What’s the state of the performing arts scene in the Bay Area in 2026? An informal survey of arts public relations professionals shows that, despite facing desperate financial situations, art groups, and the arts, won’t be going away, at least not entirely.
Lawrence Helman, a San Francisco publicist for theaters and many varied performers for three decades, says, “The people I work with are incredibly driven to create art and not because of financial gain.”
Carla Befera, whose 40-year-old South Bay public relations and marketing company has represented hundreds of theater companies, Broadway tours, dance, opera and symphony, says, “There will always be people who gather around the campfire and tell stories and, and there will always be people who are dying to hear those stories.” But how and where they go to experience them, she says, “just keeps morphing.”
John Hill, an Oakland publicist in the arts and culture sector for 16 years whose clients include San Francisco’s ODC/Dance and OCD Theater, calls himself an optimist, and points to the hundreds of dance companies in the region and the free events in Bay Area Dance Week on April 24 through May 3 this year. He says, “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the public to see a cross section of the incredible diversity of dance that’s on offer in the Bay Area — everything from all the different types of classical Indian dance to hula, all the way to contemporary modern ballet. It’s just incredible.”
Dire economics
At the same time, financial struggles for nonprofit arts groups of all sizes — those offering anything other than popular entertainment for the masses — remain a reality.
“Every theater company that I work with is constantly under threat of going under,” says Helman, who represents the San Francisco Mime Troup and Circus Bella, which don’t charge admission to mostly outdoor shows and rely on donations.
In recent years, dire economics has caused the demise of many local theater groups. Hill’s former clients no longer in operation include Cutting Ball, Exit, FoolsFury, Mugwumpin and Ragged Wing. Among the numerous other small and medium-sized theaters closed since the pandemic are Aurora Theatre, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, 42nd Street Moon, PianoFight and TheatreFirst.
Jan Zvaifler starred in Patricia Milton’s “After Happy,” Central Works’ 79th premiere at the Berkeley City Club in March; the show will be among the final productions by the company, which is shutting down after the 2026 season concludes. (Robbie Sweeny /Central Works via Bay City News)
Just this month, principals at Central Works, a Berkeley group producing original plays in an intimate 50-seat theater, announced the troupe would shut down for good at the end of the 2026 season, ending a 36-year run.
Across the board, major decreases in or complete loss of public funding have played a huge role for Bay Area arts groups. These are among the organizations that lost all or part of their funding when President Donald Trump cut National Endowment for the Arts allocations related to diversity in 2025: American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; California Symphony; Dance Mission Theater, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Frameline, an LGBTQ film festival; Kitka, a women’s vocal ensemble; McSweeney’s, a literary magazine; Oakland Theater Project; ODC Dance; Opera San Jose; Richmond Art Center; San Francisco Contemporary Music Players; San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, San Francisco International Arts Festival; SFJazz, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San Jose Museum of Art; San Jose Taiko; TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; and Zyzzyva, a literary journal.
Raising money
With ticket sales and subscriptions traditionally covering only a fraction of what it costs to produce a show or concert, arts groups are continuing an age-old quest to raise money.
Years ago, numerous local groups routinely counted on funding from San Francisco’s Grants for the Arts, drawn from hotel tax revenues, and private sources such as The Hewlett Foundation. During the pandemic in the wake of George Floyd’s death, funders changed priorities in allocations, with an eye toward diversity, equity and inclusion. While cuts to many groups, particularly established institutions, were “quite painful,” Hill says, funding to smaller organizations that had never before received money was intended to level the playing field.
On another positive note, in September 2025, San Francisco’s Grants for the Arts awarded some $14 million to more than 260 organizations of all sizes, a similar sum to the pre-pandemic amount given in 2018-19. Making the announcement last year, Mayor Daniel Lurie said, “A strong arts and culture community is essential to San Francisco’s recovery.”
Other private foundations, too, currently are making substantial contributions to Bay Area arts, including the Fleishhacker Foundation, Koret Foundation, San Francisco Foundation and Svane Family Foundation and Walter & Elise Haas Fund.
Still, changes in the past several years in the ways grants have been given have prompted changes for fundraising. Hill says, “On the development side, most prominent of all has been a shift more toward wealthy individual patrons.” While the philanthropy is laudable, he notes that such funding might be unreliable, in that rich families can be fickle, and because their influence could affect programming.
Befera points out that arts groups ought to retain experienced development and marketing workers who know how to connect with the right philanthropists to fund not only operations and tried-and-true programming, but also new productions, which are expensive. She says, “It’s a big outlay to potentially create the next ‘Hamilton,’ which started as a workshop.”
She adds, “So you’ve got find these nice people, those who say, ‘I’ll put in my money, and fingers crossed, I’ll be up there someday accepting the Tony…I’ll be one of those 40 people onstage.” She mentions that the head of a theater recently told her that, 90 percent of the time when they get a new gift and they say, “What caused you to give?” the response is, “Nobody asked me until now.”
