Statement from Chairman of Carson Center Board
Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center
Submitted by John A. Williams, Chairman of the Carson Center Board
Greetings. We have completed the fourth season of offerings to the people of this region of the Carson Center. It is a thrill to report to you that the fourth season brought a balanced budget for the Carson Center, apparently, not the norm for a new performing arts center. Yes, it is just a fact that we are still in the transition phase from construction to successful and sustainable long-term operations; but for this result to occur this quickly when the expectation was not to reach this goal just yet, is pleasant news. I should advise you that the balancing did occur with the receipt of four one-time gifts, totaling $52,245, from donors who stated that their intention was to support operations of the Center. Brian Laczko will have more to say on this issue in his annual letter to you, and Brian and his staff deserve all of the credit for this accomplishment.
The global mission of the Carson Center is to add to the quality of life for adults and children in the region. During the last fiscal year, 56,933 tickets were sold for 51 Center-presented programs and an estimated 58,842 additional participants were present for 273 other rental events, for a total of 115,775 usages.
Another adopted mission is to enhance economic development and tourism in the region. 5,281 households within the region purchased tickets to the Broadway Series and Carson Series with 19% of the households ordering tickets from beyond 50 miles of the Center. Of course, some more local folks may well have purchased tickets for friends from afar. The average purchase was for three seats. Our beyond 50 miles goal has been to have more than 10% of tickets purchased by people from outside the 50 mile radius. There is remaining opportunity for the Center since there were 21,087 unsold seats at Broadway Series and Carson Series performances.
Another goal has been to increase the understanding of the arts for youth of the region. Last year, 20,632 young people attended 18 Class Acts performances, representing 130 different schools. Of these, 17% were from schools located beyond 50 miles of the Center. During the past year, we have spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the options available for expanding the educational offerings of the Carson Center. We had a special committee of the board that reviewed our goals, and recommended several changes to our policies, which were adopted in August 2007. We had presentations and consultations with Debbie Shannon, Kentucky Center for the Arts; Kristen Swisher, Kentucky Arts Council; and Dr. David O’Fallon, MacPhail Center for Music. We have learned that many performing arts centers offer educational opportunities well beyond what we are currently doing with the excellent Class Acts programs, and want to determine what added concepts make sense for the Carson Center and for the stakeholders of this region.
Your board shifted a year ago from meeting monthly to bi-monthly. The board has consisted of 24 representatives over the past fiscal year, but dropped to 21at the annual meeting in August 2007. This is just a part of the planned right-sizing process that we expected to occur over several years. The board is a policy board with the primary role to set and monitor the policies created. We delegate the actual function of the Center to Brian and his staff, and offer support, but stay out of their way as they execute the policies.
As you may remember, when we had the grand opening for donors in February 2004, I reported that we had commitments from donors to fully pay for the Carson Center construction. I am pleased to report that as of June 30, 2007 the balance of the construction loan was $90,000. I am more pleased to tell you that the loan was paid off on August 7, 2007, just after the end of the fiscal year, but before this letter is being published. Given the facts that we made other adjustments a year ago to the loans, and that we have had wonderful responses from almost all donors, we still had $950,000 in pledges as of June 30, 2007. Your board has considered this issue, and concluded that we should create a Maintenance and Enhancement Fund for the Carson Center, and that all remaining pledge payments to the construction campaigns will go to that new fund. Donors pledged to support the creation of the center; and your board is very sensitive to those wishes, and thus has created the new fund to continue to support additional needs with the dollars that are yet to come in on the pledges. This can be a real blessing to the Center, since there are some items that are being rented for some shows that could be purchased, thereby reducing future operational costs. Those items are in addition to obvious needs for repair and maintenance of the facility over time. We had an unexpected need in June for the air handler for $5,000 which was not budgeted, but this type of need could be handled from the new fund. Your board voted that money would not be dispersed from the new fund without board approval as a control to ensure that good stewardship continues.
There have been no additional charge-offs during the past year to pledges. The total of charge offs for the campaigns is still at $21,498 out of the total of $12,053,000 pledged. We do have a couple of small items that appear will need to be charged off, but they are not material enough to make that determination just yet.
The board has created a Line of Credit for operations of $500,000. This line had been used in prior years, but I am pleased to report that the last balance outstanding on the line was March 31, 2006. Thus, not a single draw occurred during the last fiscal year. Another compliment to our staff for managing the cash flows of the center.
The pleasure of serving as your Chairman has resulted from the opportunity to work with an excellent board and staff. I cannot find adequate words to thank the many donors to this effort, nor to the public at large who are buying tickets to performances, renting the various venues, and sponsoring the programs through memberships and sponsorships.
Thank you for your support of the Carson Center.
John A. Williams, Chairman of the Carson Center Board