Entries Tagged 'Washington Pavilion' ↓

I got this recent comment on this thread;

It’s sad because the Arts Council always did work for all the arts.  Now you can’t even find their phone number.  I guess they’re just working for a privileged few.  And interesting how the calendar on the SEAC site and the one and only post on SEAC’s facebook page are about Pavilion events.

View the SEAC (Washington Pavilion) calendar. And the FACEBOOK Page.

Wonder how many hours (or minutes) it will take the Pavilion Spy Club to see this post and scramble to fix it? Should we start a pool? I give them 9 hours, No, 6 hours, it’s a Tuesday and it is probably slow around the big purple building. They should just hire me to spy on me. I work cheap and I have a very reliable source.

Last Friday (a week ago) exhibits director, Steven Larson, of the Horse Barn Arts Center was ‘terminated’ from the Sioux Empire Arts Council, the organization that was eaten up by the money pit called the Washington Pavilion. But this wasn’t a fine farewell. Before they fired Steve, they asked him to move everything over to the Pavilion the day before, then they canned him the next day. On top of that, they had the gall to ask him this week how to do some simple ass accounting stuff for SEAC. The Pavilion really has no shame. This of course is no surprise, the Pavilion’s attempt all along was to dismantle SEAC, and that will come in the near future, no doubt. But deception comes in baby steps yah know.

But it gets better, not too long ago I posted about how the Pavilion doesn’t post contact info, and guess what, like a rainbow out of the sky, the info appears.

There is way to many secrets in this place, and if they were a private organization, I would not give a fuck. But since they take taxpayer money, something needs to be done. I have often suggested a ‘clean slate’ approach. Time will only tell, but I can guarantee, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

While I have not posted about this I have been following the demise of the Horse Barn Arts Center. So let’s dig a little – but let’s start from the beginning. This all started a couple or years ago when SEAC allowed Washington Pavilion’s arts center director David Merhib to become a board member and eventually board chairman.

Board/Staff Members: Ann Davis, David Merhib, Debra Kroger, Tara Barney, Steve Larson

As chairman, one of the essential jobs is to raise money for the facility. But wouldn’t that be a conflict of interest considering;

• Merhib already works for the Pavilion and his main objective is to raise money for the arts center

• Merhib lives in Brookings and has no real ties to our community.

But was this Merhib’s doing? Or was he just following orders? Hindsight is 20/20, but Merhib should have never been allowed to serve on the board or be chairman, Huge conflict of interest. Duh. So was his involvement only to destruct the organization from within? One wonders? You can look at this every which way from Tuesday, but the facts remain; The HBAC is competition with the Pavilion’s VAC. They offer classes and exhibit space, just like the VAC. The difference is clear though, the HBAC was much cheaper and almost always FREE. Don’t get me wrong, as an artist, I have taken advantage of both facilities and have donated in one way or another to both places. We NEED a VAC in our community and we NEED the HBAC. They both cater to artists in our town. Sometimes artists, like myself, have used both facilities, some have only used one or the other, and that is the point. Not everyone can AFFORD to use the Pavilion. Sorry, say what you will, but on many levels it is an elitist organization and some artists and arts lover would prefer to support the HBAC over the VAC.

So where am I getting with this? Let’s look at a chain of events, some uncontrollable, some not;

• Merhib becomes chairman of SEAC and fails to raise any dough for SEAC.

• The economy tanks

• Under Larry Toll, the Pavilion decides to move SEAC to the Pavilion. (The irony of Toll is that as a board member of the Pavilion, he didn’t lift one finger to help the facility prosper but now all of sudden as director he is considered some kind of hero . . .)

• Director of SEAC quits (and yes she QUIT! No forced resignations. I may not know Deb that well, but I do know that no one could have forced her to quit, she loved what she was doing. Something changed. (and there is a whole host of rumors and secrets surrounding her resignation that I won’t get into, but let’s just say that not everyone involved was playing fairly).

• With Deb out of the way, the Pavilion was able to put a puppet in charge of SEAC, a part-timer of their choosing who just happens to be married to a contributor of the Pavilion.

But let’s move back to the conflict of interest. The Pavilion has a long history of this practice, for instance giving preferential treatment to board members for art exhibits and keeping juries secrect, this comes as no surprise that someone from the big purple building would be behind the HBAC’s demise.

