The second meeting of Save SPAC was held last night in the new Market Center at 55 Railroad Place {beautiful by the way}.
Basically the general conclusion is that SPAC and Marcia White SPAC President and not the community have failed in its mission.SPAC in its formal request for tax exempt status as a nonprofit lists its mission statement as
Mission Statement
"Saratoga Performing Arts Center's mission is to cultivate, promote, foster, sponsor and develop among its members and the community at large, appreciation, understanding, and love of the performing arts."
SPAC seems to be taking our various foil requests very serious and has called for a meeting.
Thursday July 19 from 4:45 till 6. Place Hall of Springs Jazz Piano Bar. Comp beverages will be served
Focus will be on Saving the NYCB... Please attend
I am in for the long haul here and I will be making public for free everything I can get my hands on about the secretive world of the SPAC board Like there SPAC 2010 Tax returns HERE
Now I will do something I rarely do. I want to apologize to and publicly thank Michele Madigan Commissioner of Finance City of Saratoga Springs.
I have been very hard on you and questioned your motivations and intentions in the past. I now have come to believe that your rational for some of your past mistakes [at least in my eyes, think ambulance service here} though misguided were very sincere and I do formally apologize for questioning them. I understand now that you did believe your votes and actions at the time were done in what you believed to be in the best interest of the city.
Michele has this item in your agenda at tonight’s city council meeting
Discussion: Resolution in Support of SPAC and the Ballet.
I will not be present at tonight’s city council meeting as I am attending the ballet . I will be at the meeting of the County Board of Supervisors at 3:30 today to hear our very own deranged Public Safety Commissioner Chris “Toothy’”Mathiesen describe the horrors of Caroline St. to the Supervisors. I would suggest he come properly attired befitting his esteemed status
Stay tuned…
10 comments:
In 2004, Saratoga Performing Arts Center cancelled New York City Ballet’s residency for financial reasons. An impassioned backlash from the community resulted in an audit of the venue that revealed multiple discrepancies.
Eight years later, SPAC threatens to dismantle the ballet season again, which is no surprise considering SPAC’s management team still earns exorbitant salaries. They’ve failed to generate new sources of funding, and they’ve continued to run a nonprofit arts organization as if it were a corporation.
The new facade at SPAC is indicative of the administration’s attitude toward SPAC’s mission as a cultural institution. They’ve slapped a coat of paint onto a crumbling foundation, and the structure is still in danger of collapse.
Former SPAC president Herb Chesbrough and his wife, the previous director of development, were paid $370,000 total for managing the organization in 2004. In 2010, SPAC President Marcia White earned $281,111, and CFO/COO Richard Geary made $141,737. The magnitude of compensation for SPAC’s two top executives helps clarify why this nonprofit performing arts venue, with its short summer season, part of which is handled by Live Nation, is having a tough time making ends meet.
HSBC Bank is no longer a SPAC sponsor, the economy is failing and people have less money to spend on cultural events; however, President Obama stated in his recent visit to the SUNY Nanotech facilities, “... this community represents the future of our economy. ... Cutting-edge businesses from all over the world are deciding to build here and hire here.”
For SPAC to thrive in the new era, it must expand its fundraising outreach to untapped markets, rethink its annual events that barely break even, apply for state and federal grants, leverage the money it receives from Live Nation more efficiently and consult with specialized financial planners to help maximize its investment returns.
A corporation bases its success on the bottom line. A nonprofit arts organization with a mission to “Promote, sponsor, cultivate and develop ... an appreciation and understanding of the performing arts” will fail if it’s run based on the ideals of big business. The performing arts, whether it’s NYCB or the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company, exist to expand the minds and enrich the lives of their audiences. This is why performing arts venues don’t rely on ticket sales to keep them afloat. Ticket sales account for only a portion of the income generated by cultural institutions.
The public is ambivalent about SPAC’s repeated cries for funding because SPAC has never painted a clear picture of what the organization represents and why its success is essential to all our lives, whether we like ballet or not.
With no end in sight to six-figure salaries, lackluster fundraising efforts and a propensity for commercialism, SPAC continues to make the same errors in judgment. Perhaps the Attorney General Charities Bureau can assist futher by completing another audit and taking a closer look at finances and operations beneath the facade at SPAC.
This one-of-a-kind arts organization needs every bit of help available to preserve NYCB’s residency, host fresh, new dance troupes and offer the best in classical programming to upstate New York for the next 100 years.
Claire Stancampiano
Schuylerville
Maybe I missed it, but has anyone gotten a hold of the actual contract between SPAC and Live Nation? How much longer does it run for, and what are the terms, outside of the $800K per year SPAC gets?
Could SPAC now, or in it's next contract, get to point where they start booking certain acts themselves? Take there two biggest acts of the summer, Phish and the Dave Matthews Band, and offer them both the opportunity to book the venue directly through SPAC. Here's the real kicker though... we don't ask them to pay SPAC, we GIVE IT TO THEM, in return for a donation to SPAC, with that donation flagged to be used ONLY for the direct payment of performers in SPAC's classical lineup (The NYC Ballet and Orchrestra).
