Wander down the sunny streets of Shepherdstown during the Contemporary American Theater Festival and you’re likely to bump into people from across the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Many local businesses see these cultural connoisseurs, packing tourist dollars and a willingness to spend them, as walking, talking ATM machines. But does the CATF really bring great wads of money to the Eastern Panhandle?
According to the CATF, over the past few years, 10,000 to 12,000 tickets are sold at the festival. About 66 percent of theater-goers are from out of state. That translates into roughly 7,000 to 8,000 out-of-state tickets sold.
According to the Theatre Communications Group, for every dollar spent on a theater ticket $5 to $7 dollars will be contributed to the community, including as food, lodging, gasoline, and merchandise sales. From last year’s total ticket sales, based on the $5 average multiplier, this would suggest that $1,150,000 was generated for the local community.
Peggy McKowen, associate producing director of CATF, said, “We bring people to this community. They eat in the restaurants; they stay overnight and spend money in the shops; they contribute real dollars to the community.” McKowen adds that the festival itself has a budget of over $1 million dollars a year, and most of that is spent locally on supplies and salaries.
According to Jane Peters, director of Jefferson County Development Authority, CATF has an economic impact beyond Shepherdstown. “I think it has a tremendous impact on the area, Shepherdstown, and other parts of the county.” Peters added that CATF fits into the county’s wider strategy of marketing the area as rich in cultural amenities. “There is a school of thought that cultural amenities and active downtowns—like Shepherdstown’s—attract businesses to the area. I always mention CATF when I’m talking to hi-tech businesses who are thinking of moving to the area.”
Carol Assam, president of Shepherdstown Visitor Center and owner of the Bavarian Inn, is upbeat on the economic impact of CATF. “The festival brings a lot of people to town. We at the Bavarian Inn can notice the difference in mid-week traffic. Most of the people come from out of town. We see the difference when the festival is on. You get an early crowd that comes to eat before the show and some stay over as well.”
Jim Ford, member of the Shepherdstown Town Council and acting chair for the Town’s finance committee, runs the Thomas Shepherd Inn in Shepherdstown. While Ford enjoys the CATF, he’d like to see the Town coffers directly benefit from the festival and tourism economy.
Currently, there is no taxing mechanism that directs money back to the Town: sales tax receipts go directly to the state. “The tourists come to town, they spend money on the businesses but it is difficult to say how this benefits the town itself.” Ford said that the Town is discussing introducing a one-percent sales tax in town. This would generate revenue from tourists who spend money in town.
As the anchor of Shepherdstown’s cultural economy, CATF has helped raise the profile of other arts festivals here. There is also the Goose Route Dance Festival and the New Song Festival in summer, and the Sotto Voce Poetry Festival and American Conservation Film Festival in autumn. Each of these brings audiences to Shepherdstown and surrounding areas and increases the visibility of the county as a cultural destination.
Jim Ford would like to see the Town government promote the various arts festivals in Shepherdstown. “The town has to figure out what it really wants to do. The town could invest in these festivals. We need to convince the town that having arts festivals is good for the town.”
Kitty Clark is executive director of the Goose Route Arts Collaborative, which hosts the Goose Route Dance Festival in Shepherdstown each July—during the run of CATF. She acknowledges that arts festivals in town bring tourists to the local businesses and thinks they could do even more were they not limited by the shortage of venues in town. “I think an arts center in Shepherdstown, with facilities for local artists to use, would be terrific.”
Carol Asam would like to see the theater festival expand so that it caters to a wider audience. “If you want more people to come to town, the theater festival needs a wider appeal. We could then capitalize on everything we have in Shepherdstown—the history, the quaintness of the town, the really nice shops and good restaurants. We could aim to get something for every taste.”
In its way, CATF is already thinking about its future. Plans include producing more shows each season, extending the length of the festival, creating a theater minor at the university, and even a playwriting program there.
When asked if CATF could expand into a larger arts festival, with perhaps fringe festivals that link up with and promote other local theaters as “off-CATF,” Peggy McKowen said she would be “very open” to supporting such initiatives but that CATF is already under-staffed and working under a tight budget. Right now, CATF is not in a position to engage with other arts projects in the area. “I hope we will be able to in the future,” she added.