Harried Arts Center Committee Asks City to Give Them a Break

City officials may soon take over operation of the new Cultural Arts Center from a panel of overworked volunteers who say they spend too much time running the hall and too little time raising funds.

The $3-million center opened in November with fanfare and champagne, and with a somewhat harried crew of volunteer organizers at the helm.

While overseeing the grand opening and juggling events for the first season, the five-member Cultural Arts Center Commission found itself too busy to give proper attention to raising a $2-million endowment for the converted Methodist church, said commission Chairwoman Peggy Sadler.

So the panel has asked the city to give decision-making powers temporarily to a standing subcommittee of City Council and Planning Commission members.

Sadler said she has also asked the city to appoint up to 16 more volunteers to the arts center commission to help with fund-raising.

The city subcommittee would then make policy decisions about how theater director David Ralphe should run the arts center, while the commission focuses on fund-raising, Sadler said.

The council is to vote on the issues sometime in March.

“Personally, I felt we needed to be focusing on fund-raising,” Sadler said. “We’re trying to complete our endowment pledge before the end of the year.”

The Cultural Arts Center Commission has raised nearly $700,000 in gifts and pledges toward a $2-million endowment.

The goal is to leave the fund intact but use the interest it earns to pay operating expenses not covered by box-office receipts and rental of the building’s theater and community room, Sadler said.

Sadler said the commission has contacted several donors who may be willing to give up to $1 million to the fund, but none has made a firm commitment.

As for giving control to the city, she said: “The building belongs to them, and they’re the ones that paid to renovate it. It just makes sense that they want to keep an eye on operations, and that they really want it to be on a firm, businesslike basis.”

Sadler and Councilwoman Sandi Webb agreed that the city subcommittee will probably oversee theater operations temporarily, until the commission has reached its $2-million goal and can resume that duty.

“For those five people to do both jobs, it was just too much to ask,” said Webb, who serves on the council subcommittee with Councilman Bill Davis. “They’ve been doing a good job, but those poor guys have been so overworked, they’re getting burned out.”

Commission members have sometimes unintentionally given conflicting orders to theater director Ralphe, which has caused confusion, Webb said.

Commission member Jay Bloom agreed that turning the operating decisions over to the city subcommittee is best for the theater.

“The five commissioners were all volunteers, and it was a lot to expect for us to be doing the two positions plus our own jobs,” he said. “This way we can focus on just the fund-raising.”

The theater is performing relatively well in its first season, said Deputy City Manager Brian Gabler.

On average, 60% of all tickets are sold by show time, he said, and some shows are nearly sold out.

“The center I think has been running at or above our expectations,” Gabler said.