Economic Footprint

Devenney Leijon Managing Director

“Partnerships are a deeply valued part of our organization — from the stagehand union and contracted security team, to neighboring restaurants and hotels, to our resident companies, rental clients, and other local nonprofits. Our wider reach extends not only through the power of the art creation onstage, but also the meaningful economic impact we provide for and with the community as a whole. ”

The Final Numbers

Total Number of Full-Time Staff: 13

Total Performances & Events: 120

Total Season Attendance: 123,731 patrons

Total Educational Outreach Attendance: 8,697 people

Total General Operating Expenses: $3,130,309.00

The Arts Community Impact

The Pioneer Center serves primarily as a rental facility for performing arts organizations, both local and national. Our Box Office sells tickets on behalf of rental clients and distributes the collected funds to those clients upon settlement after the show. The Pioneer Center also pays the IATSE Local 363 union stagehands who provide theatre tech labor for every performance and event at our venue.

• Combined total of Box Office ticket sales received by all arts organizations utilizing our venue: $8,942,043.00

• Combined total of Box Office ticket sales received by local arts organizations utilizing our venue: $1,516,674.00

• Total wages paid to local union stagehand laborers: $660,202.00

The Regional Impact

The Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway industry, estimates that just the 2021-2022 Broadway Comes to Reno season alone made a $22.65 million economic impact on the Reno/Sparks metropolitan area. Their formula for estimation takes into account gross ticket sales, area population, adjacent local businesses, and common demographic spending patterns of Broadway patrons and productions.

Americans for the Arts, a national nonprofit arts advocacy organization based in Washington DC, uses a similar calculation to estimate the local economic impact of arts organizations. According to their estimation, the entire 2021-2022 Pioneer Center season:

• Helped to sustain 547 full-time equivalent jobs.

• Helped to create $15.73 million in total expenditures, including the local restaurants, bars, hotels, parking garages, and other neighborhood businesses who see a crossover of patronage whenever productions play a performing arts center.

• Helped to add $11.89 million to household incomes across our community.

• Helped to generate $1.6 million in revenue for state and local governments.