So was this a grand scheme? Not sure, in fact it would be nice to see our local media do a little digging, but good luck. The Pavilion has always gone by the rule, “Loose lips sink ships.” and whistle blowers are hard to find. REALLY HARD TO FIND. Why? The Pavilion is a vindictive organization, if you talk badly about them they will punish you for it. Trust me, I have the scars. They not only rule their current staff through fear tactics many of their ex-employees prefer to not comment on their stint there. Oh, and trust me, I have tried to pry that safe open, with no avail.

But the Pavilion already has their out. According to exhibits director, Larson, in his email he sent out this week he has said this;

Regarding the future of the HBAC:  One of my proposals for the future management of the HBAC was to form an advisory board that would meet to form a nonprofit corporation [ 501 (c) (3) ].  Liz Versteeg was kind enough to provide the legal forms that are required to initiate this process.

If any of you are interested in pursuing this endeavor, please contact me.  SEAC Executive Director, Nan Baker, has assured me that SEAC would be willing and able to provide the assistance required to help make such a nonprofit entity a reality, including acting as Fiscal Sponsor for the new nonprofit organization.

As ideal and flowery as this all sounds, I doubt anything will become of it. The Pavilion may have achieved their goal to takeout the HBAC, and if you want to go to them for assistance to help you it would be like asking a demolition specialist to build you a house.

The sad part about this is that by closing the HBAC the Pavilion really isn’t expanding the arts opportunities in our community, just controlling them. The Pavilion failed a few years back when they tried to take control of the Orpheum theatre and SMG trumped them. And for good reason, they actually know how to make money in public facilities. The Pavilion should have learned their lesson then.

What next? I have said this over and over, if the Pavilion wants to improve our community through the arts they need to end the secrecy and nepotism. They also need to open their doors to EVERYONE. This will become even more apparent over the next couple of years when a new Events Center is being built and the new Lyon County Casino will be hosting concerts in their 1,2oo seat facility – concerts the Pavilion won’t present.

Honesty has never made me rich, but it sure hasn’t hurt me financially. Tell the truth, open the books and stop fucking with people. Then maybe you will see support from the community. I’m just saying . . .

Just out of curiosity, I went to the Pavilion’s website today to see who is working there. But I could find no such list. So I checked other prominent museums in the region, they all had listings. What is the Pavilion trying to hide? I would advise them to read this terrific article about workplace fear.

Sioux City Art Center Contact page

South Dakota Art Museum contact page

Plains Art Museum (Fargo) contact page

Joslyn Art Museum contact page

This is the quick view of the Pavilion’s Finances;

Washington Pavilion Finances 2009

The attached sheet is the consolidated Statement of Activities  for the 2009 operating fund  which is also reflected in the  annual audit.  The net revenue over expense was a negative  $434,500.

Key points

On the revenue side it shows a 16% increase in individual donations .  Actual donations were $248,148 compared to $214,303 in 2008 – a definite bright spot in the report.

Our business contributions (Contributions – Business)  fell $66,000 or 15% from 2008 to 2009  tracking with the  general  economic  instability that started in the fourth quarter 2008.  This business effect was exacerbated with the effects in the decline in Facility Rentals and Sale of Services which declined $136,000 or 21%.  Café revenues also decreased by about $68,000.

Admissions and Ticket Sales Revenue was up over $184,000 from what was budgeted because of bookings of additional shows.  Unfortunately, you’ll see the offsetting budget variances in  Promotion and Marketing  and  Program Expense which increased by  $425,000.

Here is some other overviews; OF and FS

The city was also in the hole in May.

I will have to hand it to the Pavilion on this one. While I was skeptical at first when Larry took over as interim president, I saw he was shaping up the finances rather quickly;

An effort that probably will erase a $300,000 deficit for the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science landed Larry Toll a new job.

The Pavilion announced Tuesday that Toll will become its president, six months after he was named interim president amid the departure of former president Gary Wood and what Pavilion leaders were calling a financial crisis.

Looks like the Pavilion didn’t need someone with an arts background after all, they needed someone who understands math.

I first want to give my thanks to Deb Klebanoff for serving local artists for as long as she did. While I did not agree with her on a multitude of issues, I will admit she worked hard to try to have a mission for SEAC and she was up against some major players;

Deb Klebanoff, executive director of the Sioux Empire Arts Council since 2002, has resigned. Klebanoff, 55, turned in her resignation Friday and no longer is at the council’s headquarters at the Horse Barn Art Center in Falls Park. She said her departure is something she’s been thinking about “for a long time,” and she’s ready to enjoy time off.

