Burnsville finally (after 18 days) released the Burnsville Performing Arts Center Profit/Loss Summary (and accompanying data) to me. This data is to be provided, by VenuWorks to the city, on the 20th of every month and is then reviewed by the Finance Department for accuracy before being pushed out to the public. As we’ve covered before, the Burnsville PAC is on target to lose well more than was expected for the year and as the new data shows, it’s on target to do so by nearly 3x as much as previously anticipated.
For those of you not interested in clicking through to the previous story you can look at the previous Performing Arts Center profit/loss summaries (all are in PDF format) for January and February before moving on to March.
As you can see, March is formatted differently (perhaps because that was a quarterly report?) and shows that the Burnsville PAC is on target to surpass the yearly expectations for deficit and top out at approximately $825,000! Now, you could say, as some others have, that it will just take time to get acts into the Burnsville PAC. While that may be true (please remember that VenuWorks had lead time prior to opening to get acts booked but has so far failed miserably while plenty of other local venues are stocked with popular shows), I really find it hard to believe that the PAC will make any money to make up for the $500,000 overage when the acts booked through the end of August total five (no, the art show doesn’t count).
What do you think about the most recently released Burnsville Performing Arts Center data? Do you think that VenuWorks has any chance at all of turning this venue around and even bringing the deficit back towards the $300,000 originally touted for 2009? Whatever you think about the ongoing failure of VenuWorks and the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, comment on below as I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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May 8th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
It would be interesting to see their monthly budget projections for the rest of the year. They seem pretty aggressive on the income side just from looking at March. Income dropped in March from February and January (both around mid 20k) to 15k versus a budget of 50k. Assuming their projections for income are similarly lofty for the rest of the year, they have no shot at turning it around.
Pretty much continues supports what’s been discussed here, too much overhead for a facility that’s not getting used enough and consequently not generating enough revenue to support the overhead.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Personal feelings about the PAC aside, these questions should be asked when critically looking at the numbers:
1) Did Burnsville take into account a slumping economy in -$300k yearly forecast? All revenue generating organizations, even the Lakeville Arts Center, had to adjust their yearly forecasts for the economy.
2) Are Jan., Feb. or March typically big months for centers like this? How bad was the quarter in the big picture? For example: retail in Jan., Feb., and March is bad but Target knows that when they forecast their revenues for a year. Nov. and Dec. always help make up numbers.
3) What other venues are stocked with popular shows, and how long were they booked? Is it a month to month, or year to year thing?
The numbers could be as bad as they look, or look worse than they are depending on the answers.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
3) What other venues are stocked with popular shows, and how long were they booked? Is it a month to month, or year to year thing?
The Zoo and Mystic Lake are killing the PAC with well known, national artists (not George Jones or local singers who are known only for their shitty Christmas specials) who bridge the generational gap and appeal to a wide demographic.
I can’t say how long the acts have been booked for, only that both of those venues have released summer concert information through the end of July whereas the PAC only has George Jones for the first weekend in July and nothing (except their art “show” and the “International Festival of Burnsville) until the Black Box Theater’s event during the third weekend in September (also a local act) which has events continuing through the end of the year.
So you figure summer is going to be the biggest time that people are going to be coming into the venue to watch concerts. People are supposedly not planning to take as many vacations this year yet the PAC doesn’t have anything for them to do?
I just can’t fathom how this company is still permitted to operate the PAC when they have literally done no work to get anyone in the door and keep the hole from getting deeper.
May 8th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Derrick:
1) They should have. Ordinary citizens of Burnsville were already aware of the “slumping economy”. More on that after #3.
2) Their Q1 budget appears to be exactly 25% of the annual budget. From that, I infer that they expected even box office revenue through all quarters of the year.
3) If you’ve read anything on here for the past few months, you would have seen us all listing numerous facilities all over the metro, large and small that manage to keep their calendars full of popular and high-quality events. The Zoo and Mystic Lake have been mentioned recently. Meanwhile, the “big acts” that the PAC has brought in have had a price tag of $50-100 per seat, way out of line for identical performances by the same artist in other cities/venues. (Search “George Jones, $79 for more information).
More on number 1. Minutes from a Burnsville Planning Commission meeting in June of 2007 (boiled down):
Mary Misurek, 2827 Isle Royal Ct. She has attended the Lakeville Performing Arts Center when the venue could not be filled. She begged the Commission to use their power wisely to stop the Burnsville PAC. She doesn’t feel the PAC can compete with Mystic Lake for Vegas type of entertainment or the other larger venues in the state and it would be wrong to ask that the school districts pay to use this facility instead of their own auditorium. The dilutions of a handful of people cannot force the whole city to pay for this mistake.
