March Meltdown was at the Coliseum, so the BCPA is still looking for their first show this year to make money. The Performance Fee below is from a show called the Adventures of the Tortoise and the Hare. I still don’t have that report. I was missing one report from the BCPA – March Meltdown. […]
By: Diane Benjamin’ I think the Grossinger Motors naming rights expire next year. It was a 5 year agreement in June of 2017. Expect something really original like Bloomington Arena to replace it. Of course that means new signage. Maybe the City can just paint the name on the building instead (don’t hold your breath). […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both of these shows were re-schedules from before Covid was a thing. One is listed as a rental, the other was co-produced meaning the City of Bloomington wasn’t assuming all the risk. Co-producing also means the profit is much less, but at least both show a profit. I had to FOIA both […]
By: Diane Benjamin On October 29, 2021 I submitted a FOIA to McLean County pertaining to John Butler’s case. After a couple reminders about the FOIA being late (they have 5 business days), I was told it’s taking so long because of staff shortages. I was promised I would receive the information on December 8, […]
By: Diane Benjamin THREE more events – all losers: Report shows a profit of $142.68. With performance fee the loss is ($9,257.32). 192 attended Performance Fee: Report shows a loss of ($2,566.37), with performance fee the loss is ($33,066.37). 107 attended. Performance Fee: Report shows a profit of $3,944.97, with performance fee the loss is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Council is meeting tonight at 6:00 to clear the rest of December for Christmas. None of the event reports at the BCPA have been posted on line: https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-114 Evidently I have to FOIA all shows. Is the City afraid to tell citizens how much is lost to subsidized entertainment for the well […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two performance fee bills were paid last night for the BCPA: 9/29 was: Escape to Margaritaville 10/8 was: When Disco Was King Two other events were held earlier in September. Meanwhile, an events tab hasn’t even been created yet on the Bloomington website: https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-114 In previous years I had to FOIA these […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since the BCPA is shut down, staff had time to do event reports. Well, they sort of did reports. To disguise how much money they are losing, most of the reports below don’t show any REVENUE. Of course the Artist Fees aren’t on the reports either. You are looking at the reason […]
A reader located the missing artist fees. The BCPA should know by now they will lose money paying more than $10,000 for an artist! Only 1 show made money! By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1784 A lot of reports were recently posted. None of them have the artist fee. I added a few that I could quickly […]
By: Diane Benjamin VenuWorks finally posted 2 hockey reports for the new league playing at the Coliseum. (Grossinger Motors Arena is too long folks) The memo states these are the top two teams in the League, a new one from here will be playing next year. I do not know why these two games were […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jamie Mathy urged citizens to look at the upcoming shows at the BCPA during Aldermen comments at last night’s Council meeting. He claimed a show that costs $100 in Chicago could be only $30 here. See upcoming events: https://www.artsblooming.org/events/calendar Meanwhile, the last event report posted for the BCPA was a show held […]
A READER put this together for me! He took the show recaps in this story and looked up the artist fees: https://blnnews.com/2019/12/11/bcpa-reports-finally-posted/ He saved me a lot of time, I really appreciate it. A previous reader said the Pirate Penelope show didn’t have artist fees. Since it appears the artist fees were not included in […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unlike the BCPA who think event reports aren’t important, VenuWorks posts theirs. This proves the difference between a company that can be fired and City employees who know nobody cares if they do their job. The BCPA hasn’t posted any event reports since the last time I FOID’d them. Thanks for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The last event report posted by the BCPA was from October 2: https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1784 Are they: hiding losses? afraid to show what happening at this TAXPAYER owned building? on a long vacation? way too busy to do a simple report? coming to work late and leaving early? Taxpayers deserve to know what the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Obviously the mission of the BCPA is not to make money or even attempt to break even! No event reports have been posted since the last time I FOIA’d them. The Carole King show was close to a month ago – still no report. It gets better! This show is FREE, I’m […]
It must be too difficult to list each event held at the BCPA separately. The posting buried two shows by posting all on the same link. Normally each show has it’s own link. These two actually made money, one would think they would want people to see them: Since September this brings income to $18,083.26 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently I have to file a FOIA to get event reports posted. They will be posted and then my FOIA will be denied because they are posted. I wonder if they would ever be posted without a FOIA? So far only one report from a month ago is available: https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1784 This looks […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nothing is more frustrating than government employees who can’t get their story straight. Here’s another example: See PDF page 4 of the February City Manger’s report: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21477 According to the guy in charge, the BCPA held 6 events in February. How many do we have event reports for? http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1702 TWO! Where are […]
By: Diane Benjamin The missing event reports from Grossinger Motors Arena have finally been posted. Details here: https://blnnews.com/2019/03/11/more-venuworks-city-fail/ Last year the Bacon and Beer Fest made a profit of $ 12,230.53. 1319 people attended. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15976 This year the event was held earlier in the day, attendance dropped to 1166, profit dropped to $ 8,037.07. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21322 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Keep in mind what the VenuWorks contract says: (No Later Than) PDF page 17 – contract The Kane Brown concert, which was supposedly sold out, was held on February 28. No report is posted: http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1694 The Bacon and Beer festival was held March 2nd, tomorrow will be 10 days. People on Facebook […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21131 The BCPA hasn’t posted an event report since my last FOIA. Transparency isn’t part of their game! Most artist fees are $5000 or less, not this one. Do I really need to FOIA every report to get them on the website? Looks like throwing parties for themselves. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just yesterday I predicted the Hot Wheels Monster Truck event recap would magically appear after I FOIA’d it: https://blnnews.com/2019/02/21/arena-event-reports-fail/ Surprise – here it is. All I need now is a FOIA denial. This was four shows, average attendance per show was 2,136. Note too this show was a rental. Many of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA request for all the event reports missing from the BCPA site. I actually found this earlier Friday, the FOIA denying my request was finally received at 4:45 pm Friday. It’s pretty clear why event reports weren’t on the website. http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1702 I recapped the events for you: How can […]
By: Diane Benjamin It wasn’t a smart move by the City of Bloomington to pretend to deny my FOIA request for the event recap of the Naked Magicians show because it was posted on the website. As I reported, no event reports between February 2018 and November 2018 have been posted – just the one […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA request for a recap of the Naked Magicians Show held at the BCPA. My request was denied because the report is on-line, I was directed there instead. Here’s where it gets funny for me, likely tragic for Bloomington taxpayers. http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1555 These are the only shows listed, no event […]
By: Diane Benjamin February events – net profit on each event is listed Bacon a Beer Fest – 12,230.53 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15976 8 tickets were comp’d, I wonder to who? Hockey 2/17 – 6,231.53 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15978 452 tickets Comp Hockey 2/7 – 1,109.92 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15928 384 tickets Comp Guns and Hoses – 2,799.53 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15926 0 Comp IHSA Cheerleading – 46,391.53 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15830 302 […]
Update: The management announced today the naming rights have been sold – and for the same amount US Cellular was paying: $175,000 a year. It will be name Grossinger Motors Arena for at least 5 years. I haven’t heard who is paying for the new signs, letterhead, business cards, menus, etc. _____________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin […]
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