otherwise it would be like having a car and never driving it. I was part of the After Dark Circle in the National Museum, too: it forced me to go there."

Nora Gallagher, solicitor

Friend of the National Gallery of Ireland, Wexford Festival Opera and Chester Beatty Library

"The organisations need the comfort of knowing that they will get a certain sum every year. It's tremendous value. You get lovely benefits, which is the icing on the cake. We're very lucky in Europe that for a very reasonable sum you can be a friend of such organisations. Imagine what you'd be paying in New York."