City to Van Wezel: Not So Fast

The future of ’s operation structure isn’t as clear as what some might have thought at Tuesday evening’s City Commission meeting.

The agenda item appeared to be an , but it turned into a contentious debate between Van Wezel Foundation Chairman Mark Famiglio and City Manager Robert Bartolotta.

The Van Wezel Foundation, which helps fund-raise for the city-owned and operated performing arts hall, is strongly looking to have Van Wezel to become independent and the Van Wezel Foundation would control the venue out of a realm of four possibilities it discussed with the city this year.

The promise by Van Wezel Foundation is that it could raise $15 million much more easily to help establish an endowment. 

The catch, Bartolotta said, is what if the foundation doesn’t fulfill that promise where “if you don’t raise any more money, then all you’re doing is switching the management team.” Ticket sales might be great, but the hall needs more than that to survive, he added.

The hall recently ended its fiscal year with a $400,000 balance, Bartolotta said.

Bartolotta asked the commission if a threshold or trigger limit would be appropriate, if the foundation reached a certain level of fundraising, then the operations could be turned over.

Famiglio appeared to be caught off guard.

“I’m not sure where you’re going with this, but I appreciate that you’re saying something different than what we understood,” he said.

“They key was not fundraising success?” Bartolotta responded. 

Those discussions have been behind closed doors for the most part, and the City Commission is largely made up of newcomers, so Monday’s update was the first chance commissioners could weigh in. And so they did.

“It’s too significant to let this go on in closed doors at this point,” City Commissioner Paul Caragiulo said.

Bartolotta contends that the foundation can raise money anyway as the current foundation.

“People don’t want to give money to the city,” Famiglio shot back. “You know it.”

Beyond the actual money that could be raised and put to use toward upgrading amenities at Van Wezel, the surrounding land plays a huge part.

“We’re talking about a goldmine in this community we need to be darned careful how we move forward with whatever we choose to do,” Mayor Suzanne Atwell said. “This is ours. This is the Van Wezel. It's a fragile and beautiful piece of land.” 

The issue about how the surrounding land of Van Wezel will be used will be put off to a later phase of discussions, Bartolotta said. Famiglio mentioned possibilities of additional buildings operated by Van Wezel contributing to arts and arts education could be built through the endowment.

The Van Wezel area is guided by the city’s Cultural Park District master plan. The master plan calls for the large swath of parking lot to be replaced by Bayfront Park and Esplande, among other measures. A parking garage to serve the Cultural Park District would then be built to offset eliminating the parking lot.

Famiglio told the commission that parking was going to be one way the foundation would build revenue, but that is in the concept stage. 

“I’m a little concerned about the fact we spent so much time and money supporting the hall in this context,” he said. “It really concerns me.” 

Commissioner Shannon Snyder said there has to be transparency.

“I think there’s a lot of details here that aren’t out in the public,” he said.

Ultimately, the commission agreed to table further discussions until both the staff and commissioners are up to date on the Van Wezel negotiations.