There’s a touch of mystery, drama, and intrigue about the Black Swan Theatre Company – and that’s even before the curtain rises.
There’s a touch of mystery, drama, and intrigue about the Black Swan Theatre Company – and that’s even before the curtain rises.
Black Swan’s offices are located in an old Masonic hall in Crawley and relics of the Masons secretive world create the perfect dramatic backdrop for Western Australia’s largest theatre company.
Bronwyn Edinger is four weeks into her new role as Black Swan’s general manager, having returned to WA after several years in the theatre industry in NSW.
Looking after the business side of the organisation, Ms Edinger said business people often had a mistaken perception of the arts as non-serious businesses.
“We are a small business with exactly the same concerns as other small businesses in relation to accounting, marketing, compliance and governance,” she said.
“We are a non-profit organisation, but that doesn’t mean we don’t aim to make a surplus.
“Everything we earn goes back into the organisation to make it better.
With Black Swan holding four core productions this year, Ms Edinger said part of her role would be to guide the company through a period of rapid growth.
“It is a fantastic time to join the company – it is always exciting to manage change, especially when the change is growth,” she said.
“We need to be gearing up for some rapidly reasonable expansion, and like any business that is expanding we will have issues with structures, systems, marketing and looking at our strategic position overall.
“We have to be careful not to become too busy. We need the right business practices and structures in place to be able to cope with growth.”
Ms Edinger said audience growth was the biggest challenge in her role, and that it was an industry-wide concern.
“There is a tendency in the arts to be competitive with each other, but at the end of the day the best results come from partnering and viewing things from a macro perspective.”
One of the most critical aspects of being involved with theatre companies is the marketing, according to Ms Edinger.
“Arts organisations have a particular challenge in that we can’t create new products, trial them and get feedback,” she said.
“Within a five-week period we have to create a product and launch it onto the market.”
As one of the four major performing arts groups in WA (WA Ballet, WA Symphony Orchestra, and West Australian Opera being the others), Black Swan receives both state and federal funding.
“As an arts organisation we do extremely well in terms of sponsorship, but we do put a lot of effort in to that,” Ms Edinger said.
“Pilbara Iron and Wesfarmers have both been terrific sponsors.”
The Black Swan board is chaired by Janet Holmes a Court, and Ms Edinger said the board had a very corporate composition.
“A board is about governance and policy, so it is integral to have a corporate focused board, even if it is for an arts organisation,” she said.
