Thursday, July 19, 2012
3rd meeting to Save the New York City Ballet at SPAC, monday,7/30@6:30pm. Community Room, 1st floor saratoga springs public library.
If you care about the continued residency of the classical arts in saratoga and at spac come join this grass-roots effort to save the new york city ballet in saratoga. We need everyone's help and ideas. Our Saratoga City Council passed a resolution this week 5-0 supporting at least a 2wk. residency of the new york city ballet at spac.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
saratoga city council resolution to support continued at least 2 week residency of new york city ballet at spac.
City Council urges SPAC to maintain at least a two-week NYC Ballet seasonPublished: Wednesday, July 18, 2012
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By LUCIAN McCARTYlmccarty@saratogian.comTwitter.com/SaratogianCDeskSARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night on a resolution expressing its love for the ballet.Saratoga Performing Arts Center announced earlier this month that next year’s New York City Ballet residency in Saratoga Springs would be cut in half, to one week. That is the second shearing of a week from the NYC Ballet’s summer schedule in three years.The council voted Tuesday on a motion urging SPAC to maintain the two-week stay of the ballet.“I have great concern that we’re in danger of losing the ballet at SPAC,” said Michele Madigan who proposed the motion. “I think it’s very important. It’s part of the culture of Saratoga; the arts of Saratoga.”The motion emphasizes the city’s support of the arts, SPAC and the NYC Ballet and endorses a “two week minimum summer residency for the New York City Ballet Company at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.”The NYC Ballet as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra have been staples in the SPAC season since 1966.“It’s certainly an issue worth fighting for,” said Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco. “It would really be a detriment to not have either one of those entities at SPAC.”Several members of the public also spoke on behalf of the ballet, including a former dancer with the NYC Ballet and a SPAC board member.Leslie Kettlewell said she has been working at SPAC in one capacity or another since she was a teenager. “I’m still an usher,” she said. She warned that the NYC Ballet seems to have its season whittled further and further down each year. “Soon the orchestra will be gone,” she said. “These problems are not insurmountable. I think this is a great opportunity for the community to pull together to help save the ballet.”Reached by phone Tuesday, SPAC President and CEO Marcia White said she, too, supports the NYC Ballet but said the financial structure of the organizations’ relationship is unsustainable. Continued...12See Full Story“The NYC Ballet and SPAC are in the same position and want the same thing,” she said. “The question is about the economics.”White said SPAC and the NYC Ballet will be working together to address the issue of money, which she said they both lose with the current arrangement and she hopes to bring the NYC Ballet back for two weeks in 2014. “That’s the goal,” she said.“Time are difficult,” Madigan said during the meeting, “but the arts are something that should be supported.” 12See Full Story 123See Full Story1234See Full Story
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By LUCIAN McCARTYlmccarty@saratogian.comTwitter.com/SaratogianCDeskSARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night on a resolution expressing its love for the ballet.Saratoga Performing Arts Center announced earlier this month that next year’s New York City Ballet residency in Saratoga Springs would be cut in half, to one week. That is the second shearing of a week from the NYC Ballet’s summer schedule in three years.The council voted Tuesday on a motion urging SPAC to maintain the two-week stay of the ballet.“I have great concern that we’re in danger of losing the ballet at SPAC,” said Michele Madigan who proposed the motion. “I think it’s very important. It’s part of the culture of Saratoga; the arts of Saratoga.”The motion emphasizes the city’s support of the arts, SPAC and the NYC Ballet and endorses a “two week minimum summer residency for the New York City Ballet Company at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.”The NYC Ballet as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra have been staples in the SPAC season since 1966.“It’s certainly an issue worth fighting for,” said Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco. “It would really be a detriment to not have either one of those entities at SPAC.”Several members of the public also spoke on behalf of the ballet, including a former dancer with the NYC Ballet and a SPAC board member.Leslie Kettlewell said she has been working at SPAC in one capacity or another since she was a teenager. “I’m still an usher,” she said. She warned that the NYC Ballet seems to have its season whittled further and further down each year. “Soon the orchestra will be gone,” she said. “These problems are not insurmountable. I think this is a great opportunity for the community to pull together to help save the ballet.”Reached by phone Tuesday, SPAC President and CEO Marcia White said she, too, supports the NYC Ballet but said the financial structure of the organizations’ relationship is unsustainable. Continued...12See Full Story“The NYC Ballet and SPAC are in the same position and want the same thing,” she said. “The question is about the economics.”White said SPAC and the NYC Ballet will be working together to address the issue of money, which she said they both lose with the current arrangement and she hopes to bring the NYC Ballet back for two weeks in 2014. “That’s the goal,” she said.“Time are difficult,” Madigan said during the meeting, “but the arts are something that should be supported.” 12See Full Story 123See Full Story1234See Full Story
Sunday, July 15, 2012
we are thrilled to have our lion's heads fountains working again thanks to Mark, the master.
