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MY Place enters into new partnership with arts council

Part of restructuring plan to increase revenues New partnerships are spearheading Maurice Young Millennium Place’s quest for a vibrant place in the community and financial security.

Part of restructuring plan to increase revenues

New partnerships are spearheading Maurice Young Millennium Place’s quest for a vibrant place in the community and financial security.

Recently the Whistler Arts Council and MY Place entered into a partnership to streamline and improve the Performance Series and to work with other local groups to improve access to the facility.

And Mountain FM radio has also rented space for office use and recording of advertising spots.

There will also be a new and innovative guest speaker series, breakfast meetings aimed at health education, health activities like yoga, and more.

"We are taking more risks during the day and I think it is working for us, and then in the evening, we are taking more risks to fill in dates too," said Rob Schwartz, general manager at MY Place.

The staff is following a strategy known affectionately as the B-HAG, or Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

"We want to be self-sustaining," said Schwartz referring to one of the goals of the B-HAG.

"And we want to show the community that we can do this and I believe it is possible.

"It will take time and creativity and volunteer work but it is possible."

The hope is that the profile of the facility will continue to grow and more and more people will come to enjoy the shows and the building.

"People aren't using (Millennium Place) to its greatest potential so we are coming up with partnerships to try and make that happen," said Schwartz.

And with utility bills alone running to $5,000 a month the facility also needs to restructure some of its agreements to make sure MY Place is earning enough to keep the doors open, but not so much that the price alienates users.

Schwartz expects there to be a deficit of about $180,000 this year.

"That’s what was predicted," he said.

And he expects the facility will always need about $100,000 a year to cover an on-going deficit, which he expects will come through fund raising. Until recently groups would approach MY Place and suggest a show. If it were a show the venue wanted to go ahead with the staff at Millennium Place would swing into high gear and get things organized.

At the end profits were split 50/50.

In reality the profits were small at best. However, many of the local groups would do well on the fundraising efforts run in addition to the performance.

But that’s money MY Place had no access too.

The current idea is for MY Place to continue to do marketing and promotion, but ticket sales will be split in favour of the facility and the local groups will have to guarantee a certain level of ticket sales.

"We are now saying if you want to be our partner, great," said Schwartz. "But we also want to make it a little bit better for us because we need to."

Making this work will mean new thinking on the part of local groups who book at the centre.

Rather than focusing on ticket sales to get money they will need to focus on the fundraising going on around the event, such as silent auctions or concession sales to make money.

It’s not uncommon to think this way, said Schwartz, pointing to bar operations as an example. Bars bring in bands, customers pay nothing or a minimal door charge, and the bar makes most of its money on liquor sales.

Another part of the equation will be more flexibility in rental agreements. Schwartz said the amounts charged for night time use are pretty well fixed as the hall is at 80 per cent occupancy, but the daytime rates are flexible as occupancy is pretty low right now.

"Come to me with a great proposal for a series you would like to do, or yoga or Pilates during the day time, and I will cut you a wonderful deal because quite honestly my occupancy isn’t there," he said.

"So until it is, why not have some fun and it also allows us to take more chances?"

Of the changes coming into play one of the most exciting is the partnership with the Whistler Community Arts Council.

‘This is great news for both parties," said Schwartz.

"There are two hats that we wear. There is Millennium Place the promoter, the place that we have to run and pay for and everything else.

"Then there is Millennium Place as a community facility.

"We recognize the fact that with the arts council’s help we will be able to increase our Performance Series to roughly 40 to 45 performances.

"Those are our community mandate performances. We are not going to make much money on them.

"If we are lucky we will make $300-$400 and that is a drop in the bucket when you consider our utility bills, and wages and everything else, so that fits our community mandate."

The idea will be that the arts council, which has an office in MY Place but is a separate entity, will work with the facility in the bookings of the Performance Series and other shows.

Both the arts council and MY Place have created a communal pool of money out of which they will fund the productions.

Both will continue to fundraise for partnership ventures and other local groups will also be approached to get involved financially and otherwise.

That way the groups don’t duplicate performances or ideas and costs are shared, as are profits.

But as arts council executive director Doti Niedermayer pointed out, the profits associated with performances are usually pretty minor.

"Mostly you break even," said Niedermayer.

"The arts has to be subsidized mostly because we have to keep our ticket prices reasonable. If you paid full price for an opera you would pay about $500 a ticket.

"What we are hoping is that we get a few more break even shows, or money makers and those subsidize those other shows which lose money so at the end of the day you hopefully end up breaking even.

"Then I am hoping that a lot of these groups will put any profits they make back in each year."

Niedermayer is content with the partnership and looking forward to the next season.

There are still groups out there who feel Millennium Place’s prices keep them out but she believes the facility does the best it can.

"I know some groups still have an issue with the price of the rooms and I doubt if that will ever change just because of how much it costs to run a building," she said.

"And that is part of the reality of living here. Everything costs so much that it is really difficult to find a really cheap venue where you can rehearse for almost nothing.

"It is more a reflection of Whistler than it is a reflection of MY Place."

The challenge now, said Niedermayer, is to work out a balance in the shows.

Some are brought in because it’s known they will make money but others are hosted because they offer something new and different.

For Schwartz this is all part of the excitement of developing My Place’s role in the community. It’s a role he sees growing into partnerships with all sorts of local groups for all sorts of services, even photocopying, marketing and providing a community lounge to get to know your neighbours.

And plans are underway to market to tourists as well, so everyone can benefit from the facility.

"Through creativity we can offer something unique to the community as well as to everyone else," said Schwartz.