WaterFire on firm financial ground

What a difference a year makes.
Near the end of 2011 the driving forces behind WaterFire Providence, touted by many as the city’s signature artistic event, painted a picture of a desperate financial state that made them question the organization’s chances of returning for the next season.
Eleven months later, Barnaby Evans, founder and artistic director, was in Rome last week to celebrate the first large-scale European WaterFire lighting Sept. 21-22 and those who stayed home were reporting a much more optimistic outlook.
“People thought we were on life support,” said Peter Mello, managing director. “I want to stress that we are viable. We worked hard at trying to figure out how to manage expenses and grow revenue. This is all a long-term process that you have to continuously work on.”
In a November 2011 interview, Evans told Providence Business News that WaterFire Providence had a cumulative $200,000 deficit acquired over 2010 and 2011. He also said there was little to no hope of raising money to cover that deficit or pay for future installations.
A stretched staff, reliance on a large pool of volunteers and a depletion of savings once marked for a building purchase added to Evans’ worry that the organization might have to leave town.
But grants and fundraising have since brought in enough to reverse the two annual deficits and actually point to an expected net surplus at the end of 2012.
“WaterFire Providence has a very exciting future planned for Providence,” Mello said. “We had operating deficits. Those didn’t really threaten our existence other than if you just ignore it, it threatens sustainability. We have a strategic plan, we’re having a good year and that’s not surprising. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Evans, along with 20 volunteers, returned last week from what he called a successful Rome event.
“The exposure and attention for [the] project in Rome is fantastic for WaterFire in Providence and for the city itself,” Evans said. “It’s always a fantastic endorsement of Rhode Island and Providence to have our signature art installation be invited to create an original piece in a city as rich in art as Rome. That is great news for the arts and design community in Providence.” But the Rome lighting technically isn’t a part of WaterFire Providence, a nonprofit organization. Evans, as its creator, holds a copyright on the WaterFire concept.
No WaterFire Providence funds were used for the trip or event.
The lighting was sponsored by Lottomatica, GTECH Corp.’s holding company, and the city of Rome. Evans and the Rome project did provide financial support via airfare for Providence-based volunteers.
Mello could not say if that money came from a possible artist fee paid to Evans for the installation.
WaterFire lightings also have been held in Singapore, as well as Kansas City, Mo., Columbus, Ohio, and Tacoma, Wash.
Just as those projects don’t cost WaterFire Providence any money, they don’t make any money for the organization either.
WaterFire Providence’s largest funding source is corporate sponsorship. That source also was up this year from a reported $772,000 in 2011 to about $830,000 this year that could rise even higher by the time 2012 closes.
Mello said the vast majority of 2011 sponsors renewed and new corporate sponsors stepped forward.
“WaterFire is a tremendously popular event that appeals to a wide demographic,” he said. “Companies that understand the importance of wowing their customers and giving them unique experiences are the type of sponsors which want to work with us.”
Part of the respite from fiscal worry this year came from resolving, in a way, a dispute over who should be paying for a popular collaboration with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2011, Evans cited a dispute with the General Assembly over a $100,000 portion of state funding, which was at $225,000 for 2010 and 2011, being used specifically for the Philharmonic on Fire event first held in 2010.
Evans said at the time he thought the 2011 performance would be paid for through separate General Assembly-approved funds and WaterFire wasn’t prepared to incur that expense.
Things seemed to be clearer this year.
Planning for an expected 2012 collaboration began early and both the philharmonic and WaterFire requested that separate funding be designated for it.
“Unfortunately, since that did not occur, our collaboration had to take a hiatus,” Mello said. Because WaterFire could not provide any funding, this year’s planned event was scrapped. “However, both organizations are optimistic and hopeful that funding will be secured for the collaboration to return in 2013,” Mello said. The Providence Tourism Council also provides funding through the state-collected hotel tax. In 2011, that contribution was $75,000 and Mello said he expects the same when it arrives in this year’s fourth quarter.
He pointed to the state’s “return on investment” for funding, saying WaterFire annually brings about 1 million people to downtown Providence and that they generate $70 million in economic impact for local businesses and $5 million in direct tax revenue for the state.
“If you talk to restaurant owners or hotel concierges, you will find that people schedule [visits] in advance and their places are packed,” said Randall Rosenbaum, executive director of the R.I. State Council on the Arts.
WaterFire Providence last June received a $454,000 grant from ArtPlace, a collaboration of 13 large foundations in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other federal agencies.
That grant, one of 47 granted to 32 communities across the country, is restricted for use in creating new art and cannot be used to support the organization’s traditional budget.
The organization is in the process of hiring a full-time philanthropy director who will be focused in part on leading a $5 million “growth” campaign, still in its organizational stages. As of last week, WaterFire Providence was close to announcing a chosen candidate.
The campaign will raise funds for purchasing a vacant “historic” building in the city’s Valley neighborhood that will allow the organization to consolidate staff and operations from its current five locations into one location.
It is hoped that building, which Mello expects to close on within the next couple months, also will be a multiservice community arts center for exhibitions, performances and youth programs.
Evans hopes to return to Rome, where the recent lighting generated a press conference and received extensive media coverage, with a larger installation next year and is working on other projects for Rhode Island.
“It is going to be an amazing adventure, with Providence firmly the centerpiece,” Evans said. •

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