POWAY -- The city-owned Poway Center for the Performing Arts will wind up with a budget surplus both this year and next -- giving it six straight years of balanced budgets after a fiscal crisis in 2002 -- according to officials with the nonprofit foundation that oversees the center's finances and programming.

Scaled-down season lineups, ticket revenue increases and innovative fundraising tactics have kept the center in the black for five years after the foundation reported it was having major money problems six years ago, said Michael Rennie, associate director of the Poway Center for the Performing Arts Foundation.

Foundation officials have projected that the center's $510,000 budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 will wind up with a $48,682 surplus. Rennie said Monday that the center's $624,000 budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year beginning July 1 will end with an estimated $25,000 surplus.

"We'd like to be known as an exemplary nonprofit," he said.

After the city gave the nonprofit organization $252,000 to keep its doors open during a fiscal crisis six years ago, the foundation reorganized and cut its season lineup and annual budget virtually in half. The changes helped the organization recover financially, and the last five fiscal years the foundation has reported surpluses ranging from $18,000 to $74,742.

At least one other nonprofit arts venue in the region isn't faring so well financially.

The California Center for the Arts, Escondido has run a deficit during 11 of the 13 years since it opened in 1994. Last September, the Escondido City Council created a special subcommittee to search for ways to make the center more profitable after it ran a $419,554 deficit during the previous fiscal year that ended June 30.

While the Poway foundation receives nearly 40 percent of its annual operating funds from the city, the Escondido center, which also has a museum and convention center, received roughly 20 percent of its operating funds from the city last year.

The Escondido council has blamed unsuccessful marketing and ticket sales for the deficits, while the center's board has blamed the relatively small size of the venue and increasing competition from casinos.

Both centers rely on donations and ticket sales to make up the remainder of their budgets.

In Poway, Rennie credited an expanded telemarketing program and "salon parties" as instrumental in raising funds for the center.

Salon parties are hosted by an arts center donor and usually include dinner and drinks for invitees who are told in advance they will be asked for donations, Rennie said.

He also said the foundation's annual fundraising golf tournament, scheduled for June 23, is expected to garner $45,000 for the upcoming year.

Also, the foundation has been booking less expensive artists whose fees don't "drive costs through the roof," Rennie said.

"We're booking quality shows but not pandering to the latest flavor of the month," he said.

Kris Kristofferson is the headlining act kicking off the arts center's 19th season Oct. 19 with acoustic renditions of his hit songs and personal accounts of his time traveling with country western singing superstars Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. Rennie said a $10,000 gift from a private donor helped pay for the performance.

In addition to less-expensive performances and a reinvigorated fund-raising effort, the foundation cut its lineup from 20 shows per year to seven in 2003. Since then, the list of performances has slightly increased and 10 shows are on the 2007-08 line-up.

"It was a hard cut to make, but it has worked and we're building our line-up again," Rennie said.

For information about the Poway Center for the Performing Arts or upcoming shows or to buy tickets, call the box office at (858) 748- 0505 or log onto www.powayarts.org.

Contact staff writer Darryn Bennett at (760) 740-5420 or dmbennett@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.