Based on current ticket prices for these bands ($45 lawn/$60 shell) this would bring in $1.2 million a night in ticket revenue for the bands. Both Phish and DMB currently offer direct ticketing to fans, SPAC maintains it's own box office, and we live in the age of internet, so moving the seats shouldn't be problem.
I'd suggest, that since ticket buyers won't be subject to the Live Nation "surcharges", that along with taxes, add $10 - $15 to each seat, SPAC could even ask that each ticket be bumped up with an $8 surchage, and include enterance into the "pay" section of the park.
Some might argue this would "over run" the park, but as I've said before I think a few weekends is a small price to pay for the much needed revenue to maintain the park the rest of the year. The park service would be looking at possibly $200000 a night, plenty of money to buy some garbage bags and rent some port of johns, and pay for any extra patrols and cleanup, while still offsetting the overall expense of running the park the rest of they year.
Expect each band to do a 3 night stand, bringing them in a cool $3.6 mil for a long weekend in Upstate, NY. With that type of money coming in, I don't think SPAC would be out on line to ask for the bands "donation" to be close to what they're getting from Live Nation for the entire year right now. Keep in mind, since it's a DONATION, it's tax deductible - a nice way to offset the hit that's surely coming from the revenue they earn touring all summer.
SPAC could renegotiate with Live Nation, to book the events OUTSIDE of the weekends SPAC books directly, and while it would surely be a smaller contract, it wouldn't really matter, with the bulk of the revenue being created in two weekends. Even if Live Nation would only pay HALF of what they are paying now, we'd still be in better shape then we are. Whatever number SPAC and Live Nation came up with, that money would be SPAC's operating budget for the year.
There would be a few lose ends to tie up, such as security and concessions for these events, but I'm sure they could figure that out pretty easily. If Aramark's concession contract is booked through Live Nation right now anyway, a simple solution might be allowing Aramark to keep the concessions for these events, as part of their contract with Live Nation, and Live Nation providing their security detail inside the venue for these events.
Since we've got our thinking caps on, who might be able to handle the job of booking 2 events a year and overseeing the classical line up for SPAC. We'd need someone who isn't looking for a half a million dollar compensation package. Someone who would be good with people and have some influence and access to the types of donors SPAC needs to survive. Also, they'd have to have experience booking events, and be looking for a job in the public sector.
Oh hey! I know .... CALL HEATHER MABEE! Her Auntie has kept that place afloat for decades, and she was ready to work for Skippy for $55K, so I'm sure we could get her for nickels on what Marica White costs. The jobs a no brainer, as long as her Aunt sends a decent attorney to negotiate these deals. Best of all maybe Skippy will finally give up on trying to stick the city tax payers with another mouth to feed now that she's out of the picture.
I wil also volunteer to be involved.
Would like to try and bring in some other ballets..i.e.. Like Miami City Ballet of several years ago.
John - Your apologies may be premature. Until the EMS is correctly analyzed and the results show a short term headache and along term burden on the taxpayer by Michele I would not get so giidy. This needs to be addressed prior to putting the 2013 budget and be buried along with the master plans for a new DPS facility and massive expansion of the department. If that does not occur with the looming possibility of possible loss of VLT funds this newly found support for Ballet and SPAC may be a flash in the pan. Remeber SPAC was the entity that would not approve a surcharge on it's ticket sales to help offset some of the cities cost for providing public safety. If this is support for SPAC as an entity I could never and you should never support it. Let's see what the plan is.
False Hope: it looks like the screaming Ninny Named Nancy changed her mind and is back in the blogging business.
Maybe she only lasted a day at a new job before getting fired?
That would hold to form.
SPAC is a jewel. It does not belong to Marcia White or to any of her political cronies. it is not a slush fund to be used to pad the accounts of White and her friends. This is a travesty and White is incompetent on any level-financial, public relations, artistic, leadership, negotiations, fund raising, management. She needs to go right now. The board needs to fire her. The charities bureau needs to investigate this "non profit." The comptroller needs to do another audit. This is our SPAC. It has been stolen. We need to take it back.
With all the problems with Spychalsky and Marcia White do people honestly believe the city manager idea ia a good one?
Did toothy check out the "toxic" situation at the intersection of 50 and geyser, where the light has been out since 5:00 last night, yet Saratoga's Finest haven't seen any reason to institute any sort of suplementary traffic control?
I'm on record as NOT being a big fan of SPAC's management policies and its general operating model.
That being said....
YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME, RIGHT?
I refer, of clurs, to the above BALLET ATTENDEES vs ROCK SHOW ATTENDEES chart, which claims the former category is a major supporter of local commrce while the latter is not.
Folks, your overall credibility is at stake when you publish such a piece of BS under your name.
I'm with you on your overall mission. But my BS Detector has a very narrow tolerance level. I hav a feeling I'm not alone here on this.
RM
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