By John Roberts, Sedona Resident
(March 29, 2019)
The Sedona Red Rock News 3/22 editorial headlined by,”History of the fall of Sedona Cultural Park.” was factual and well researched. Explaining the operating headwinds the Park management experienced was good for those who favored the Park’s concept to understand. However there was more which was also a part of this history and it follows to the extent that my participation then as president of the Sedona Arts Center ( SAC ) Board in it allows.
This failure commenced at the same time Jane Vojnovich had given the Sedona Arts Center $1,000,000. Discussions had begun to have the Park and SAC join as one cultural entity. This failed to jell after the Park was unable to furnish SAC with their business plan as had been requested by SAC. Also pertinent was the executive director of SAC, Chuck Raison, who had considerable reservations about the future viability of the Park based on what was then known about the Park’s plans. His background before arriving at SAC was to have set up similar cultural centers as the Park intended here as he did in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Chuck did not believe the population here was large enough to allow the Park to achieve financial stability.
The Park was also apparently having difficulty in gaining sponsorships outside of town in sufficient dollar amounts to cover program costs and offset any shortage of local population attendance revenues. The revenue gap became another potential severe headwind. These facts along with Jane’s opposition to a joint venture had their effect in stopping the Park program. At this point SAC decided to use the million dollar gift to design and construct the building now facing on89A at their compound and not share it with the Park in any joint venture.
For a rebirth in the original format conceived by the Park this revenue gap has to be resolved. Financial reality and the past insolvency of the Park cannot be ignored. There must be reasonable assurance of a return on any investment.
3 Comments
Good point John. I along with many others have seen the rise and fall of groups, whether music, art or other activities that are supported in larger cities. When folks come to Sedona, they bring with them desires to have the same kind of cultural experience that they had in Phoenix, NYC, LA or other metropolitan cities where the population is large enough to establish a viable financial operation in the arts.
It’s very difficult, if not impossible to do it here. Flagstaff is a college town, and people are not coming down the mountain typically for culture programs. And Cottonwood and the Verde Valley residents seem to want a different type of entertainment, although we do pull some people up from these areas.
It is a difficult situation that will not be solved. We have a population of 10,000, of which 30% are somewhere else all the time, and now about 1000 homes or more that are Air BnB or VBRO which are occupied by tourists that do not come to Sedona for cultural events, except maybe the Sedona Film Festival.
it is a reality that exists, and I like you have seen people move to Sedona, and then have left when these opportunities are not available.
Why do we not take in the tourist population when we talk about who might attend events at a Cultural Center? It FAR outweighs the resident population!
Good question Marcia. But the expert, Chuck Raison, in such matters is no longer alive to comment. Chuck had the important experience which we do not possess to be as apprehensive about the Park succeeding as he was.
Perhaps he’d tell us that tourist do attend cultural events but their percentages are not known so a count is unavailable. Nor are they living here and readily available always to attend. Also a too large number of the tourists count are passing through on their way to the Grand Canyon and have no intention to go to a cultural event. Then the day trippers make up a very large number of the tourists so their count is also in the discard heap.So, yes over the span of a year all the tourists may well outnumber us locals but what number of them would think of attending the Park event is a total unknown.
Whatever, the paying attendance was not enough and that’s what helped make the Park skid into the red.