Oh, what a night Late December back in 63 What a very special time for me As I remember what a night Oh, what a night No one didn't even know her name But I was never gonna be the same What a lady, what a night Oh, I got a funny feeling when she walks in the room Where am I? Cause I will call it ending my too soon Oh, no Hippolytizing, desperizing me She was everything I dreamed she'd be Sweet surrender, wouldn't I? I felt a rush like a woman on my thunder Screaming my head around and taking my body I want to know. Oh, I got a... ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Members will take their seats. We'll get started. This is the November meeting of the General Government Committee. We have a quorum. Welcome back from vacation. or however you spent your time. The first item on the agenda is committee summary. Do I have a motion to approve? Thank you. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next item on the agenda, there's really three related items, the Downtown Arts Center pilot project, utilization, and the sharing of artistic direction. And one of those came from the General Services link, one from Council Member Farmer and one from Vice Mayor Gorton. Do either Council Member Farmer or Vice Mayor Gorton want to speak to that before we ask the other present presenters? Well, I just have a comment. I don't think there was really anything in here about my actual issue of combining, looking at whether we could combine some of the services. So just a comment. Is that the sharing? So Craig? Greg? That's, you're correct that that's not in the slides. That's going to be a discussion item after they finish the presentation. That's the way they wanted to proceed with that item. Okay. Who is presenting that? Commissioner Reed is here as well as Celeste Lewis and Amber Lowell. Okay, thank you. Sure. Okay. Councilmember Farmer, did you wish to speak about your interest in this issue? or should we just proceed? Well, I think this is, I'm interested in if there is a presentation or some comments to this because it was about trying to utilize the Arts Center. I feel like it was adrift. We've kind of made a little bit of adjustment through the budget process to give some parks and recreation folks the opportunity to try to enliven it. And I would just like to hear about that personally. Okay. Thank you, sir. Great. In which case, Commissioner Reed, you want to give us the context and then we'll proceed. Well, I've asked Amber Lou Allen and Celeste Lewis to come give you a presentation on what we are doing at the Downtown Arts Center, what we've accomplished and what we're attempting to accomplish. And then we can certainly have a discussion about the idea of some combination combining these efforts. we're not very far along down the road on that, but I think it's an important topic to deal with. And I'd like to turn this over to Amber to start with and have her give her presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. Good morning. As you know, we transferred management of the Downtown Arts Center from LexArts to Parks and Recreation's Cultural Arts Department July 1. And we jumped right in. We have a team in place. We have a professional staff in our arts department who we worked on this well in advance when we knew that we would be potentially stepping in. So we had done a lot of homework and a lot of research. and with our team in place, our immediate goals upon taking over were to have as seamless of transition as possible, to get an in-person perspective of where things stood and where we needed to go, and most importantly, to positively engage the performing arts community and immediately increase its level of activity. Today, we will update you on what we've learned and what has been accomplished in the last four months, in addition to some of our plans for the future. Our first order of business was to provide some much needed TLC to the facility. A full assessment of the building and technical equipment was conducted by building maintenance and park staff. In addition to this list of items that you can see, work has been done on securing new cleaning contracts, pest control, IT and phone wiring and security. Everyone's been very busy getting things transferred, spruced up and running properly. Notable mentions are we cleaned and replaced all the lights in the entryway, which you can see the difference there on the left. And then also we refinished the floors in the black box theater, which was very needed. A lot of the performing artists, especially dancers or people who were performing barefoot, complained of splinters and that it was a hazard for them to perform in the space. So it's beautiful now. the image on the right, those are actually the reflections from the studio lighting, so it is quite lovely, and we've had lots of compliments now. We also wanted to put together a small group of advisors in our efforts to engage the community and have more transparency. We gathered this group together. They are arts professionals representing the Earth community. We want them to assist us in establishing our mission, our goals and objectives, and long-term plans. Our initial conversations with them have been very positive and productive. They've been able to provide really great feedback and direction. We will continue to reconvene them over the next couple of months to tackle some of those things like the goals and objectives, the mission, and a business plan. and then we hope to meet quarterly following that. And we tried really hard to pick people to diversify the panel by discipline so that we have all of the major art disciplines represented and community representatives as well. In anticipation of taking over the DAC, we really started doing our homework. We took a close look at other local and regional facilities, especially other black box theaters. their rental rates and policies. We'd like to note that we're really not in uncharted territory here. We found numerous cities where their parks and recreation departments directly manage theaters. Two successful models are Nashville and Greensboro North Carolina. We have taken a close look at