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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > December > 19 > Entry
Long Center aims to wipe out construction debt
Seems another major arts non-profit is steeling itself against the recession.
A few days ago, Austin Lyric Opera said it was canceling its opulent annual ball, instead reallocating all of the money raised from the annual fete directly toward opera programming and education.
Now, the Long Center for the Performing Arts is giving itself a challenging New Year’s resolution. Center officials announced yesterday that they plan to pay off the center’s construction debt in 2009. The center has already wiped out more than 99 percent of its $77 million debt. The plan is to dispense of the remainder of it early next year, possibly even in time for center’s first anniversary celebration in late March.
The Long Center is owned by the City of Austin, which leases it to the nonprofit organization that raised the money to build it. All of the money raised to build the Long Center came from private sources. No public money was used.
“Operating the Long Center without any construction debt will free up future fundraising to focus solely on a variety of performing arts programs and on keeping the doors of this fine facility open,” Cliff Redd, executive director of the Long Center, said in a statement.
To date, the Long Center has reached about one-third of its goal of $1.9 million in fundraising for 2008-09, Redd said. The center’s 2008-09 budget year ends June 30, 2009. The fundraising goal for 2009-10 has been set at $1.5 million.
“We have gotten ourselves lean and mean to cope with the current economic times,” Paul Beutel, managing director of the Long Center, said. “The financial health of the Long Center is good. We have been taking steps to ensure it remains good.”
Among those steps, Beutel said, is concentrating on shows that sell. “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” attracted more than 15,500 patrons during its eight-performance run in late November. However, both the David Benoit concert and the “King Operetta,” scheduled for January, were canceled because they were underperforming in ticket sales.
The Long Center has also trimmed its 2008-09 operating expenses by 20 percent. “As the venue has been up and running for nine months, we’ve gotten smarter about how to operate more efficiently and yet still maintain the high level of customer service that audiences and artists expect from the Long Center,” Beutel said.
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By Tom Ridgely
December 22, 2008 3:32 PM | Link to this
In the one conversation Mr. Beutel had with us before canceling The|King|Operetta he never mentioned ticket sales. His primary and chief concern was that LBJ’s portrayal wouldn’t be as flattering as it ought to be. Considering that, readers might be curious what marketing efforts the Long Center made. Other than their online calendar and a small presence in their season brochure, we’re aware of nothing. We even put considerable promotional resources at his disposal, only to have them ignored. Sales may have been lower than “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy”, but to suggest the show wasn’t viable from a sales standpoint is disingenuous. It was canceled on account of its politics. With all due respect, the folks in Austin deserve better.
Tom Ridgely Executive Director Waterwell