Manager, Council Bury Hatchet in Bid to Fix Arts Center

After months of feuding over this city’s financially troubled Performing Arts Center, City Council members and the center’s manager appear to have dropped their infighting to concentrate on fixing the problems.

In a presentation devoid of the acrimony that has marked previous discussions, Jack Lavin, the center’s general manager, Tuesday night suggested ways that the facility could boost revenues.

Those suggestions include dramatically increasing the number of shows by allowing the center to stage its own productions, rather than just renting out its space.

Under such a plan, the city would team up with such groups as the New West Symphony to put on shows at the center, which had only 77 performances last year. The city and performance groups would share revenues from those shows.

And in what Lavin acknowledged is a very rosy scenario, revenues could reach $270,000 for a six-night sold-out concert series at the 1,604-seat facility--nearly twice the annual revenues the center now generates.

Such a plan would conceivably be more lucrative than the present practice of renting the center at $2,500 to $3,500 per performance to dance troupes, musical groups and other artists.

Still, Lavin said that attracting more customers to Oxnard’s Performing Arts Center, which competes with performance halls ranging from the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza to the Ventura High School auditorium, will not be easy.

“It’s hypothetical at best,” Lavin said of the plan to hold more shows. “There’s absolutely no guarantee of ticket sales.”

Council members are paying close attention to the Performing Arts Center in the wake of an audit released earlier this year. Auditors pointed to sloppy record keeping and a failure to collect bills as major problems.

Currently, the Performing Arts Center has an annual budget of $509,865, but generates only $161,000 in revenue per year.

Councilmen Tom Holden and Dean Maulhardt have been the strongest critics of the center, saying its management needs to be held accountable for the mounting financial losses.

In turn, defenders of the center have accused Holden and Maulhardt of targeting Lavin for problems that are beyond his control.

But Tuesday night, the council members praised city staff for initiating a thorough review of the center and exploring solutions. Other suggestions to make more money included a valet parking system as well as more upscale food and beverage offerings.

During the next three months, city staff will study the management policies and financial situations of city-run performance centers across Southern California, hoping to come up with more specific ideas.

Maulhardt said Wednesday that in order to attract more customers, officials will first have to sink $600,000 to $700,000 to spruce up the exterior of the center, which was built nearly 30 years ago.

In the past two years, the city has made extensive renovations at the center, painting old doors, refinishing walls, replastering rooms and fixing a sewage backup problem.

But Maulhardt said that those renovations are not enough, and that the outside needs better parking and lighting and new landscaping.

“It was built in 1968 and it is pretty much the style of 1968,” Maulhardt said. “The place needs to be enhanced.”

Councilman John Zaragoza said Wednesday that the well-attended Sesame Street children’s show this year demonstrates that the center can bring in crowds.

Many of the center’s problems have been caused by the downsizing of key accounting employees, Zaragoza has argued.

“I think we have a real gem there and we need to take care of it,” he said.

Council members said Tuesday night that they are not nearly as concerned with the losses run up by the Community Center, the portion of the Performing Arts Center complex used by community groups ranging from a gem and mineral society to a square-dancing club.

Officials say they expect the Community Center to lose money because its purpose is to give civic groups an inexpensive place to meet. This year’s city budget projects that the Community Center will lose $223,575.

Rent of rooms at the Community Center is typically free or subsidized by the city. On Tuesday, council members assured community groups that there are no plans to hit them with new rent charges.

In a separate action, council members voted unanimously to again allow the use of credit cards to pay for show tickets. Credit cards had been banned after the audit pointed out that the center’s bank account for credit card payments had never been authorized by the City Council.

Suspension of credit card use had worried organizers of the holiday “Nutcracker” performance scheduled next month.

“In this day and age of plastic, credit cards are absolutely essential,” Maulhardt said.