arts center interior-eku photographer Chris Radcliffe
A view of the EKU Center for the Arts. Photo by EKU's Chris Radcliffe.
Richmond, KY - On September 11, John Morris Russell, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conductor, will raise his baton to usher in the second season of the EKU Center for the Arts with a performance that many consider fitting for the history of the date – a concert to honor America and her enduring spirit of patriotism.
Many Center for the Arts supporters say it is a similar enduring spirit that helped create the Center, and should be a driving force to keep it on a path of success. According to Interim Director, Jill Price, the 2012-2013 season promises to be even bigger than the inaugural season.
“I think we really set a precedent on the types of shows that we need to bring in. We had big shoes to fill with the first season and I think we can match that with the second season,” Price said. “We are slowly moving forward and building on some of the good things that happened last year and we really need to continue on with that to make the center a success.”
The 2012-13 season, which runs from September through April, showcases performances by Vince Gill, the Blue Man Group, Michael Bolton, STOMP, The Golden Dragon Acrobats, among others, and the grand finale is scheduled to be Celtic Woman next spring.
Just like with any new venture, the Center has experienced its share of growing pains, something that Price said will make the Center even stronger.
“We can correct a few things we think we can do better,” Price said, in a nod to logistical and management issues that plagued the center’s opening season. “We are doing away with valet parking this year. Our roads are not set up in a way to support that. But, we are selling preferred parking for those folks who buy the signature package, and we will still have drop off at the door.”
Price, appointed as Interim Director in July to succeed former Executive Director Debra Hoskins who resigned under a cloud of controversy in June, is no stranger to the university, or to positions of leadership. Price graduated from EKU and has worked on campus for the past sixteen years. Currently, she is filling the roles of Director for Conferencing and Events, as well as interim for the Center.
“It was a natural flow. I am already very familiar with the resources available at the university, dealing with state dollars, and the correct protocol for that, and it was a natural fit because of the job I already do,” Price said.
Still, the nationwide search is on for a permanent Executive Director.
“I would anticipate, given the fact that we have had one very successful year of operation and have a very attractive season in place for the coming year, and given the quality of life issues in Central Kentucky, I would think they would have a very fine applicant pool,” said EKU President Dr. Doug Whitlock, who said he would like to anticipate having a new director in the next six months.
Until then, Price says she is ready and willing to fill the role, picking up where Hoskins left off, and feels confident that if the search for a permanent replacement takes longer than six months, she will be prepared to stay where she is for as long as the Center needs her.
“I am learning day to day operations, running the box office, hiring student workers,” Price said. “We are trying not to do so much that our next director coming in can’t have some leeway to put their own spin on things, what they might be interested in.”
While the director’s job is important, and Price says the position carries quite a bit of autonomy, the Center is run in such a way that no one person or group has complete power or decision-making authority.
“We have an unusual partnership between EKU, the City of Richmond, and Madison County and it is one thing that we have found we are unable to compare it to anywhere else, so community involvement is extremely important at the Center,” Price said.
She explained the director will determine and recommend a season, then bring the entire season before the Community Operations Board which is made up of four appointees from Madison County, two from the City of Richmond, one from the City of Berea, and six appointees from the university.
Much of this season’s line-up is credited, in part, to the former Center Executive Director Hoskins, who left at the end of the inaugural season, amid rumors of internal tensions which EKU, the Community Operations Board, and community members are eager to put behind them.
“The controversy was not over the first season itself. Our performance venue was a big success,” said former State Representative and Center for the Arts Community Operations Board member Harry Moberly. “The board felt that Debra had done an excellent job and that was the reason we were able to have such a good first year.”
A good first year, Moberly says, left the Center for the Arts operating in the black, a good color for a new venue. The Center’s operating budget is a line item within the university’s budget, and Moberly says, is funded by $200,000 state dollars annually. He added that the Center retains the proceeds that it realizes as revenue.
“It is a very close call to stay in the black. It is a situation that President Whitlock has said that, until the center is completely in the black – and this doesn’t happen until a few years of operation –the university will cover the deficit because it has EKU’s name on it and we want it to be successful,” Moberly explained. “It is very rare that you find just the proceeds cover completely all the costs of any performing arts center.”
Whitlock agreed that the Center has the support of the university, saying “…we are prepared to have some skin in the game while it is really getting up and going from an operational standpoint.” He also said that a successful Center for the Arts will bring positive attention to the university, as well as to the community.
The positive attention, he hopes, will come in the form of successful fundraising efforts, sponsorships, and naming rights. Fundraising efforts will go toward an annual fund aimed both at raising money to fund operations and build an endowment. Sponsorships would come from individuals or businesses, such as AT&T, who has sponsored EKU past events, and would go toward bringing high profile performers to Richmond. Naming rights for the Center, he said, would take a significant contribution, several million dollars, and that money, Whitlock said would most likely go into a fund which would produce an investment income for operations.
Whitlock also mentioned a proposed conference hotel, where the university would make the land available on a long-term land lease at no expense to the university.
“This would be a venture capital exercise for somebody. A public-private partnership,” Whitlock said. “We’ve been waiting for the economy to get to the point where it would be more attractive to people to put in proposals.”
In the meantime, Price, the Community Operations Board, and community and university officials, say they will continue to put on great shows in what they think is one of the greatest recent attractions to the area.
“It is unique to this area and the arts are something that is much needed,” Price said. “We have a lot of good resources to pull from and I think we are very prepared. I feel comfortable that all of us together will keep this going as long as we need to.”
For a 2012-2013 program, or for ticket information, call 859-622-7469, or visit them on the web at www.ekucenter.com.