these two in particular. We are very fortunate to have a black box theater here in Lexington for public use. A black box is a stripped down, distraction-free setting that places the emphasis directly on the production. A lot of productions are designed for smaller, more intimate spaces such as this and audiences, small audiences, and require this type of performance space. really isn't another black box in Lexington. Transylvania has a black box, but it's not available for public use. And as you can see, these are the other venues in town with their seating capacity. So if you are designing a show that is a smaller show and you don't expect a really large audience to have to pay for and undersell a larger venue, it would be unnecessary for a lot of the performing arts groups in town. In terms of marketability, DAC is in its own category for that reason. The limiting seating available for these productions and therefore there's a lot less potential for revenue, it's important for us to have really reasonable rates that allow for more profitability for all of the people that are using it. Based on our research of the Lexington market, past use of the DAC, and the needs of potential clients, it was very apparent that LexArts rate structure was a major barrier for performing arts groups and productions were not profitable. Many times they were in the hole once all their bills were paid. This created an untenable situation for all involved. Taking this into account, we have developed a new rate structure. more affordable and we developed new policies concerning their usage. We based it on the previous fee structure that LexArts had as well as our market research of like-sized venues. Primarily, we modeled the new rental rates and policies after the MEX Black Box in Louisville, which is also a publicly funded theater. The rental rates continue to be a work in progress as we get to learn more and more each day about staff requirements, clients' needs, and how the building is used. So one example is we have now put in place a minimum charge of six hours for one-day events so that we learned that those performance times really needed to cover all of the costs involved. As you can see, it's a tiered menu of selections based on the production needs. I would also like to clarify the arts category. That specific category is designed for long-term productions, often booking productions booked for two to three weeks at a time. These clients can rake up a pretty hefty bill really quickly while they're in production. And because we want to focus still on the performing arts, we want that, again, to be a reasonable situation and a profitable outcome for them. When we took over July 1, we thought it would really take a little time to introduce ourselves to the space and the community, to introduce ourselves and the space to the community, that we would have to try to build up the clientele and audiences. Our experience has really been the exact opposite. We found the community to be very curious about the change and the new opportunity. They have been incredibly receptive to the new direction, and the staff continues to meet with clients and book events daily. This graph shows on the left in the yellow LexArts FY14 bookings, and in the green on the right is our current bookings to date since parks took over July 1. So they are meeting daily. They are continuing to book daily. It has gotten to the point now where they can't automatically tell someone that a date is available because it is filling up quickly. So the doors were opened and the people have been flooding in. We couldn't be happier about that. We also have worked hard to diversify the offerings for people, the offerings of the rentals. One of the things that we felt that had happened in the past was too much emphasis had been placed on theater, so dates would be held for long term for theater groups who then ended up canceling. So you can see the pie chart on the left is LexArts last year, and the pie chart on the right is Parks and Recreation so far this year. We are happy with this distribution by discipline. As you can see, we have also opened up opportunities for other things such as receptions, public meetings. We don't want to turn away paying customers. So people that are specifically interested in a nice urban space to come and hold their event, we are trying to tailor to all of those people, but also making the emphasis always on the performing arts. And at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Celeste, who's going to talk a little bit more about the programming that's been going on there. Hi, I'm Celeste Lewis, the center director, and I'd like to talk to you a little bit about what we're doing for developing our database so that we may have a good contact base. We want people to know that the DAC is a place to be engaged in the best that the arts community has to offer. We are developing a brochure, our website, we have a Facebook presence. We want to have a presence in the community and in the arts community. We are working to develop interest in sponsorships, in community and business sponsors, donors to help support one of our events or a partner organization. We're exploring grants on both local and national level. For programming, we have different performing arts groups. We have event rentals like weddings and receptions. We have some signature events. We're talking to, for instance, Story Magazine, if you're familiar with that. That's a local magazine that's put out to celebrate Kentucky and Kentuckians. And we're working on an event with the publisher of that to have something similar to the Moth Story Hour as a regular attraction at the Downtown Arts Center where people will tell stories and we'll have a reception. And people can meet Kentuckians with rich and interesting histories and stories to tell. We have a concert series starting by a group of musicians here in town called Winter Muse. There will be four concerts through the winter that will feature music by one band, and then also a film or a dance production or an art show that goes with it, so it will be a rich arts experience. We have in the