It is never easy putting up a theatre or dance production, much less keeping a company going. Especially if you’re a fledgling group trying to get a foothold in the scene.

Take Hatch Theatrics. While it has a rather impressive six productions to its name since it was formed as a collective in 2012 (the most recent being last month’s Super Happy Land), it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. For the longest time, its existence as a theatre group has been hand-to-mouth.

“Whenever we hire external people (for our shows), we would pay them but never ourselves because it has never been enough,” said Hatch Theatrics general manager Nur Khairiyah, who added that during the first couple of years, its members would have been lucky to take home S$50 to S$100 per production.

Even when things started to stabilise and the group would sell out a couple of productions, profits mostly went to producing its next project. Hatch relies a lot on in-kind sponsorships, such as discounts for venue rentals, transportation and repurposing props and costumes from other companies. It also gets government support and ... not much else.

That isn’t the kind of situation a theatre group — or indeed, any company — wants to find itself in. The group is taking it slow for now, but at some point, said Khairiyah, it will have to have a think about sustainability. As Hatch’s general manager, her main role is to “get funds”.

Right now though, her options are limited.

HELP TO GET FUNDING

There are the usual go-to-guys such as the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Tote Board, and Hatch has engaged in a small-scale attempt at crowdfunding (it was a pleasant enough experiment that raised S$470, but was still well below her peg of S$2,000). She also tried to go to a couple of banks and foundations — but didn’t get any response.

“I know (funds are) out there, but I’m not aware of how to approach ... I do feel intimidated and I would like to see what the process is like because, right now, I really don’t know,” Khairiyah admitted.

She is not the only one keen on finding out more about how arts groups can raise money, especially with Singapore’s growing scene. And while the Government continues to massively fund the arts — funding for arts and heritage in 2014 was S$489.3 million — sourcing for alternatives seems to be an option worth looking into, if the global trend of arts funding cuts is anything to go by.

However, developing fundraising skills is something the NAC is currently looking into. “The skills to map out a fundraising strategy, engage existing donors and win new supporters are critical as Singapore’s arts scene matures,” said the council’s deputy chief executive Paul Tan, who also heads its capability development department. Although he pointed out that many established arts groups know their way around the world of fundraising, he added: “Overall, we have some way to go, especially for smaller organisations and those without full-time employees.”

The council has a few things lined up to get the ball rolling. It is collaborating with the British Council to launch a series of workshops called Lead The Way, with the first one running from Jan 14 to 17. Meant for leaders of arts groups with less than five years’ experience, the participants will be introduced to key management concepts and offer discussions regarding arts management. Another programme in the pipeline is a partnership with the Centre for Non-Profit Leadership to help new groups beef up their organisational skills, which, yes, includes sniffing out potential funding.

LEARNING FROM OTHERS

While new groups might be struggling to fill their coffers, they could learn a thing or two from established arts groups. It can be argued that these are on a different level altogether, but there are lessons to be gleaned from them.

Take the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). While a bulk of financial support comes from the Government (it runs on an average operating budget of S$16 million to 17 million a year), the orchestra’s assistant manager for fundraising and sponsorship, Anthony Chng, said it actually “survives year-on-year”. “While we have relatively been sheltered the last couple of years, we walk the tightrope — if a major donor pulls out, there’s immediately a gap,” he said.

To plan for the longer term, Chng attended the International Fundraising Congress in Amsterdam last October to see how other groups beyond the arts plan their fundraising strategies.

“It’s like constructing your income line for the next five years,” he said.

Seeing how other congress participants such as Red Cross or UNESCO had raised money for their causes gave Chng a sense of perspective and a point of cultural comparison. For instance, one of the most commonly used strategies to raise funds in the United Kingdom has been via apps or SMS, which few in Singapore have capitalised on. Also, while “gifts” are openly solicited in the United States, more roundabout and less up-front tactics are employed here.

But even within Singapore, there are differences between arts groups and non-arts groups — such as the number of people that comprise fundraising teams. The SSO has a team of only three people, for instance, while a local university might have a veritable army of 30, he said. It’s no surprise which institution is likely to get more favourable results. Statistically speaking, of course.

What might be surprising is that a big institution such as the National Gallery Singapore also sees itself in the same boat as the SSO. Charmaine Wai, the museum’s deputy director for partnership development, said she has a team of eight. “Among arts groups, it’s a decent-sized team, but it’s nowhere as large as those from the education sector — if you look at SMU or NUS, you’ll find their teams are significantly larger,” she said.

GET A NEW PIE

While offers from corporate donors and hotshot philanthropists are always welcome — and will always be one of the primary avenues of fundraising — Wai said there’s one sector that’s still being overlooked in Singapore: The general public.

“That’s going to be a big trend: Getting individuals to support on a regular basis (to create) an active ongoing relationship — and not just (having) one big bang and that’s it,” she said. “Gifts from billionaires are great, of course, but you also want to build a base of supporters. You have to cast the net wider to (reach) supporters who may, in time, move up that ladder. It’s basically investing in the next generation of philanthropists.”

National Heritage Board’s deputy director for philanthropy Wendy Ong Hwee Ling agreed, pointing out an interesting observation about Singapore in comparison with the US.

“In Singapore, I’ve noticed a lot of non-profit organisations tend to go towards the corporations for funding; whereas in the US, you’ll see a fundraising model where the focus is on the lowest tier, which may comprise a few million people who may give you S$20 per person. They form the backbone.”

Given that one of the arguments regarding funding is that everyone is battling for a piece of the same pie, Ong said that because individuals are an untapped portion of that proverbial pie, “right now, it’s almost a brand new pie”.

TURNING PRO

If there was a new arts company that could very well serve as the poster child for this new direction in fundraising, it would be the Ding Yi Music Company. The group started as an amateur association in 2008 and was more or less in the same boat as Hatch Theatrics. “If we did concerts, the NAC would subsidise (the costs), but we would sometimes fork out the money to cover the remaining cost ourselves,” said company manager Dedric Wong De Li.

Then in 2011, it took the big step of going professional and incorporated Ding Yi into a company. The group comprised 20 musicians — including six full-timers — and four more in the management team. “We told ourselves, why not do something more serious and sustainable. If we’re going to do this longer, I don’t think the musicians would (endure the situation) anymore. We had to plan a way to earn a living for the company,” said Wong.

Turning pro offered a few advantages for Ding Yi: It became eligible for the NAC’s Seed Grant and there was now a board of directors to help it plan for long term. With this move came a change in mindset — it had to plan an annual thematic season of shows instead of doing them on an ad hoc basis.

Last May, it held its first fundraising event, a concert with Taiwanese singer Tang Na, which melded its Chinese classical tunes with something more pop, to draw audiences in. Other events were also held, such as a dinner for the funders that offered a more intimate session with the singer. It aimed to raise S$500,000 and hit the target. “It was a good experience for the management and musicians, and the board helped us get a lot of contacts and would talk to our sponsors,” said Wong.

With that welcome windfall, Ding Yi could think bigger — and increase the numbers in its management team, as well as musicians (the company plans to have 10 to 12 full-timers in the next five years). This, in turn, can help generate more income for the company. Financial sustainability would also free it up to think about more than survival — the company can also do outreach programmes and, of course, produce better shows.

Before its May fundraiser, Wong said, the wallet was always on the tight side. “Sometimes when we want to do a very big project, we (couldn’t) do it because we have to be careful with the money,” he said.

But with this new amount raised, he said: “It’s now about how to use the money correctly to produce very good works.”