This business partnership began about 10 years ago, while
Blackman and Hendrickson were both volunteering for a Red Cross event.
“I’d guest lectured at USC for
11 years that as a nonprofit, you have to have a mission statement, a
board and a bank,” says Blackman. “When Cathy told me she
was president of a bank I sat in her lap and asked if she knew the combination
to the vault. Then I proposed to her on the spot and she said yes.”
While Blackman’s proposal was all in fun, he and
Hendrickson did form a winning partnership. Hendrickson became the CLOSBC’s
banker and came onto the CLOSBC board as a driving force three years
later.
“There are not two more diverse
organizations than a bank and a theater,” says Hendrickson. “One
is left brain, one is right brain, yet our common interest is the community.
We need to see plans on paper and it’s good for the theater to
have them on paper. We instill business discipline and structure to
a business built on creativity. And it’s always fun for a banker
to be involved with a group that’s growing, to assist and mentor
that growth.”
Mentoring involves a great deal of education in financial
and accounting practices, not always a strength with theater companies.
Hendrickson makes sure the CLOSBC is run like a business, foresees problems
and solutions, and provides financial support when needed.
“Cathy taught us how to run the business
better, how to measure the cost ratio of labor/profit and
saw us through the last elimination of a deficit,” says Blackman. ”She’s
now helping me with the new deficit caused by 9/11 and the impact of
the construction of the new Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on
ticket sales. For three years, right around the time of 9/11, this
place looked like a war zone, not an image that makes people buy tickets.”
But the building of the performing arts center was a wanted
and necessary step for CLOSBC’s growth and has been a huge success.
An economic impact report by business students at USC proved that the
CLOSBC is responsible for bringing millions of dollars in discretionary
income into the community. Blackman explains that the CLOSBC “brings
in a lot of that money at night and during the winter, the downtime for
a beach community.”
Hendrickson agrees that the CLOSBC is vital to
the community.
“The CLOSBC has been a joy to work with,” she
says. “It makes it worthwhile to me to work with their ups and
downs. We see the CLO as an institution that is putting Redondo Beach
on the map. It’s economically good for the community, has created
a new beautiful arts center and brings people to the area from other
cities.”
Some key support decisions, such as loans
to purchases sets have repaid themselves many times for CLOSBC, all done
with sound business principles in place. Their loans bought the set for Titanic,
and for two other productions.
“The support for the purchase of the West
Side Story set allowed us to win the Ovation Award
in 1999,” says Blackman. “It cost $60,000 but it has
made its money back, probably 12 times over, as it’s still
on tour in other theaters around the nation. She also helped me get The
Wizard of Oz set from Madison Square Garden/Radio City
Music Hall. She saw the opportunity for our incredible production,
and now we own the set. That investment has been paid for probably
40 times over already.
“Bay Cities Bank loans us money
to create growth and opportunity,” adds Blackman. “There’s
no shortage of creative people in L.A., but there is a shortage of
people like Cathy.”
As a board member Hendrickson also sits in with James when meeting
with Redondo Beach officials. “It shows the City that the board
is involved, understands the dynamics of the company and that we’re
part of the support structure,” she explains.
And it’s not just Hendrickson who is a CLOSBC fan, her
favorite shows being Dream Girls and The
Wizard of Oz. Bank employees volunteer as ushers and in
other capacities at the theater. The bank also underwrites the cost of
bringing in audiences of underprivileged children to help share the experience
of live musical theater. To the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities,
Hendrickson’s a Dream Girl AND a Wizard of Aaaaaaahs.
“We’re banking on the future,” she
says.
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