Betty Huddock, 521 Wildflower. She would like to know the results of the feasibility study done by the study. She thought it showed a $350K loss the first 5 years and after that a great loss. She didn’t understand why the tax payers are being asked to pay for an expenditure that is a loss from the beginning. The tax payers were never given a voice in the decision. Most theaters are crying for people to come to their events. They are all losing money and the tax load is going to be tremendous on a 3-2 vote.
Joyce Berendt, Owner of Mr. B’s and Burnsville resident. She thought the project is very extravagant for these times.
Erik Johnson, Home: 419 Brandywine Dr, Business: 2410 E 117th St. He thought the presentation of the application without adequate parking was absurd. He thought the Commission would not accept this if it were a private enterprise presenting the proposal. He feels like many that the citizen’s opinions have been not regarded. He would submit and recommend that the Planning Commission would take the point of view to serve the public interest and be cautious in this case rather than lurching forward in an area of such risk. He didn’t personally feel the City Council will consider their recommendation but for what it’s worth he hoped that the Commission would make the right decision.
Dave Erickson, 3204 Skyview Dr. He would like to see the Planning Commission do the right thing and recommend stopping the PAC until the Mayor and Council does its do diligence on the need for this center. Most studies indicate that the Twin Cities Arts Center are over built and most operate at under capacity and tremendous losses. This white elephant will not be able to be converted into a useful building when it is realized to be a mistake to build.
Melony and Ted Kocon, 2411 Hayes Ct. They are strongly opposed to the project. There will be a tax burden to build and continue to subsidize the PAC. She asked the Commission not to approve the application and take more time to consider all the concerns raised. She asked the Commission to speak on the behalf of the people of Burnsville with more authority than they seem to have. She would like to see the Council put in a process to hear the majority of the citizens and not to move forward without that.
Christine Lemke, 2304 Horizon Rd. She didn’t understand why the residents weren’t allowed to vote on the PAC in a democratic matter.
Dee Peterson, 12708 Portland Ct. She knows a lot of people in Burnsville and has not talked to one person that is comfortable with the project. She thinks it shows extreme arrogance on the part of the City Council to move forward with the plan. New York City is #1 for theater and Minnesota is #2. There are already wonderful sites for PACs. She pointed out that there are a low percentage of properties sold in the HOC project. The PAC would be mistake #2 and the Council should listen to the citizens.
Dwayne Hoffrogge, 3113 Chelsea Ct. He commented if this were a private company proposing this, they would be laughed out. Anyone that’s going to lose $350K / year isn’t going to pay their bills. The city is doing it so they will have the citizens pay it.
May 8th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
That is a wonderful rundown and a stark reminder of the utter disregard that the city council showed for the citizens opinions.
It also throws a shadow on some of what Mike was saying yesterday. The revenue actually went down, not up. It should be going the other way, and March should have been better than Jan or Feb from a seasonal point of view.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
MSPD, speaking of the Planning Commission….. The most interesting planning commission event was Mayor Kautz’s appointment of her next door condo neighbor DeeDee Currier to the planning commission three weeks prior to the PAC vote. Of course she was the swing vote…… It sure looked like a conflict of interest because of their personal $300,000 economic investments in the Heart of the City.
May 10th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
MSPD: Awesome post. What burns me is that here are “regular citizens” who took the time to come out and voice an opinion on the record, and who are now going to suffer cuts in essential services because the council did not listen to their comments. To see it all written out like that is incredible. It shows that citizens DO know what they are talking about and ARE willing to engage. We would not be in half the budget mess we are in right now if the Mayor would have listened to what these people had to say.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
THANK YOU MR R. This sort of information needs to be accesable to Burnsville’s taxpayers, as well as everyone else. Unbelevable. Will the Star Tribune pick up this story? They got a lot lipstick on this pig.
BTW my wife tells me the secondary venues at the PAC (I don’t know what that is) that are used by local groups are booked solid. True? Any idea what she’s talking about?
Oh, and I can’t leave with out wondering.. was it really $80 to see the Possum? An 80 year old broken down old country western guy? In this market where there’s only one CW station and it’s way way down in the nielsons? You have to be kidding me.
