Salt Lake County's major arts organizations say they are surprised and dismayed at proposals to reallocate space at the Capitol Theatre and to increase rents at county facilities by as much as 500 percent over the next five years.
The proposals come from a county task force that studied what fine arts groups are doing in other cities."Each one of us is very sympathetic to the arts," said Cindy Lampropoulos, a member of the task force. "We just had to stand back and say that from a logical business standpoint, (the current rent system) is not working."
The Salt Lake County task force concluded "the county needs to balance the interests of a few groups that have been receiving subsidies with the interests of other performing arts groups that want to use the county's facilities."
County-run facilities include Abravanel Hall, the Capitol Theatre, the Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts and the Salt Lake Arts Center.
The May announcement continued: " . . . the task force also considered the county's cost to operate the facilities, fair market rates for equivalent downtown space and the rates charged by cities similar to Salt Lake."
"We were expecting some increase, but 500 percent over five years? How are we supposed to pay that?" asked Joan Woodbury, co-artistic director of Ririe-Woodbury modern dance company.
Naturally, many of the arts groups affected - Ballet West, The Utah Symphony, Ririe Woodbury, Repertory Dance Theatre and Utah Opera Company - are concerned about the task force's findings.
"All of the arts organizations were really caught off-guard," said Teresa Solorio, publicity director for Ballet West."We were not even aware a task force had been formed to study this, so we had no input."
Ballet West and other Capitol Theatre-housed groups wish they had been consulted on the study - especially the space-use portion. Solario found the task force's recommendation to remove all offices from the Capitol Theatre's basement - which came with a long list of "benefits" - particularly objectionable.
"They're saying, `In order to serve you better, we're kicking you out,' " she said.
One listed "benefit" of clearing the basement was "dressing rooms and holding area for Ballet West & `Nutcracker' kids."
Solorio disagreed, saying "We've been doing `The Nutcracker' for 20 years and never had a problem with where to store the kids. We're saying, `Please don't use that as an excuse because you never even consulted us.' "
The listed benefits Solario found more plausible include storage space for touring productions and classroom space for kids on tour. This supports the theory that the county's recommended space and rent changes are to better accommodate moneymaking touring productions like "Riverdance" and (ironically) "Rent."
Because the arts facilities were created specifically to house local organizations, many of the groups feel betrayed by the proposal.
"I want to know why (the county) feels the need to break a trust with the performing organizations that have longtime occupancy," said Woodbury, whose dance company will be among those hit hardest by the rent increase."Why jeopardize something that's been so important, not only for the performances but the arts education of children in the state of Utah?"
Ririe Woodbury does many children- and family oriented programs each season. It also tries to address issues in the community. For example, this year's season was titled "Under Construction." For this reason, Woodbury and other local performing artists feel their work serves in ways touring productions cannot.
"The local fine arts groups challenge us to think and feel and go beyond the quick-fix entertainment of some of the touring companies," Woodbury said.
Members of the county task force deny that these adjustments are simply to benefit touring shows and point out that these proposals are only recommendations. Several meetings with the performance groups are scheduled for the coming week.
Marian Iwasaki, director of the county Fine Arts Department, agrees that a rent increase is necessary, comparing the county's $5 million operating budget with the $1.5 million in rent the arts facilities collect. "We know these groups are never going to bring in $3.5 million," she said.
However, Iwasaki insists these rent adjustments don't signify the end of county subsidies for the arts groups. "They should get special treatment - they do get special treatment - and they will continue to get special treatment from the county. Everyone recognizes they're always going to be subsidized.
"I could go on and on with how much the county has done for these organizations that no one knows about."