Who wins battle between The Players and The Bay over Municipal Auditorium? | SEIDMAN SAYS
Last May, when The Players Theatre asked the Sarasota City Commission to grant the 93-year-old nonprofit a long-term lease on the Municipal Auditorium to serve as the organization’s new home, The Bay Conservancy objected and reminded commissioners that its contract with the city for redevelopment of the bay front included promised management control of the adjacent auditorium.
The commissioners sent the two parties to the bargaining table to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution and bid them to return to chambers next month.
But as reported recently by Herald-Tribune Arts Editor Jay Handelman, those negotiations have resulted in a stalemate. The latest proposals from William Skaggs, CEO of The Players Centre, and AG Lafley, CEO of The Bay Conservancy, each offer modest – but unacceptable -- accommodations to the other.
Take a look: Citizens deserve a greater say in Sarasota redevelopment plan | SEIDMAN SAYS
'Why I quit': A Sarasota teacher's story | SEIDMAN SAYS
And that presents commissioners with an unenviable decision.
The Players is proposing full control of the auditorium from September through April (with a year-round lease of the upstairs area for administrative offices), while ceding the remaining four months of the year to The Bay. During that off-season period, The Players suggests it could lease the smaller city-owned Payne Park Auditorium to present summer productions and educational programs.
More: Breaking cycles by building a ‘Brotherhood of Men’ | SEIDMAN SAYS
More: Get over the School Board election — and get behind Sarasota's teachers | SEIDMAN SAYS
The Bay, however, believes the auditorium should remain a year-round multi-purpose venue for use by both the park and local organizations. While The Bay says a limited number of Players’ productions could be accommodated, a better option, it argues, would be for the organization to become the future “anchor resident” of a smaller theater planned within the yet-to be-built Sarasota Performing Arts Center, a repurposed Van Wezel or Holley Hall (if and when it is vacated by the Sarasota Orchestra).
Both organizations have submitted financial projections assuring they can cover operating costs and necessary renovations and alterations, while relieving the city of financial, scheduling and operational burdens.
And both have lined up multiple community partners who support their vision: Twelve collaborators –including The Artists Series Concerts, Key Choral, the Jazz Club of Sarasota and the Pops Orchestra –have agreed to collaborate with The Players; meanwhile, CoreSRQ, PINC and the Sarasota Film Festival have aligned with The Bay. The Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition says it is interested in partnering with either group.
As a former arts reporter and dance critic, a longtime lover of the performing arts and a believer in the preservation of institutions and buildings, my heart lies with The Players, Sarasota’s oldest performing arts organization.
I’ve enjoyed many a production in its former home across the Trail, and I was frankly relieved when its plans to move to Lakewood Ranch fell through. That's because I believe strongly that The Players belongs within the city limits, and that it won’t survive if it isn’t. The opportunities the venerable organization offers to local amateur thespians – and, with its reasonable ticket prices, to families – makes it a true community-building gem that deserves both a central location and a city's support.
But while I appreciate The Players’ olive branch to “share” the space with The Bay, I think it’s a clumsy and impractical arrangement that would be complicated to administer and destined for conflict. The Players deserves and needs its own permanent (or at least long-term) facility year-round. The real question is whether or not that should be the Municipal Auditorium.
As for The Bay, from the start, I’ve appreciated its efforts to seek public input, emphasize accessibility and –with the notable exception of overreach on the new performing arts center – make inclusivity top priority.
Moreover, a park of this magnitude probably does need an adjustable indoor space to accommodate weather and specific activities, and the community could benefit from a venue with reasonable rental rates for the many smaller organizations that don’t have a dedicated space of their own. (Of course, that might also be the Van Wezel, though to date the Bay has remained pointedly mum on its future.)
Those of you who think I have an opinion on everything (and that it’s usually wrong) might be surprised to learn that in this case, I have a foot in each camp. After a week of thoughtful consideration, the only conclusion I’ve reached is that forcing the two groups to share the auditorium wouldn’t serve either one optimally.
Which leaves the Sarasota City Commission with a tough choice: Do you go with the beloved elder that is part of the city’s performing arts DNA? Or do you put your money behind the young upstart dedicated to reaching the entire community?
Commissioners are sure to get blowback no matter what they decide. (On days when I’m feeling particularly discouraged by my volume of negative email, I can always cheer myself up by thinking, “Well, at least I’m not a city commissioner!”) If I were in their shoes, I’d want to have a better idea of what residents might choose were the decision left to them.
So let’s help them out. Though it obviously won’t be anything like a scientific survey, I’m inviting my readers to weigh in over the next week. What arrangement would you like to see for the auditorium? The Players? The Bay? Neither? Both? (It’s fair game for either organization to circulate this column among supporters and encourage them to offer their views.)
Email, call or text and I promise to keep a tally and share your feedback in my next column. Which, as it so happens, will appear just before commissioners take up the issue on Oct. 3.
Contact Carrie Seidman at carrie.seidman@gmail.com or 505-238-0392.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: The Bay? The Players? A tough choice awaits on Municipal Auditorium