San Francisco’s ODC Theater, home of the OCD/Dance troupe and a presenting organization that provides space for numerous groups to meet, rehearse and perform, raised $800,000 at its March 6 gala this year. Not only is the “unique” art institution founded by Brenda Way “ensuring the viability of the ecosystem,” Hill says it is amid a “robust” campaign to cultivate both longstanding and new donors. In 2022, it acquired the building at 3175-3177 17th St., next to its Mission District home at 351 Shotwell St., which opened in 2005. Plans are to redesign the building and expand the campus.
San Francisco institutions
San Francisco Symphony Public Relations Director Taryn Lott notes that while the orchestra is “seeing encouraging fundraising momentum this year, with giving trending ahead of last year … continued growth in philanthropy is essential.” Continuing to address a structural deficit reported in 2024 as 116 million over the last 10 years, the symphony in 2024-25 finished, Lott reports, with a “greatly reduced operating deficit from prior years, and where expenses only slightly outstripped revenues from operations.”
On a similar note, San Francisco Opera Public Relations Director Jeffery S. McMillan says, “The burden for supporting the company’s artistic activity is met through philanthropy,” with tickets sales covering just over 14 percent of the budget. But the organization enjoys an “extraordinary” donor base, largely individuals. More than 50 households in its Producers Circle are marking six- and seven-figure contributions. In November 2025, Nvidia cofounder Jensen Huang and his wife Lori made a multi-year $5 million gift. Even with those donations, McMillan adds, “There is still significant work to be done to stabilize the fundamental economics.”
Direct ask
Smaller organizations are asking for money directly via email.
“Everybody’s inbox is full of, ‘Give me money, give me money, go fund me,’ and there’s only so much,” says Helman, who finds it interesting that, when he sends out press releases for clients via email, the first responses he receives aren’t from potential patrons, but from publications’ marketing departments asking if he wants to buy an ad.
Meanwhile, an April 17 email sent out by The San Franciso Mime Troupe describing “the cost of free” asks contributors to underwrite fees for parks across Northern California where they appear, ranging from $267 to $3,000 per performance or site. The email also requests money to cover a week’s work for an actor, stage manager and sound manager, at $940 each; the technical director for $2,484; or $500 for materials for props. Those are just several of the “smorgasbord of goodies” listed in the message.
An April 17 email sent out by Ray of Light, a 25-year-old San Francisco musical theater company founded by Shane Ray, calls for donations to offset the purchase of a theater on Jackson Square, its first permanent home. The message says: “We’re raising $150,000 to cover build-out costs, fund three productions and build the infrastructure that lets a fully volunteer company run a permanent venue at the level you expect from us. This is not a dream. It’s a finish line. Come meet us there.”
Post-pandemic performances
While dealing with continued difficult economics, many Bay Area arts groups have changed and expanded programming in the wake of the pandemic, which, of course, had a big effect on potential audiences for live shows.
Befera says, “COVID taught them how to stay home and find 800 things to watch on television,” noting that there was an attrition of people, particularly those in their 70s and 80s, who never made it back inside theaters.
Yet audiences were showing up online in 2020 and 2021 when public life shut down. Befera says her business did not slow down during the pandemic because clients moving to digital presentations “were desperate to get the word out,” to remind patrons not to forget them.
Meanwhile, Helman jokes that when the San Francisco Mime Troupe pivoted to podcasts in 2020 because it could not perform its free political theater (fans know that the 67-year-old, award-winning group is famous for pointed, satirical musicals, not mime!) in parks, he sent out a press release that read “Mime on radio?”
Last year, due to economics, for the first time in its history, the troupe presented just half of its outdoor season, performing July 4 through the first week of August rather than through Labor Day.
“They couldn’t afford it,” Helman says, adding that the troupe has a new challenge in 2026. “This year, they’re really having a hard time getting the East Bay to book parks for them that they’ve gone to for over 60 years.” In the previously mentioned April email, the group asks for public assistance in getting Berkeley’s Parks and Recreation Department to confirm reservations for Cedar Rose, Live Oak and Willard parks; or as an alternative, suggest other possible park performance sites, because the difficulty in securing Berkeley has hampered efforts to finalize the summer schedule.
Finding new audiences
On the other hand, San Francisco Opera experienced packed houses and diverse audiences with its November 2025 premiere of “The Monkey King,” based on a character from a 16th century Chinese novel. McMillan says, “Every performance was completely sold out… including the last four (out of eight) being completely maxed out for standing room tickets, resulting in as full a house as any in recent memory.” In addition, a Dolby Family program offering $10 tickets to Bay Area residents who have not purchased tickets in the last three years, McMillan says, “has brought in thousands of new-to-system ticket buyers, many of whom return for one or two additional operas or become new subscribers.” He adds, “Another exciting aspect is that we have been seeing audiences getting younger and including more and more individuals who are completely new to us.”
