This story has been corrected.
Rochester City Council rushed to pass legislation last week to study a new downtown performing arts center because the city wants to take advantage of a state funding program. If the study says that the center is feasible, the city may be able to get funding for at least part of the project through Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative.
The high-stakes competition will award $500 million each to three regions in Upstate New York. Regions have to submit their revitalization plans, including a list of the projects they want funded, by October 5.
Downtown revitalization is emerging as a key theme of the competition, so a downtown theater project could be a good fit.
Among the areas that the study will look at is the affordability of a theater and its potential economic impact.
Talk of a new performing arts center, of course, has been around for decades. But politics and finances have prevented a project from ever getting off the ground. A big stumbling block is the belief by many that the theater would require an operating subsidy.
That belief kept former Rochester mayor Tom Richards from fighting for the theater. Richards says that it would likely fall to the city to subsidize the facility, but that’s unfair because the theater would benefit the entire region.
Arnie Rothschild, chair of the Rochester Broadway Theatre League, says that he believes the new study will show that the theater would not run a deficit. People who say that the theater would need a subsidy are using “Renaissance Square math,” he says.
A study of the theater portion of the unsuccessful theater-transit station-MCC project showed the facility running a deficit. But a subsequent study did not call for a subsidy, Rothschild says. That study had the theater at Midtown.
RBTL would likely be the anchor tenant of the new theater, he says.
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2015.
http://www.radio951.com/media/podcast-waiofm-podcast-TheWeaseShow/ In a Brother Wease podcast interview with the RBTL spokesperson on 7/16 the rep states we are talking about the entire revitalization of downtown. Wease seems to agree. To me it seems that the RBTL is only a booking group. A look at their 2013 tax filing shows they sent $8.5 million out of town in artists fees. This seems to say even if nothing is done the RBTL will remove $85 million from the Rochester economy over the next 10 years. Is this revitalization or what a former president referred to as “voodoo economics”? Economic revitalization is a term that is thrown around but we never get any facts. I hope Wease can persuade the rep
provide information as to how many people form outside Monroe County.
The rep also praises the Durham Performing Arts Center in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina and uses it to support his points. This 2700 seat theater opened in 2008 costing $48 million. The Research Triangle has a population of a little over 2 million and is growing. Monroe County has a population of 750,000 and is shrinking but someone wants a larger theater. The comparison is not appropriate.
To me the best thing would be for the City to get the $70 – 80 million dollars in an escrow account to support the arts in Rochester. The big problem is the state probably doesn’t allow this but only supports big construction projects. We need to support people not mega-buildings. In Toronto revitalization has included converting unused buildings into theaters. This would really revitalize Rochester. New right sized facilities for dance, music and theater. This would support both the arts and construction people and keep the money in Rochester
I hope Brother Wease can persuade the rep to provide information as to how many tickets are sold to people living outside Monroe County. Outside NY State?
“Arnie Rothschild, chair of the Rochester Broadway Theatre League, says that he believes the new study will show that the theater would not run a deficit.”
Then he should have no problem with signing a contract personally guaranteeing to cover that non-existent deficit, shouldn’t he?
I don’t believe that anyone will personally guarantee covering the deficit on a theater project. But if someone steps up,….build it. The trap is that,… well you now it’s State money. That is so often projected as “money found”. It’s your/our money and when this theater venue is built it will be your/our money that will have to cover any losses. When those losses appear the cry will be, we have the venue and wouldn’t it be a shame to shut it down now.
I find it very difficult to consider building a venue for the use by the few paid for by the many. In addition there are priorities in this city. the RCSD comes to mind. Relevant education and an urban graduation rate that compares to the suburban effort. Education that has that “wow, that’s cool” attraction, that keeps kids in school, butts in seat, focused on the day that they will gain a profession/career that provides them with a living wage. Oh,….wait, that would also solve the poverty! I believe that’s one of those political priorities as in, ” we are going to solve this poverty issue once and for all”. (guess who?)
Or is your (die hard theater supporters) attitude that we should apply the Biblical thought to our urban youth, “the uneducated and poor will always be with us”. I think we can do better. Let’s start out with a good foundation before we built that venue for the few and instead provide a relevant education for the many.
Still waiting for that call.
HS,
I hope your comment was a joke! You want a volunteer of a not for profit proposing a study to guarantee a city project’s fiscal health. ? All he proposed was a study….do you really thik you post makes any sense? Hope not and hope you are kidding
Don’t use Cuomo’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative as a reason to push for a performing arts center. I have a problem with the whole concept of Cuomo’s Initiative: Buffalo got $1 BILLION dollars for free, no strings attached. (Erie county was one of the few upstate counties that Cuomo carried in his re-election last November. Hmmm.) Under Cuomo’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative, seven ‘upstate regions’ must compete for three awards of $500 million. The four losing regions get NOTHING. I think the designated upstate regions should boycott Cuomo’s divisive plan since most will lose out anyway. We need to stick together against the downstate forces which control every aspect of our state. All we get are scraps from the master’s table.
Is that Arnie’s bar mitzvah picture? That’s a throwback coif. And how long has he been around and in that position, seems about as long as Adam Urbanski’s been running the city teachers union, which dates back to the Eisenhower Administration. There’s so much fresh, new blood doing dynamic things in town, Arnie, his crew and act are so tired, beyond time for a changing of the guard.
So, the criteria now is that the theater simply won’t run a deficit? There is no prediction of profitability? Without profits, the theater will be stagnant. Sounds good doesn’t it?
What happened to capitialism? If someone thought a new venue for the arts could be profitable, then maybe someone would risk their own money to build it. But even staunch capitalists don’t make a move these days without a guaranteed taxpayer subsidy. Let’s subsidize the truly needy, not the truly greedy.
We have good performing arts venues now. Take care of what we already have. A new venue would simply mean we would neglect current venues.
Against it. Feels like money down a rat hole. Upgrade the Auditorium Theatre. It needs it.
To address an earlier comment, I wouldn’t describe Buffalo’s $1B as “free” — in the sense of someone just showed up and handed the money to Buffalo & WNY. I live in Buffalo and was somewhat involved in the WNY regional economic development plan, and I can tell you it was based on a foundation of preparation & work done over a decade or so, including long-term planning efforts like Queen City Hub and Queen City Waterfront. Those efforts informed WNY’s regional economic development plan and proposal. It proved to be exactly what the Governor and the Brookings Institution (advising the REDC process) were looking for. The Rochester/Finger Lakes REDC plan, in contrast, was sprawl-tastic, and wanted to scatter-shoot $$ at ill-considered laundry-list projects that had been floating around looking for funding. Perhaps not a surprise, given that the chair of the Finger Lakes REDC is a businessman with no planning experience, whose family has spent decades disinvesting in the urban core and profiting from sprawl. And that the co-chair of that REDC is leader of a university that doesn’t have an urban planning program.
But it sounds like Rochester is earnestly trying to catch up, if what this article says about the competition focusing on strengthening the urban core is correct. My earnest hope is that Rochester and the region develop a solid plan that, regardless of whether it “wins” the competition, will guide the region forward.
“It {Buffalo’s development plan} proved to be exactly what the Governor and the Brookings Institution (advising the REDC process) were looking for.”
So the reward for meeting CUOMO’s requirements was $1 billion. Got it.