RTP-area local music and culture

[<info AT durhamloop.org>]

Bendy wrote:
>I wrote 'em the other day, and if you take the time to write them 
>personally, they take it seriously. 

Absolutely! Durham City Council is oblivious to the problems with Clear
Channel. Please tell them we don't want the "Event Center" and Clear Channel
in Durham!

Mailto: council AT ci.durham.nc.us;mconner AT ci.durham.nc.us;info AT durhamloop.org
Subject: OPPOSE Event Center & Clear Channel

Also, if you have specific horror stories about Clear Channel in other
towns, that info needs to come out now. For example, how Clear Channel
destroyed local clubs, damaged local music community, local indy theater,
etc. when they came into town. Durham City Council needs to know this too -
they have no idea!


Bendy wrote:
>Write the Herald-Sun, too, if you don't mind your opinion out in the open.
>They take that even more seriously.

Great idea! You can send letters to the Herald-Sun or N&O at the following
emails (250 words). I have copied recent news articles below. And there's a
great piece in the Indy at: 
http://indyweek.com/durham/2004-04-21/burtman.html

Letters to editor:
letters AT heraldsun.com
forum AT newsobserver.com

Include your name, daytime phone, address. And mention Clear Channel and
censorship and the First Amendment - newspapers love this stuff!


Bendy wrote:
>And in my own experience dealing with local governments, it's almost 
>always possible to get them to put off making a decision. Believe me, we
>can affect this.

This is true! We CAN actually KILL this thing and get rid of Clear Channel.
Please send emails to council & write letters to the local papers.

And come tell Durham City Council in person we don't want Clear Channel and
the "Event Center" at the vote:
  Mon June 7, 7pm
  Durham City Hall (Mangum St, downtown Durham)

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&countryid=250&addtohistory=&;
searchtab=address&searchtype=address&address=101+city+hall+plaza&city=durham
&state=nc&zipcode=27701&search=++Search++


They WILL listen!

Caleb


***

New arts center proposal raises concerns 

By BEN EVANS : The Herald-Sun
bevans AT heraldsun.com
May 14, 2004 : 9:52 pm ET 

DURHAM -- A development team that's been selected to explore building a
downtown theater for the city said Friday the project could earn more than
$1 million a year in profits, but critics maintained that the numbers are
optimistic and that the theater could end up siphoning money from city
coffers and from existing cultural organizations. 

Also at the Friday meeting, the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau came out
in opposition to the $42 million project, echoing others' comments that
Durham needs to take better care of its existing cultural resources such as
the Carolina Theatre. 

The proposal also ran into criticism for tabbing Clear Channel Entertainment
as the manager of the performing arts theater, with some saying the company
would do more to stifle artistic creativity in Durham than improve it. 

"Clear Channel and the 'creative class' don't mix," said downtown supporter
Caleb Southern, referring to the types of businesses and residents that
Durham leaders have said they want to lure to the center city. 

The exchange came during a City Council subcommittee's morning meeting in
which the city's designated development team for the project offered its
most detailed vision yet for how the "American Center for the Performing
Arts" could be completed. Last fall, the city gave the team exclusive rights
for six months to develop a financial plan and submit it for approval. The
group includes Philip Szostak Associates architects of Chapel Hill; Garfield
Traub Associates development company of Dallas, Texas; Turner Construction
Co. of New York; and others. 

On Friday, the team asked for four more months to finalize the details, such
as negotiations with Duke University over its contribution and with Clear
Channel over the specifics of the management agreement. The subcommittee
agreed with the request, forwarding it to the full council for approval at a
coming meeting. 

The idea for a downtown theater sprouted several years ago as part of an
effort to draw more nightlife downtown. The targeted site is next to the
Durham Bulls Athletic Park, near the now under-renovation American Tobacco
campus. 

The theater would be convertible in size. It could accommodate 2,000-person
audiences, key to hosting the American Dance Festival, a world-renowned
event and Durham institution that has threatened to move elsewhere unless a
new theater is built here. Or, it could expand to 4,000 seats for touring
Broadway shows and concerts. 

Under the proposal submitted Friday, the projected price for the theater
dropped from $47 million in an earlier presentation to $42 million. The name
also has changed from a "theater" to an "event center," perhaps an effort to
allay concerns about competition from the existing city-owned Carolina
Theatre downtown. 

The proposal calls for paying off the $42 million price tag through private
donations, hotel-motel occupancy tax receipts and operating profits. 

The development team's projections show the theater making about $1.25
million in the first year after debt payments. That profit increases
annually to nearly $4 million a year in 2036. The numbers, which don't
include expected tax revenues and the economic benefits of nearby "spinoff"
development, are based on a total of 114 shows a year. About half of those
shows would be produced by Clear Channel, while others would involve groups
like ADF that rent the venue. 

If the projections didn't hold true, however, the city would end up taking
the loss. 

Leaders of the development team tried to address concerns about the risk by
emphasizing that Clear Channel's annual pay would depend largely on whether
it met the revenue targets. But officials acknowledged that if the theater
were to fail, Clear Channel could pull out of the agreement and the city, as
the facility's owner, would be responsible. 

The team also offered a number of concessions to local cultural groups. It
said it would give deeply discounted rental rates to ADF, for example, and
would partner with the Carolina Theatre, including giving the Carolina the
first right to negotiate for acts coming to town that draw an average of
2,000 people or less. 

