Age-old conundrum: How do nonprofits, businesses coexist?

ALBANY — What started as whispers of surprise and anger among impacted nonprofits has slowly grown into a dull behind-the-scenes roar as nonprofit arts programs in the community plan their 2019-20 performance seasons.

The question coordinators for programs that often struggle to find financing are asking: Why are we having to pay so much all of a sudden to hold shows at the Albany Civic Center and the Albany Municipal Auditorium?

Josh Small, the Spectra Entertainment manager of the local entertainment complex that includes the Civic Center, Municipal Auditorium and the Veterans Park Amphitheatre, said in a frank conversation that while he emphasizes with the local nonprofits, there should be no surprise that usage costs for the venues have risen.

“Trust me, I do understand how difficult it is for nonprofits to make it when you’re in a tough economy and you’re in a segment of the state that’s struggling,” Small said. “We knew all these things coming in, so we met with all of the nonprofits who’ve had shows at these venues and told them that we would honor whatever agreement they had in place … for a year. We didn’t want them to have to struggle with the budgets they were working under.

“But we told them — met with the people who represent each entity individually — and told them after a year we would have to adjust the prices to a more reasonable level. Because, at the end of the day, this is a business and we were brought here to run it like a business.”

But Small makes it clear that the bottom line of each nonprofit that has in the past held performances at the local complex is considered.

“Every year in the 14 years that I’ve been in venue management, I’ve worked with nonprofits,” he said. “They don’t make a lot of money; I’m very cognizant of that. And I want to make it clear that we do everything we can to help them.

“One of the things we do is we meet with groups and figure out ways we can make (utilizing the venues) affordable for them. We don’t beat them over the head, we try to work with them to maybe cut out things that they don’t need that add to the costs. Because while, yes, we are a private company, we are managing these venues for the city. And any (event whose costs are not covered by the participating entity) is an event whose cost comes out of taxpayers’ pockets.”

Some local nonprofit arts groups whose seasons have included shows or performances at either the Civic Center or the Municipal Auditorium have moved several of those performances to other, apparently more cost-friendly, venues. Asked about the move to other venues and the supposed out-of-reach costs at the city’s two premiere venues, representatives of three such groups said they did not want to talk about the issue on the record.

One noted that while its season included less performances at the Civic Center and Municipal auditorium, it still had shows at those venues.

Small said that while the cost for rental of the two venues in the complex is up for nonprofits, those entities still get a break on costs. And, he noted, the new pricing structure makes it fair.

“One of the things we really wanted to do was get out of the mindset of ‘Entity A’ getting one deal and ‘Entity B’ getting another,” he said. “We want to make sure this is fair, to the nonprofits, to the city, to Spectra and especially to the taxpayers.

“I don’t want it to sound like we didn’t run this as a business the first year (when nonprofits were allowed to use the venues at past agreed-upon rates). We just wanted to be cooperative and do everything we could to help these entities succeed. They are an important part of this community.”

The businessman in Small notes another problem that booking nonprofit events in the venues for little or no cost can have on his staff’s attempts to rebuild Albany as a viable entertainment market.

“Without getting into specific numbers, here’s an analogy,” he said. “Let’s say a nonprofit schedules a specific day on October whatever, and a promoter calls me a short while later and says he wants to book Clint Black — or someone like that — in the venue. Now when you look at the money that having a Clint Black show would mean to businesses in the community and to the entertainment value for this community, there’s a problem there. That’s not good business practice.

“And I will admit that we’ve had to turn down shows (during the previous year) because one of the venues was booked for a (nonprofit) event.”

There’s no denying that the Spectra team has made good on its promise to bring more entertainment events to the community. Shows by Three Dog Night, Ricky Smiley, Marshall Tucker Band, Rick Springfield, Travis Tritt and the Tams at the Municipal auditorium have been complete or near sellouts. Shows by the Charlie Daniels Band, 38 Special and Jamey Johnson are also expected to sell at or near capacity.

Plus, Small hints, there’s more to come.

“We’ll have another show announcement next week and one the week after that,” he said.

And is the venue manager surprised at the early success in Albany, given the negativity he was fed when he arrived a year ago?

“Yeah, I guess I am a little surprised, to an extent,” he said. “But even with (the negative talk), you could look at the history here from, say, two decades ago, and you can see things worked here before. But it’s been a good partnership with the city. Between Spectra, the city, the staff in the building, it’s been one of those, ‘You guys know what you’re doing, go in and do it.’ It’s not that we don’t talk with the city on a daily basis, but what we’ve gotten from them has been complete support.

“I was talking to a specific promoter yesterday, or maybe the day before, and he told me, ‘When we first started talking, I didn’t think I’d be bringing nine shows to Albany, Georgia, in 2019.’ But that’s the thing about it. When (the artists and promoters) make money, they’re going to bring another show.”

File Photo
File Photo: Carlton Fletcher