As reported here last week, the West Edge Opera is out of the El Cerrito Performing Arts Theater; it will (semi)stage its next production, of Barber's Vanessa at Berkeley Rep, and is looking for a new venue. Those facts stand, but my comments at the end of the item need examination.
A couple of comments: Will the school district, insisting on a higher rent, benefit from getting nothing? And how many more small companies will follow San Francisco Lyric Opera into oblivion when squeezed out of venues by nonprofits' rental demands that cannot be met by fellow nonprofits? (In the case of the Lyric, it was the city-owned Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco that made use of the Florence Gould Theatre unaffordable.)
Kevin Little, West Contra Costa Unified School District Theater Manager, wrote to say that there is an ongoing "professional relationship" between him and West Edge General Director Mark Streshinsky, and
... the theater is a public educational facility that is for the District, students, and then the community. We are a thriving performing arts facility that meets the needs first of the students of the El Cerrito High School Band, Dance, and Drama departments. In addition, I can tell you that for the remainder of this year the District is working with several nonprofits that can make full use of our state of the art facility and meet our competitively fair rental rates.
Point taken (and further down in this item, there are some specifics about what's coming to the theater), but a complication ensued when I asked Little about the rent increase, and got this surprising reply:
The District was not charging rental fees for the facility from opening in January of 2009, to March of 2013. Rental fees were instated for the first time this year (in March) to protect, maintain, and help sustain the facility for all users, District or otherwise. Which it was not doing before. Therefore, there has been no increase.
No rent? No increase?
In another surprise, Streshinsky confirmed some of this by saying that there was no rent, but payments for technical and custodian services were about $6,000 per show — an amount, he said, "was rather low" and once the facility introduced rental fee, Streshinsky wanted only sufficient notice and keeping the cost within the means of the company. The proposed rate, he said, would have approximately doubled the cost, and "we don't have the money." As Little, Streshinsky too emphasized that relationship between the two remained cordial, and he didn't rule out the possibility of using the theater in the future.
Back to Little:
West Edge was being charged technician fees (independent contractors) and custodial fees but no such "rental fees" were charged and made effective until March of this year. The District had to reap the cost and previous damage of all users during those previous running years, 2009-2013. There was no regular accountability, regular maintenance, or sustainability of the facility during that time. WEO was included in this transitional period and we have worked extensively to make it affordable for them and future outside groups. The ECHS Rental Usage Policy has been made public and is available on our website. It also must be clear that the District is new to these procedures and I've made every step to ensure outside users are treated fairly.
As to future use of the El Cerrito facility, Little said the Young People's Symphony Orchestra will have its entire season there, "and we hope to continue as their new home in years to come."
Keith Gleason, interim administrator of YPSO, said after the orchestra's fall concert, events in February and May will be held in El Cerrito. Music Director David Ramadanoff won't choose the future repertoire until after fall admission auditions later this month and seating auditions on Sept. 8. "We should have about 105 musicians in the orchestra for the 2013-14 season," said Gleason. "Our age range is 12 to 22. It will be our 77th season and Maestro Ramadanoff's 25th anniversary season as our conductor."
The fall concert, on Nov. 2 and 4, will feature Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral, Copland's El Salon Mexico, and the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3, with Norman Krieger as soloist.