Look for the beautiful Lion's heads fountains at the Victoria Pool restored to their natural beauty.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
stop the nycballet being cut to one wk., library mtg. 7/9@6:30.
NYC Ballet's SPAC residency cut to one week in 2013Published: Thursday, July 05, 2012
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More PhotosClick thumbnails to enlargeJoaquin de Luz and Tiler Peckpictured in this Saratogian file photo. By BARBARA LOMBARDO and PAUL POSTnews@saratogian.comTwitter.com/@SaratogianNewsClick to enlargeNew York City Ballet dancers Ana Sophia Scheller, left, Tiler Peck and Sterling Hyltin are pictured in this Saratogian file photo. SARATOGA SPRINGS — The New York City Ballet’s residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center will be cut to one week in 2013, with other visiting ballet companies filling the gap for week two.The reason: Both SPAC and the NYCB say they can’t afford a longer stay.Each performance costs $180,000, said Marcia White, SPAC president and executive director. It costs SPAC about $2 million to bring the ballet to Saratoga, and SPAC loses about $1.1 million in the process, she said.“At the end of the day we want the New York City Ballet to come here for two weeks, or for as long as they can,” White told The Saratogian in an interview Thursday.She hopes that a two-week residency could resume in 2014. “We want to do that, but it has to come back at a cost that’s sustainable,” she said.Thursday’s announcement of a shortened 2013 season comes days before the July 10 start of the ballet’s two-week residency at SPAC. Full details on the 2012 season are available here. In May, in stepping down after five years as SPAC board chairman, Bill Dake issued a dire warning that the future of the ballet’s residency, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra’s three-week residency, were in jeopardy.A group of citizens unaffiliated with SPAC have scheduled a meeting for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Saratoga Springs Public Library for people interested in developing a strategy to save the New York City Ballet’s summer residency. That meeting was arranged prior to the announcement of the residency cutback.The ballet’s schedule was reduced from three to two weeks in 2009 and average attendance went up considerably, but obviously not enough to offset rising production costs.The New York City Ballet and Philadelphia Orchestra have been mainstays of SPAC since its inception in 1966. Continued...1234See Full StoryNext year’s NYCB residency will run for five days beginning Tuesday, July 9, and consist of five evening and two matinee performances.SPAC, according to a press release, “is in serious conversations with the National Ballet of Canada and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet about potential short-term engagements at SPAC in 2013, as an adjunct to NYCB’s one-week program.”Despite financial losses, White noted value in the prestige and legacy of the New York City Ballet’s residency.“We treasure our historic partnership with New York City Ballet, which dates back to our earliest days as an organization,” White said in a press statement. “In recent years, NYCB and SPAC, like arts organizations nationwide, have had to confront new financial realities. We are all operating in an environment where funding from both public and private sources is more scarce, while the costs of doing business have continued to rise.”Susan Phillips Read, the new chairwoman of SPAC’s board of directors, echoed those comments in the press statement: “Our goal is to maintain City Ballet’s historic residency at SPAC at an affordable, sustainable cost. SPAC and its audience value the partnership with City Ballet tremendously and are ready to try virtually any alternative that will allow us to reach this goal.”The ballet has seen its production expenses rise $300,000 in 2011 and 2012. The estimated loss for SPAC of $1.1 million, White said, “is more than we lost when the ballet was here three weeks. We can’t absorb the New York City Ballet’s losses.”Ballet tickets cover only one-third of the expense, leaving SPAC’s individual donors and corporate sponsors to make up the difference.“We’re pushing fundraising to the limits,” White said at SPAC’s annual membership meeting in May.HSBC was a major corporate sponsor in 2010 and 2011, but is not back this year following its withdrawal of retail operations from the region.