Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren wants to hire two firms to study the feasibility of a new downtown performing arts center. The companies are Lincoln Center Global and Westlake Reed Leskosky.Â
Lincoln Center Global is, according to Crain’s New York Business, the consulting arm of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Westlake is an architectural firm out of Cleveland.Â
Legislation drafted by Warren proposes awarding one-year contracts to both companies for a site and feasibility study for a new downtown performing arts center. If approved by City Council — Council will consider the legislation this month — LCG would be paid a maximum of $50,000, while Westlake would be paid a maximum of $161,165.Â
The state awarded the City of Rochester $100,000 for an arts center feasibility study late last year. The rest of the funding for the study would come from the city, Warren’s legislation says.Â
The study will look at two possible locations for a new performing arts center: the former Renaissance Square site and the old Midtown site, both on East Main Street. According to the legislation, the study will determine which site is best, what the project should entail, costs, and annual revenue and operating costs of a new PAC. It will also look at the economic impact the facility would have.Â
The legislation also says that the city will form a steering committee to guide the process. It would include representatives from the Rochester Broadway Theatre League, Geva, VisitRochester, the Convention Center, Rochester Downtown Development, Rochester Business Alliance, Monroe County, and others.Â
The length of the study would be approximately three months, the legislation says.Â
Warren has consistently advocated for an arts center downtown, and Rochester Broadway Theatre League would be the likely candidate to program it. RBTL owns and operates the Auditorium Theatre on East Main Street, but that facility is no longer suitable, say RBTL officials. The subpar performance space keeps Rochester from getting top-tier shows, they say.
RBTL had looked at the Medley Centre project in Irondequoit as a potential location for a new theater. But that project is mired in financial, political, and legal muck; it seems unlikely that it will ever get off the ground.
This article appears in Jul 1-7, 2015.
Despite the chattering of the RBTL, if the area wanted a new super-duper stage the money would have appeared. Waste of cash for a study that will produce nothing other than a consultant payday.
Why aren’t they looking at the “F” block? The site of the old Rascals Café across the street from the Eastman?
Totally agree with Ricky. More money wasted paying firms to tell us what any community group could share for free. So very sad.
Meanwhile, the 900+ seat Lyric Theater will renovate and open with world-class jazz, locally-produced opera, and a cabaret room that will accommodate smaller events. Don’t recall 6-figure consultants being hired for that amazing new venue.
There is only one thing that I can’t understand,…why is anyone surprised by this? Politicians spending public (as in not theirs) money like water out of the tap. We don’t need another “snooty” venue for the few. We need to resolve the education crisis. We need to do that NOW for the many. Unless of course the “snooty” few have given up on that mission. Have you?
In 20 years of deception the RBTL has yet to produce a cash/benefit analysis or back-up their claims of out-of -towners they bring to Rochester. I’m sure they know who they sell tickets to. Facts will only make them look bad. They once touted a fund raiser for a theater and came up empty. When Renaissance Square fell through we heard about all the interest expressed by developers outside the city. Again nothing! Who paid what I recall was the $6 million spent regarding the theater at that time? When the Town of Irondequoit was moving against Medley Center an RBTL s[pokes person told RB everything was great. The interview was a softball and again in spite of assurances, nothing happened. RB needs to be reminded the proposed cost of the Renaissance Square theater would have paid the city’s support of the jazz festival for 411 years.
This project has some of the odor of the soccer stadium project. This seemed like a misuse of public money at the time but the project was rammed through. Now we have the perspective of looking back. Does any one think that money was well spent? Rochester Wiki has a quote on the state audit of that project. “Due to the lack of diligence performed on the Rochester Rhinos Soccer Stadium project, one local and two state agencies did not undertake sufficient review and oversight to ascertain whether a $19 million public grant was a good investment of taxpayers dollars, according to an audit released by State Comptroller Thomas
P. DiNapoli at a Rochester news conference today.” How much did this project cost the taxpayers of Rochester? How much is it costing Rochester’s taxpayers today? Does anyone know? Will anyone tell us? Has anyone taken responsibility ? A recent D&C article pointed out deficiencies in that stadium.
We don’t need a study to select a site, we need a feasibility study, and not by a bunch of jaded bureaucrats, but by a group of people young enough to be optimistic and honest. I would suggest a project by students of the Simon School. We don’t need to spend our money outside our area we have talented people here.
Isn’t there a local group that is concerned enough about our city and county that will file a lawsuit to stop this legalized theft? We elected representatives not rulers and they should be answerable to the citizens. Sadly it’s clear we can’t get good representation through the ballot box.
The big question is why did Buffalo get almost 2 billion dollars from the Governor, and we are left to are own devices. How did that happen?
Frater
Did I mention POLITICS. It’s a different world. When a political candidate wins the election, he/she are “orientated” to the upcoming term. They are led into a small room and two suction cups are placed over the ears. A large percentage of the intellect, honesty, loyalty to the voter, etc. are sucked out. What replaces it is “party loyalty above all”. The ones that escape the permanent affect get out after the first term and will regain their self over time. If you can’t laugh at some of this stuff you’ll go bonkers. You certainly can’t make some of the stuff up, nobody would believe you.
It seems to make sense to let the experts decide whether a performing arts center would be viable in downtown Rochester. Mayor Warren really needs this validation. However, there has already been much studying and the conclusion is that these types of theaters are seldom self-supporting. Year-in and year-out they operate at a deficit. Bringing culture to downtown is important, but ultimately all city taxpayers are going to be footing the bill for something that is used only by a very few.