I truly believe that this was Deb’s doing. I think she was finally fed up with all the bullshit. Good for her.

“It’s a huge weight off my shoulders, waking up at night wondering how to get things funded and how to get things moving in a new direction,” she said. “The resignation comes from me. It’s my idea.”

And why do I THINK Deb left? First off the huge conflict of interest that exists on it’s board;

“A new director will have some big shoes to fill,” said David Merhib, president of the council’s board of directors. “Over the last eight years, she has made relentless efforts to strengthen the arts in our region.”

Yes, that’s right kiddies, the board president of SEAC is also the director of the visual arts center at the Pavilion. This of course is not a surprise. Merhib was made aware of the many conflict of interests that exist on his own VAC board and fundraisers like ‘Arts Night’ and chose to do nothing about them. While many times the local media has focused on the financial problems at the Pavilion they often never talk about the management issues in the big purple building. How does a place that can’t even manage itself out of a wet paper bag get off advising other arts groups in our community? It reminds me of the time the Pavilion tried to get the contract for the Orpheum theatre and the city went with SMG instead (who has done a fine job of making the place useful). The Pavilion management needs to worry about one thing; THE PAVILION! and keep their f’ing noses out of other non-profit arts orgs in town. Why? Because they do not view these other organizations as beneficial to our community, they view them as competition, and that is really sad.

Andy is coming! Andy is coming!

I knew about some of these changes a few weeks ago;

The Great Hall at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science will be renamed in honor of a longtime supporter, the late Mary Sommervold, officials announced Thursday.

I will keep my opinion about this to myself.

Two large shows are scheduled at the Pavilion’s Visual Arts Center: an Andy Warhol exhibit in 2011 and photographs by Ansel Adams in 2012. While shows in the six art galleries usually are free, the bigger shows will be ticketed attractions to help support the center.

Whoo-Hooo! Warhol!

In addition, new tenants are on the way to the downtown Sioux Falls landmark at 11th and Main, to help share costs and add to the arts offerings there.

The administrative offices of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Sioux Empire Arts Council will move there from off-site locations in coming months.

The Dakota Academy of Performing Arts soon will move its programming into the Pavilion, too. And a Native American fine arts museum and gallery will be added.

The changes were made possible in part by more than $100,000 in grants the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation gave to local arts organizations, and a special fund drive in Sommervold’s honor that now stands at $580,000.

While some of these changes are probably a good thing, I worry about putting all of these offices under one roof for a number of reasons. While I think these organizations should work together, and I have been a longtime advocate of the Pavilion giving discounts to local non-profit art orgs, like Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues, for example, I wonder if this is a Power Grab for the Pavilion to take control of all the arts orgs in our city. I guess only time will tell. I also find this move interesting only a few days before a new mayor is decided.

The Sioux Empire Arts Council’s administrative office has been in the Horse Barn Arts Center at Falls Park since 1999. It soon will move to the Pavilion.

From her new office, Deb Klebanoff, executive director, says she might have greater visibility and can step up her outreach to the arts community. But she says she hopes that use of the barn for local art exhibits and other community gatherings will continue at Falls Park.

The fate of the Horse Barn, a 100-year-old city-owned building, has not been decided.

Yeah, maybe they will give it back to the artists that were managing the facility just fine until a bunch of elitists stuck their nose where it did not belong.

Close the Science Center, except the Cinedome and put on more laser music shows. You can use the remaining space for rental/banquets etc.

But Science Cetner ticket sales don’t cover costs there. Its net income was a negative $115,570 in 2008, but that was better than officials had expected when they budgeted for a negative $121,752.

Why would you budget a negative? Sure, it would make sense at the Arts Center that doesn’t charge an admission, but they didn’t even lose that much.

Admission to the six galleries of changing shows is free. It cost the Pavilion $312,765 to run the Visual Art Center in 2008, not as much as the $315,692 it had budgeted for the expenses. Revenues were $260,000, about $6,000 less than budgeted.

But one still asks, where is all the revenue and subsidy money going? I would bet salaries. You have to realize that the Pavilion management company doesn’t have to spend one stinkin’ penny on building upgrades and remodels, that money comes from the city’s capital improvement fund. Nice, huh?