It's time for arts organizations to get a bit creative -- about money.

"It's going to be tough for everybody," said Jeffrey Inscho, spokesman for the Mattress Factory on the North Side, which kept its budget at $1.6 million for both 2007 and 2008 and is now looking at 2009.

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As money dries up further, Mr. Inscho said the museum is looking at stepping up revenues from renting space for events and selling items from its gift shop.

Across the rivers on the South Side, Greg Quinlan, managing director of Pittsburgh City Theatre, said, "My biggest focus is trying to imagine what 2009 looks like."

City Theatre took a huge revenue hit last year, causing its budget to drop from $3.5 million in 2007 to $2.7 million.

Looking at 2009, the Heinz Endowments will be decreasing the money City Theatre receives by 15 percent. Subscriptions have fallen by 4 percent, which Mr. Quinlan said wasn't as bad as it could have been considering how people are cutting back on discretionary spending.

The theater has been using one-actor comedies as a way to boost ticket sales. Pieces such as Kimberly Richards' "Late Night Catechism" and "Sister's Christmas Catechism" and Robert Dubac's "The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?" and "Male Intellect: the Second Coming" are relatively inexpensive to produce but tend to fill the house.

Those shows help bring in revenue to produce new plays and give contemporary playwrights a stage.

"We're looking to maintain our mission and our strong relations with our audiences," Mr. Quinlan said.

Pittsburgh Filmmakers, which also runs the Center for the Arts, saw a little more money for 2008, about $100,000 of a $3.7 million budget.

Dorinda Hughes, director of administration for the combined organization, said there wasn't any single strategy that carried the nonprofit through the year. Instead there was a climb in enrollment for programs and increased attendance at the movie theaters owned by Filmmakers as people downsize their entertainment budgets.

"I think it all just fell into place," she said.

Still, the organization tries to be thrifty with its money. "If there's anyone in town who knows how to squeeze a nickel out of a penny, they're here," she said.

Another strategy being explored by nonprofits across the country is the idea of creating a social enterprise, a for-profit arm of the organization that supports the nonprofit's core mission.

August R. Carlino, president of Rivers of Steel, which promotes the preservation and awareness of Pittsburgh's steel-producing past, has embraced the concept in addition to the organization's usual funding sources.

Rivers of Steel has a shop in its building that sells posters, shirts, books and photographs, all commemorating and explaining the history of the region. The group also runs tours of the steel heritage area that include the remaining buildings of the U.S. Steel Homestead Works.