“The orchestra and ballet are less than 10 percent of our attendance and cost over 40 percent each, of our expenses,” former SPAC Chairman Bill Dake said at this year’s annual membership meeting in May. Continued...1234See Full StoryDake has said the ballet should experiment with less expensive productions and that Saratoga, which has very supportive crowds, would be the place to do it.After seven years of operating in the black, SPAC is facing a possible $250,000 deficit in 2012. Dake, in May, also gave a bleak report on SPAC’s slightly more than $4.5 million endowment: “$2.5 million of that is restricted, so it’s really only $2 million, which can erode very quickly.”The ballet has been on shaky ground at SPAC for almost a decade. In February 2004, former SPAC President Herb Chesbrough announced that SPAC could no longer afford to host the ballet, setting off a firestorm of protest that led to a state investigation of SPAC’s business operations and the eventual mass replacement of board members, including Chesbrough.Following a brief resurgence, the nation’s 2008 economic decline hit the entire arts world deeply and the ballet hasn’t been spared.“We’re all war-weary veterans from the last go-around,” said George Neary, an avid ballet fan who is one of a handful expected to lead Monday’s meeting at the library. “People feel like they’re helpless about this. I want to give them some hope that we can save the ballet and SPAC.”White said she will attend that meeting, if invited. She noted that she has been talking to members of that group.Neary said SPAC could create new generations of ballet fans by lowering young people’s ticket prices. Children under 12 already get free lawn seats and students through college age can buy lawn tickets $10 and get a 25 percent discount in the amphitheater.Neary also said that SPAC’s contract with LiveNation, for pop and rock concerts, drains money away from classical programming. “SPAC used to run their own concerts,” he said. “That money is out the door.”But White said SPAC gets $1 million per year from LiveNation, which underwrites classical programs. Most LiveNation ticket revenue goes to performers, whose prices have escalated greatly, she said.Most of LiveNation’s revenues comes from concessions, she said. Continued...1234See Full StorySPAC gets no funding from Saratoga Springs or Saratoga County and only a small amount each year from the New York State Council on the Arts, White said.1234See Full Story
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More PhotosClick thumbnails to enlargeJoaquin de Luz and Tiler Peckpictured in this Saratogian file photo. By BARBARA LOMBARDO and PAUL POSTnews@saratogian.comTwitter.com/@SaratogianNewsClick to enlargeNew York City Ballet dancers Ana Sophia Scheller, left, Tiler Peck and Sterling Hyltin are pictured in this Saratogian file photo. SARATOGA SPRINGS — The New York City Ballet’s residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center will be cut to one week in 2013, with other visiting ballet companies filling the gap for week two.The reason: Both SPAC and the NYCB say they can’t afford a longer stay.Each performance costs $180,000, said Marcia White, SPAC president and executive director. It costs SPAC about $2 million to bring the ballet to Saratoga, and SPAC loses about $1.1 million in the process, she said.“At the end of the day we want the New York City Ballet to come here for two weeks, or for as long as they can,” White told The Saratogian in an interview Thursday.She hopes that a two-week residency could resume in 2014. “We want to do that, but it has to come back at a cost that’s sustainable,” she said.Thursday’s announcement of a shortened 2013 season comes days before the July 10 start of the ballet’s two-week residency at SPAC. Full details on the 2012 season are available here. In May, in stepping down after five years as SPAC board chairman, Bill Dake issued a dire warning that the future of the ballet’s residency, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra’s three-week residency, were in jeopardy.A group of citizens unaffiliated with SPAC have scheduled a meeting for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Saratoga Springs Public Library for people interested in developing a strategy to save the New York City Ballet’s summer residency. That meeting was arranged prior to the announcement of the residency cutback.The ballet’s schedule was reduced from three to two weeks in 2009 and average attendance went up considerably, but obviously not enough to offset rising production costs.The New York City Ballet and Philadelphia Orchestra have been mainstays of SPAC since its inception in 1966. Continued...1234See Full StoryNext year’s NYCB residency will run for five days beginning Tuesday, July 9, and consist of five evening and two matinee performances.SPAC, according to a press release, “is in serious conversations with the National Ballet of Canada and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet about potential short-term engagements at SPAC in 2013, as an adjunct to NYCB’s one-week program.”Despite financial losses, White noted value in the prestige and legacy of the New York City Ballet’s residency.