By: Diane Benjamin
The numbers for the Cultural District were included BELOW Parks and Rec. Thanks to the person who pointed that one out.
Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/10/30/hiding-bcpa-numbers/
https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23337
PDF page 195
PDF page 196
Can somebody explain why this is a great idea? Why is attendance way down?
It isn’t Quality of Life for those paying higher sales taxes because of it.
It isn’t Quality of Life if tickets can’t be afforded.
414 event reports aren’t on the website for 2018. Rentals etc are never posted. I’d like to see ticketed event reports separated from other income. We have no way of knowing if the facility could be put to better use as a rental, staff could be severely cut.
If the revenue from shows doesn’t cover the cost, why have shows?
First, kudos to Diane for printing an update. I hope the haters appreciate it as well. The attendance is dismal, to say the least. Historically, the attendance averages roughly around 150-170 per event. According to City websites, the auditorium capacity of the BCPA is 1,200. For those keeping score at home, that’s about 12.5 to 14% of total capacity on average. With all those employees drawing a salary and incurring expenses, how can the BCPA realistically come close to breaking even on 150-170 tickets per event? Also, how many of these were comped/sponsorship tickets versus out-of-pocket?
The really sad part is those in charge of the BCPA do not even TRY to break even. They will tell you directly that isn’t their goal or purpose. And none of the elected (Mayor and Council) or appointed (Cultural Commission – appointed by the Mayor/Council) officials have ever told them to break even. At least not a majority of those groups have pushed this issue. They are happy with subsidizing this facility to the tune of MORE than $1.5 million EVERY year (and that’s not counting debt OR depreciation expense).
so in consideration of all this it seems fair that taxpayers receive fee admission to all bcpa events since we’re already paying for it
In fact, that’s a good test of whether government should be doing a particular thing. Do all citizens have equal access to the thing for free? No? Then scratch it off the list because that means poor people are paying for rich people’s fun. Swimming pools, zoo, BCPA, coliseum, golf courses, ice arena, etc. etc. On the other hand, the roads, parks, library (even with it’s issues), etc. are free and open to all.