The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and others said they support the
project, while ADF board member Carlton Midyette dismissed questions about
whether the group plans to leave Durham. 

"We've been here. We're going to be here," he said, adding that the
organization is "pumped" about a new theater. 

He also acknowledged that the organization has been looking at a project in
New York City, but said that project would have no effect on the Durham
festival. 

City Councilwoman Diane Catotti and others, however, urged the development
team to try to address the community's continuing concerns. 

"I do find the project as a whole exciting, and I think it has a lot of
potential," Catotti said. "[But] I think it has to be very clear to the
community that this is a good use of public dollars."

Proposal in brief 

The total cost of the theater project is estimated at $42 million. The
development team has proposed raising $18 million privately, from sources
such as corporate naming rights, Duke University, project partners like
Clear Channel Entertainment and private individuals and organizations. Duke
has indicated that it would help support the project because the theater is
expected to house the Duke-affiliated American Dance Festival. City
officials recently asked Duke for $10 million toward the theater, but Duke
officials have called that figure unrealistic. 

If the $18 million could be raised, that would leave $24 million to be
financed through city borrowing. Such certificates of participation allow
governments to borrow against assets and don't require voter approval. 

The annual payments on the $24 million debt would be about $1.75 million. 

The city would cover about $1.4 million of that with proceeds from a
previously approved increase in the hotel-motel occupancy tax. In 2001, the
state Legislature authorized the county to increase the tax from 5 percent
to 6 percent, with most of the proceeds dedicated to the theater's
construction. 

The remaining gap of about $350,000 a year would come from projected
operating profits, or if those profits don't materialize, from city tax
dollars. 

In its operating projections, the city development team has estimated --
conservatively, it says -- that the theater would earn about $1.6 million in
operating profits the first year, escalating each year thereafter to almost
$4 million by 2036.



***

Durham presses for center 

By MARGIE FISHMAN, Staff Writer
News & Observer

DURHAM -- The city is moving quickly to develop a 4,000-seat performing arts
center, a $42 million project in downtown Durham that would be the largest
theater in the state. 

The performing arts center would book at least 50 national acts each year
and provide a new home for the American Dance Festival, which has considered
leaving Duke University because of inadequate performance space. Operated by
media giant Clear Channel Entertainment, the theater could open by 2007.
It would join the redeveloped American Tobacco complex and the Durham Bulls
Athletic Park in revitalizing the southern edge of downtown, its supporters
say. Under the current schedule, the city has four months to raise $18
million from private sources so that construction can begin by September
2005, the deadline imposed by the General Assembly when it approved
increasing the county hotel tax to help pay for the theater.

But before the first ticket is sold, downtown boosters, artists and elected
officials are all scrutinizing the city's financial risk in the project and
the choice of Clear Channel Entertainment to run it.

On Thursday, the private development team, led by Chapel Hill developer
Philip Szostak, released the most detailed report on the project to a City
Council subcommittee. The report recommends that the city pay for the
theater with $24 million in certificates of participation, debt that doesn't
require voter approval, spread over 30 years, and repay it with hotel tax
revenues and the theater's profits.

The city will need $18 million from individual donors, corporate
sponsorships and Duke University to make the project work, Szostak said. No
money has been committed to date, and Duke indicated this week it could
contribute $1 million to $2 million, not the $10 million requested by the
city.

City officials have recommended that the city own the theater, which would
permit tax-exempt financing. But if the theater loses money, the city might
have to pay an additional $4 million for the debt, beyond what it's already
using from the hotel tax revenue. Developers say that's unlikely and "rosy"
estimates show the theater generating more than $62 million after operating
for three decades.

Under a 15-year management agreement, Clear Channel would handle the
bookings and would lose a portion above its guaranteed management fee if it
doesn't fill enough seats and meet revenue projections. The theater also
could host school graduations, and corporate events.

"It's such a great investment for the city for the little bit of risk that's
out there," Szostak said.

Duke now hosts the American Dance Festival, but ADF has discussed leaving
Durham after 27 years. To accommodate the modern dance festival, the theater
could be converted to a 2,000-seat venue.

Council member Diane Catotti questioned the developer's projections for
attendance, which show performances selling more than two-thirds of
available tickets. Catotti noted that ADF performances are rarely sold out
at the smaller Page Auditorium on Duke's campus.

"I've seen no evidence that these numbers are even close," she said.

Others raised objections at the meeting.

"There is no evidence this type of facility is what Durham most needs as a
visitor destination or as a cultural need by residents," Tom Niemann, board
chairman of the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau, told the subcommittee.

Members of a group called Arts & Business Coalition of Downtown complained
of being shut out of the process and criticized Clear Channel for
monopolistic practices and censoring artists. The coalition is circulating a
petition to oppose the events center. [Actually we are circulating a letter
to Durham City Council. - Caleb]

"There's been a lack of transparency in terms of working with the arts
community on a grass-roots level," said Caleb Southern, a coalition
representative.

To protect the smaller, city-owned Carolina Theatre, the new theater would
give the Carolina first crack at shows selling up to 2,000 seats and promote
at least 10 shows there a year.


Staff writer Margie Fishman can be reached at 956-2405 or
mfishman AT newsobserver.com.