plan for the gallery downstairs, and Tower Gallery will be consolidating into the second floor. She currently has the street-level gallery and the upstairs. She'll be consolidating into the upstairs, and the downstairs part of what is now currently Antauer Gallery will become the City Gallery, and we will have fine art exhibitions in there from Kentucky artists. We will, the exhibits and proposals will be submitted for approval to the Urban County Arts Review Board. We have four shows planned so far. For instance, we have Steve Powell, who's a wonderful glass artist here from Kentucky, who's a museum-level exhibition artist. He's going to do a show there, and we'll have a guest curator working with him on that. We have some local artists that are fine art painters, Lennon Mikowski and Jim Shambu and Marjorie Guyane that will be doing a show together. And then we will be taking proposals following that, those starter shows from local artists who will be proposing exhibitions for that gallery. And when art is sold, we will have a 60-40 split with the artists. So that will be a revenue center for our area. The current old city gallery, which is upstairs, that was the city gallery, we are honoring LexArts. They had planned a year's worth of exhibits, so we are honoring those. And for instance, we've had Latino Blend, which is a Latino art exhibit that was wonderful. It was very well attended and beautifully put together. And then currently we have Fayette County Art Teachers, Fayette County Schools. That's a really very diverse exhibit that's very interesting up right now. Following that will be the Creative Camera Club. Our local camera club is one of the oldest in the country, so they will be doing an exhibit upstairs as well. To speak a little bit about third quarter bookings, did I miss a slide? Did I do that? Okay, that's, oh, let me mention also the third and fourth floors. That is currently being reviewed. and there is a building and maintenance and construction cost analysis assessment going on at this time. So we will wait for that, but we do have some ideas. We can't help but dream about some things that we could do on the third and fourth floor. And so we have, for instance, there's perhaps a radio station that is interested in the third floor, having studios there. If that did come to fruition, they would be doing live broadcasts from our theater and music things downstairs. It would be a great partnership. We had also thought perhaps we would do artist studios on the third floor. We could do minimal finishing of the third floor and have artist studios there. Art space for art creators in Lexington is at an all-time high as far as all-time low of availability, all-time high as far as it being taken. so we'd love to offer that for local artists. The fourth floor we thought would be a great sort of a rent-a-desk business incubator for arts entities, so we have a lot of discussion about some creative ideas, and we look forward to being able to work on that a little bit. Some of the things we have coming up that we have had, some of the things we've already had are like the Girl Project, which is a wonderful theater production. We had a beautiful wedding that used the entire building already. We have WRFL at UK put on a wonderful concert of three. The headliner was Ben Frost and then two other bands. We had a luncheon and evening formal called Pearls and Pumps. We've had Frontier Nursing Organization luncheon there that was lovely. We had BCTC Scarecrows Never See the Sunset. We recently just had Movement Continuum, did a beautiful dance production of Down the Rabbit Hole. For upcoming events, we have a Streets and Roads meeting that's coming up. We have UK Center for Community Outreach documentary, Storied Streets. We have Blackbird Dance Theater Spring Concert is coming. We have SCAPA is doing an event there. So we have a lot of things coming up that we're very, very excited about. I told you a little bit about that. So in summary, I would like to just say that we are a very passionate and committed team, and we are loving the opportunity to bring a special and new era to the DAC. And I'd like to join you all to join us for a holiday open house on Tuesday, December 2nd from 5 to 7. We would love for you all to come take a tour, let us show you around, and show you the improvements, and you can see it up close and personal. Thank you. Anything else you want to add? Do we have any more time? Do we have time? Your time for presentation. How much more do you have? Just a couple comments. A couple comments, please. Well, I just wanted to say that a little over a decade ago when the city entered into the agreement with LexArts to manage the DAC, the city really didn't have the resources at that time to do it itself. In the years that have followed, the Division of Parks and Recreation has actually built up a pretty strong arts department, and we have become a major arts producer and partner within the community. So we had felt that the city could easily reabsorb the management of this facility because we now do have the infrastructure and the professional staff to handle it and to bring it back into our fold. So we feel really lucky to have been given this opportunity, and I really wanted to thank this council for taking that chance with us. And I also want to acknowledge Commissioner Reed and Director Berateron for all the guidance and support that they have given us on this. And all my years with the city, it is unparalleled. And so I didn't want that to go without being acknowledged. And just, if nothing else, thank you for this chance, because we are loving every minute of it, and we really hope to make you proud. Great. Thank you for that presentation. We have some council members signed up for comments or questions, starting with Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Amber and Celeste, thank you so much. I'm very excited by what you have brought us here. This shows that with some focus and really excitement, how something can be turned around. And I just want to say congratulations. I know that Jamshid Baradaran does too. I did have one question on page 