Alternatively, Befera, whose current clients include Marin Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and Opera San José, says, “When ‘Hamilton’ comes along, young people will come. But, from a marketing point of view, it’s more expensive to get a young person to come to the theater and they’re less likely to have the time or wherewithal to come back month after month, or become a donor at the end of the year; however, golden agers are the fastest growing segment of the population. People are aging into that demographic every day now. They have the free time, they have the money, they don’t want to see the latest crash-’em up movie.”
San Francisco Symphony’s Lott points to recent paid capacity in Davies Symphony Hall rising almost to pre-pandemic levels. In 2018-19, before COVID, it was 79 percent. She says, “When we returned to live performances in 2021-22 after gathering restrictions lifted, capacities dropped about 20 percent, and we’ve been happy to see them steadily rise to around 72-75 percent in recent seasons.”
But symphony patrons today are purchasing single tickets rather than subscriptions. In 2008-09, subscriptions accounted for 76 percent of sales; in 2018-19, it was 62 percent, and most recently, in 2024-25, dropped to 33 percent, Lott says, prompting a change in marketing strategies.
(Befera also notes that while falling subscriptions have been a cause of concern for theater companies since well before the pandemic, they remain desirable because organizations can plan and produce better when they have the money up front.)
Programs for the future
Back to the San Fancisco symphony: Lott adds, “We’ve seen positive movement in recent years, both in attendance and in bringing in new audiences and fresh energy and are optimistic about the organization’s future.” Longtime observers also point out that the symphony’s recently announced 2026-27 season, its second without a music director, offers innovations in the same vein as those from former beloved music directors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Michael Tilson Thomas.
While San Francisco Ballet representatives did not immediately respond to a query about its status, its upcoming season announcement includes two commissions with pioneering choreographers; classic full-length ballets; and “Nutcracker,” known for filling Opera House seats. In her fourth year on the job, artistic director Tamara Rojo said, “SF Ballet’s 2026-27 season brings together a remarkable constellation of legendary artists—visionaries who have shaped the trajectory of ballet and those who continue to define it today. I’m especially thrilled to bring Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, a creative partnership that is redefining what contemporary choreography can be, to San Francisco.” The company also will tour “Mere Mortals,” a 2024 high-tech themed dance created in the wake of an unprecedented, anonymous $60 million donation in 2024 meant to drive new work.
Other companies also are opening up programming with the aim of forging connections and partnerships and attracting new patrons.
Creators of Opera San José’s 2022 production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” which was set in India during British colonial rule and boasted a Bollywood-style wedding scene, consulted with local Indian arts experts on choreography and costumes. Befera, who represents the opera, says the show brought in a whole new audience, including many who were pleasantly surprised when they connected with the art form. The same thing happened with its bilingual 2025 production of Héctor Armienta’s “Zorro,” which drew many Spanish speakers to the opera for the first time.
Numerous local, regional and world premiere plays have been in recent lineups at Marin Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; Befera says all are doing a good job of balancing old favorites with new commissions, and finding work that audiences respond to.
She thinks it’s important for the public to know that “Hamilton” didn’t “magically show up on Broadway” and that patrons supported it on the long way there. She adds, “You can be one of the people that supports journeys in, in other ways, too,” starting with drama and music classes for kids, and community theater. “Can we foster this going forward?” she asks, and answers, “I think it will find a way.”
Interestingly, the San Francisco Ballet, in its strategic planning document for 2025-28, describes a new holistic mission: It says, “For too long, cultural organizations have framed artistic excellence and financial strength as competing priorities, as if commitment to one necessarily compromises the other. This false dichotomy has limited the potential of many arts institutions, creating unnecessary tensions and missed opportunities. San Francisco Ballet rejects this binary thinking entirely. The organization recognizes artistic excellence and financial stability as interdependent foundations that must evolve together to create lasting impact.”
As publicist Hill observes that not all artists are suffering — noting that Taylor Swift and Outside Lands tickets costing $1,000 instantly sell out — he says, “Maybe people are not seeing as much art in real life as they once were; they’re saving up see something that they really care about.” He adds, “And I would zoom out and say something even broader: I think that the arts sector of the economy follows the same trend lines as the economy overall, in the sense that a few big players are vacuuming up more and more of the dollars and people’s attention at the expense of smaller players.”
But there’s some hope for the future. Hill concludes, “As the variety of options continues to evolve and people are going to continue to watch art on their phones and other forms of technology that compete against participation, I don’t think that in-real-life events are going to go away; they are something that can’t be fully replicated.”