May 11th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Sank,
I think the smaller theatre is called the Black Box, its 150ish seats, and is booked pretty solid by the Chameleon Theatre Circle and MinneHAHA Comedy Club
The good news I have for you is that the Possoum has not been here yet. AND its not $80. For a mere $79.50 you can see George Jones live (sorta) on stage on June 5th. Tickets are available, and I am told there is not a bad seat in the house. Plus, now that he is well into his twilight years, the chances of him missing the concert because he is on a drunken bender are pretty low. Although he might pass awa………..nm that was in poor taste.
For what its worth, it appears that the most active presenter in the smaller Black Box Theatre is the Chameleon Theatre Circle. Councilman Dan Gustafson appears to be an at large member of thier Board of Directors.
May 12th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I wonder if seeing him would be like the time I saw John Lee Hooker in the 90′s. They wheeled him out, he did something that was almost playing and they wheeled him back. I told my wife who was sitting next to me “This is more like a viewing than a concert. He’s dead but they haven’t told him yet..”
I see the same thing.
May 12th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Sank, no it’s not true:
May 22nd and 23rd (Fri/Sat) are open.
May 29th, 30th, 31st (Friday/Sat/Sun) are open.
All of June is open.
All of July is open.
All of August is open.
September 4th, 5th, 6th open.
September 11th, 12th, 13th open.
September 18th and 25th (both Fridays) open.
October 2nd (Friday) open.
October 9th, 10th, 11th open.
October 16th, 17th, 18th open.
October 23rd, 24th, 25th open.
November is booked with the same show all three days each weekend aside from Thanksgiving weekend where it is open.
Same thing in December (except it’s a different show from November and they are open on Christmas weekend).
May 12th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Chameleon’s next show is 4 months from now, I would hardly say they’ve got it booked solid…
May 12th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Booked solid may have been a little inaccurate, but this is from the Chameleon web site:
http://www.chameleontheatre.org/
“Together with the City of Burnsville, we are excited to announce that The Chameleon Theatre Circle intends to be the main tenant of the new Burnsville Performing Arts Center’s Black Box Theatre.”
Season 11:
Cabaret 02/13/09 – 03/08/2009
I Love you, Your Perfect, Now Change 04/17/2009 – 05/03/2009
The Taming of the Shrew, June 2009
“Season 12: The Chameleon Theatre Circle is pleased to announce our 12th Season! All performances will take place at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center. ”
Paper Dolls: 09/18/2009 – 10/04/2009
Reefer Madness
10/30/2009 – 11/22/2009
Sylvia
12/04/2009 – 12/20/2009
Eurydice
01/22/2010-02/07/2010
The Underpants
03/05/2010-03/21/2010
Suburb
04/16/2010-05/09/2010
While they may not have the place booked solid, they are clearly the primary tenant of the Black Box, and have acts scheduled all the way out to May 2010.
May 12th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I’m quite happy that they are filling the Black Box in the later part of 2009 and into 2010 but I’m still not sure why the fucking thing is empty in the rest of 2009 when they had lead time to get this all setup.
I’d really like to see a Burnsville resident go to the next City Council meeting and stand up during the public input portion and directly ask the Burnsville City Council members (and staff) why the issues with the empty PAC (main stage or not) have not be publicly addressed.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:30 pm
The Star Trib had an article about fun activities South of the River http://www.startribune.com/local/south/45404912.html?elr=KArks:DCiUocOaL_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU – which includes a shout out to King’s place. What is noticeably absent: the PAC. For $20M of promises, you would think it would be filled to the rim with fun. Hmm…. let’s see the calendar for (all of) June, shall we? Two shows, one night each. George Jones ($80+) and Fiesta Caliente ($5 and $10), and a local art show. Fiesta Caliente (with FREE salsa dance lessons!) could not make it in to the SOTR Fun Article? Where is the promotion of this jewel? This could have been FREE advertising! I don’t get it.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I have a post in the queue for tomorrow which talks about that article. I didn’t even think of the PAC when I wrote it. I’m sure that’ll be an interesting discussion for tomorrow :-)
September 30th, 2009 at 11:20 am
[...] There was a definite lack of performances scheduled early on and the center was losing more money than expected early on (warning – salty & negative language) – PAC to Lose $825k? [...]
December 16th, 2009 at 7:32 am
[...] consider replacing the PAC’s management team. Being that, at the time, they were heading for a deficit I estimated to be nearly 3x what they originally planned it made sense to me and just about everyone else except Burnsville’s City Staff. Now with my [...]
March 23rd, 2010 at 4:54 pm
The numbers you have all been looking at are not complete. They do not include depreciation or interest. To measure the real impact, you need to put this turkey on a cash flow basis and include debt service and you will see it cost the taxpayers well over a million in 2009. Think of the “host fees” as tax dollars also!