“We treasure our historic partnership with New York City Ballet, which dates back to our earliest days as an organization,” White said in a press statement. “In recent years, NYCB and SPAC, like arts organizations nationwide, have had to confront new financial realities. We are all operating in an environment where funding from both public and private sources is more scarce, while the costs of doing business have continued to rise.”Susan Phillips Read, the new chairwoman of SPAC’s board of directors, echoed those comments in the press statement: “Our goal is to maintain City Ballet’s historic residency at SPAC at an affordable, sustainable cost. SPAC and its audience value the partnership with City Ballet tremendously and are ready to try virtually any alternative that will allow us to reach this goal.”The ballet has seen its production expenses rise $300,000 in 2011 and 2012. The estimated loss for SPAC of $1.1 million, White said, “is more than we lost when the ballet was here three weeks. We can’t absorb the New York City Ballet’s losses.”Ballet tickets cover only one-third of the expense, leaving SPAC’s individual donors and corporate sponsors to make up the difference.“We’re pushing fundraising to the limits,” White said at SPAC’s annual membership meeting in May.HSBC was a major corporate sponsor in 2010 and 2011, but is not back this year following its withdrawal of retail operations from the region.“The orchestra and ballet are less than 10 percent of our attendance and cost over 40 percent each, of our expenses,” former SPAC Chairman Bill Dake said at this year’s annual membership meeting in May. Continued...1234See Full StoryDake has said the ballet should experiment with less expensive productions and that Saratoga, which has very supportive crowds, would be the place to do it.After seven years of operating in the black, SPAC is facing a possible $250,000 deficit in 2012. Dake, in May, also gave a bleak report on SPAC’s slightly more than $4.5 million endowment: “$2.5 million of that is restricted, so it’s really only $2 million, which can erode very quickly.”The ballet has been on shaky ground at SPAC for almost a decade. In February 2004, former SPAC President Herb Chesbrough announced that SPAC could no longer afford to host the ballet, setting off a firestorm of protest that led to a state investigation of SPAC’s business operations and the eventual mass replacement of board members, including Chesbrough.Following a brief resurgence, the nation’s 2008 economic decline hit the entire arts world deeply and the ballet hasn’t been spared.“We’re all war-weary veterans from the last go-around,” said George Neary, an avid ballet fan who is one of a handful expected to lead Monday’s meeting at the library. “People feel like they’re helpless about this. I want to give them some hope that we can save the ballet and SPAC.”White said she will attend that meeting, if invited. She noted that she has been talking to members of that group.Neary said SPAC could create new generations of ballet fans by lowering young people’s ticket prices. Children under 12 already get free lawn seats and students through college age can buy lawn tickets $10 and get a 25 percent discount in the amphitheater.Neary also said that SPAC’s contract with LiveNation, for pop and rock concerts, drains money away from classical programming. “SPAC used to run their own concerts,” he said. “That money is out the door.”But White said SPAC gets $1 million per year from LiveNation, which underwrites classical programs. Most LiveNation ticket revenue goes to performers, whose prices have escalated greatly, she said.Most of LiveNation’s revenues comes from concessions, she said. Continued...1234See Full StorySPAC gets no funding from Saratoga Springs or Saratoga County and only a small amount each year from the New York State Council on the Arts, White said.1234See Full Story
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
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