12. Can you say a little bit more about what the difference between the arts, what would the arts column be as opposed to a nonprofit? Because I think some arts groups are nonprofit. So we, yes, so there, we wanted to make a distinction that if it was an artistic production, that we want that to be a very viable situation for everyone. And again, we want the emphasis to be on arts productions. So if you were a nonprofit who has nothing to do with the arts, you know, we want to honor that nonprofit status, but we want to make it even more accessible for arts producers. And again, there are arts groups or individual artists who are not necessarily an organized not-for-profit group. So we didn't want an individual artist who was doing a one-man show to have to pay the same rate as the actual formal organization would. Okay. Does that answer that? Yes. Okay. So, yes, that does. Thank you. And so now the Herald-Leader reported that Actors Guild is thinking about coming back to the Downtown Arts Center. I saw that just yesterday, and it gave me pause because there's some trepidation in the arts community about that, to be completely frank about that. And we have not spoken to them in any way about them coming back. We will not be offering residencies for any arts organization, be it theater or any other, to have a permanent spot there. we did a lot of meetings, salons, and things with arts groups and to listen to their concerns and what had been their problems in the past. And that came up time and time again, that they felt like if there was a resident group that there was a certain ownership and favoritism of how the black box would be used in the other rooms, even the rehearsal space, which is in the building. So we have made that so that it is first come, first serve, equally open to any arts organization that is viable that can, you know, work with us on things. And we have found that to be very welcome in the arts community. So when I talked to Art Actors Guild, who is going through a rough go, I just made it very clear that we were open to being their performance space because they were losing their performance space and that we would love to have them perform there, but they will not be storing things or officing there. Okay, thank you. I appreciate knowing that because it was reported in public. And well, congratulations. This is great news. And congratulations also to Parks for, you know, allowing you and partnering with you to go ahead and do this. And it looks really good. I wanted to just recognize also that Tom Willis is our technical director. And Tom, if you'll stand up for just a second. it's just the two of us, and I've got, I cannot say enough great things about him, because that's a very important part of what makes the theater runs, and gives the confidence to the arts organizations that their technical side, their sound, their lights, the room will go smoothly, and so far it's just been such a great partnership, and Tom's a huge part of that. Very good. Is there any, thank you so much, too. Is there any challenge that you're having to overcome that you didn't anticipate? Well, there are some, and I anticipate there will probably be more, and we're working through those as we go along. You know, we had, and we don't know enough about this, I failed to report on this at this time, but we really felt the previous management, they had four full-time staff with benefits, and then they also utilized part-time staff. And we felt at the level of activity that was going on that that could be greatly reduced. However, activity now is really going, and so that is something that we think we will have to evaluate. But we hope to have enough of a revenue stream to justify offsetting those additional costs if we need them. Okay. Very good. And other issues have come up, like the KRS stuff and all that thing. And we're working through all that with personnel and with the budgeting office. And so it's premature to really report on it because there's a lot of unanswered questions. But we are working through all of that as we go. Very good. Thank you all for your hard work. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Councilmember Clark. Thank you, Chair. this has been for me in a sense the labor of love too. This is a remarkable achievement and I've learned throughout my career that if you want something done and done well you find the right people to do it. And in this case Commissioner Reed has worked through parks and found these two young ladies who have done an absolutely remarkable job. I don't think any of us could have anticipated the success of this program as we're seeing it today. And I've had the opportunity to go down and look through the facility and get the tour, and I've been very, very impressed. Right in the center of Lexington, we have something that is a marvelous accomplishment and something that is going to blossom. It's already beginning to blossom, but it's going to be something that we're going to be very, very proud of. And I am very pleased with the work that they've done. And I think Commissioner Reed also deserves a lot of credit because he's seen this process through. And without his help and Brad's work as well, it could not have been possible. But these two young ladies have been remarkable. I also saw the comment in the paper, Vice Mayor, and I knew that was just a comment because I knew that this was not something they were going to want to entertain. So I kind of laughed at that comment. It was kind of a wishful comment. So I think we're on the right track, and I've seen nothing but good things. the other thing that I want to say is that that it is right now it is just it's in its infancy and the potential for a marvelous downtown art center is there and it's something that we're all going to be very very proud of and I'm just tickled to death that this is happening and I wish you all luck. Thank you. Thank you chair. Thank you. Council Member Lane. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would also like to say that it's very impressive that you not only increased the number of bookings, but you also broadened the scope of the performances and utilization of the facility. I think it's very good, and I want to congratulate you on your efforts there. The only question I had decided it deals with money, and I was just wondering how your revenues are coming on your bookings and all that, and do you see a good trend there as far as maybe you're having to do some kind of promotional stuff now, but in the future you'll see more revenues coming in? What I can tell you, we have very limited, we don't have really solid numbers from before. We've been able to sort of piece together a picture. LexArts. Yes, from LexArts. We don't have. I see. Yes. But we have been able to piece together a little bit of information that we were able to access the ticket system that they use and that kind of thing. And we're able to tell a more clear picture of what their revenue had been to try to compare to our revenue today. And their number of rentals. And their number of rentals and that kind of thing. So we, the initial assessment that we have made for this first quarter, with us cutting the rates substantially for people, was we have pretty much doubled what they had done in the last, in that quarter of the same time last year. So, and that again is with a reduction in rates. So we feel very encouraged about our revenue so far, even with the rate reduction. and I think we've deposited to date around $8,000 or $9,000. Oh, for the last two weekends, $11,000? $11,000. So we're, and really July we didn't have anything. So that's really for September, August, September, October. Okay, well, thank you. That's a good report and keep up the good work. Okay, good. Thank you. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This does get to the heart of the question I had or the opportunity that's, I think, placed before us. And Amber, I haven't met you personally. It's a pleasure to meet you here today. And Celeste and I are part of the core of Merchants and Chevy Chase coming and going. So I appreciate both of your all service. Certainly any presentation that ends up with an invitation to a party is a good presentation. So thank you for that. Just by your presence and demeanor here, you're doing, I think, what we ask you to do. I mean, you're excited to be there. We're excited to have you there. When I take my mom some Sundays to get the large print books that are on the second floor of the library, I look across at this building and how beautiful it is. But for as much activity as there is, there could be a whole lot more and a whole lot more welcoming. And I think some of the moves you're making are making it more welcome at the street level and certainly more used. And the more people that are coming and going down there, the better we all are. I guess I'm interested in two things. First off, what did we give you, $100, $150? I've forgotten. What was it this year? $109. $109 for the whole year. All right. And that seems to be well spent so far. We're making it work. And then I assume you'll put something together for the next budget year or something. Well, we will start working on that shortly, I believe. So, and again, we're hoping to have a revenue picture to sort of aid us in that effort. Well, I think you should put something together that's rigid and useful, but perhaps something that might be aspirational, too. I think many of us, as evidenced by Councilmember Clark's comments, take great value in what this can be versus what it is. And I think that's really where we want to get to. And then the third and fourth floors are still just a mystery to me and I think everyone else. Well, we are very inspired by the third and fourth floor. And as Celeste said, there is an analysis, a cost analysis that's being done by building maintenance and construction to see what it will take to get the third and fourth floor up to speed, I believe, in phases. Well, yeah. Have them be rentable. Yes, to have them rentable and usable and everything for the public. You know, the fourth floor still has some heating and air issues, but it's completely finished. The third floor is an unfinished space. And if you want to come over at any time, we can give you a tour of the third and fourth floor. You can see what the space looks like. The third floor is lovely and, yes, has huge potential. And as Celeste was saying, space, usable space for arts entities in Lexington, it is at capacity. There is only 3% available space for arts organizations and entities to use. that's affordable and easy for them to use. And that's what we really envision this to be a very happening, you know, if you had studios and arts organizations and all of these things, the synergy of all of those creative forces together under one roof, you know, it could be this really great thing in the center of downtown. A hub for activity. And I think that's what I look forward to. Because when you look at some of those windows, they are kind of vacant. They are very vacant. And excuse me, I don't want to interrupt, but I do want to say that we do want to animate the space. That's a big conversation that we have is to animate the space and in every way from the lobby up that we want the gallery to be full. We would like to have, for instance, we've thought about pulling the desk into the lobby so that you can buy your tickets there and we'll have things to buy there. And we'll have links to the gallery there and we'll have, you know, I'd love to have a big screen TV that is looping educational arts programs and things that we're doing. or just your logo or something, your hours of operation, anything. Yes, exactly. So we do. We have dream sessions about what we can do with that space, really from the lobby all the way up to the top of the – Looking to sort of the Artisan Center in Berea, the handmade, that people would come in. That is one of the things we see is that all day long and on the weekends, you have people that are staying in hotels. They're here for conventions. They're like, here's the Downtown Arts Center, and you come in. It's like, what's here? And we want that to be something all the time for those people. We'd really like you to be engaged when you walk in and move through the whole center with things to see and do. And so you're putting Ann Tower in the tower, is that it? I hope she's successful up there. I mean, she's, I guess, besides Alfalfa, she's the longest tenant over there, I guess. She is. I think she's been there from the beginning. All right. Thank you for your enthusiasm and the job you're doing. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Council Member Scratchfield. Thank you, Chair. I'm pleasantly happy with the progress you've made and especially seeing the bookings from one year to the next. I mean, that's huge that you all have increased the usage. And I will say in the last year, I've seen that just the outward appearance of the building is more inviting. You feel like you are you're drawn to it. So I would like to see, you know, as Council Member Lane mentioned, I'd like to make sure that we stay fiscally responsible, make sure we're bringing in our capacity and be able to improve what's being offered. So I congratulate you all and thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you again. I just had another quick question. Council Member Farmer mentioned the third and fourth floors. So I haven't been in since you all took over. Is the fourth floor empty now? It is. Well, um. Or is it still frozen in time? No, no, no. Frozen in time. It's a little bit frozen. It's been cleaned up. It's been cleaned up and boxed up. Oh, okay. So all of those items have not yet been removed, but we are working with them on that. But it has been tidied up and is much more presentable. Okay. And will soon be empty? Yes. Okay. That's all. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. back to Councilmember Clark. Yes, if you would permit me. Two comments. As this grows, I think the council and the city is going to have to look at this facility as something really special, and I think we will. But in that case, we're probably going to have to provide more resources to really do it right. And so I want to say that, even though I may not be around to make that comment Later, I'm going to say it now. The other thing I want to say is these two ladies are also the reason that Moondance was so successful this summer. These are the same people that created the prosperity of Moondance. And so you can see we have engaged the right people. That's all I want to say. Thank you. Thank you. We have no other speakers signed up for this particular section, So why don't we just proceed to the next section, which is about the sharing of artistic direction, et cetera. And again, Vice Mayor Gorton, do you want to say anything in addition about this particular question, which is the sharing, et cetera? Well, the reason I originally brought it up was it seemed to me to make common sense that maybe there would be some efficiencies that could be gained if resources were shared. And I didn't really, we talked about it a little bit in some of our meetings a couple years ago, whether it would be box office sales or, you know, technical assistance or there's a whole list of them. And I don't think anyone had ever looked at whether our arts, all the arts facilities which we own could, you know, gain some efficiencies by sharing some of the services. So I was just curious to see if we might look into that. Okay, thank you. So just tell us what you know. We have had some brief conversations about this. Tickets may be easier than anything else to do that with. We currently, we had been very hopeful. Our rec track software that we have with parks has a ticket module, and we had been really hopeful that we would be able to use that module because it's really inexpensive for us and the patron. But it has not worked out. It's really too labor intensive to do what we were wanting to do with it. So we have been exploring other ticket options. We do not have a ticketing system at this moment while we have been looking into other more profitable and easy-to-use options for our clients. So the clients we've had so far have done their own ticketing through a lot of the various online services that are out there, e-tickets and those brown bag tickets and those kinds of things. And that is working out for now, but we will eventually have to have some kind of ticketing system. For one reason, it ensures that we get paid. If we sell the tickets, we then keep our portion of their bill and give them back their profit. So it behooves us to have that in place. So partnering with the Lyric or something on that, they do have a ticket system in place and are able to and have a full-time, I believe, box office manager. The tech staff, that would be very difficult because if you have any kind of overlapping events or, you know, as people are coming in daily, Tom is able to meet with them, show them the space, show them the lighting, talk to them about what their production needs will be. So daily he is required to be in that space to be able to meet with the clients and serve them in the best way that we can. And then when you're setting a production, clearly that is a full-time responsibility for that specific venue. So that would be a much more difficult thing. I think that they would always have to have their own technical staff, and we would always have to have our own technical staff. But we would be happy to meet with Rashida and sit down and talk with her about where things may overlap and if there's any room there to consolidate some of those services and things. Okay, thank you. Commissioner Reed, you wanted to add something? Very briefly, in looking at this and our experience with DAC, I think there is an element missing here when you talk about the arts programs and the Lyric all over the city, and that's a coordinating element, getting the people to the right venue, dealing with folks, encouraging them to use the Lyric instead of the downtown art center for whatever purpose. I think we're going to be prepared to take some steps to address that and come back to you in the near term, in the next month or two, with an overall strategy of a first step to coordinate that. And I think we have to get a central focus and somebody in government that's responsible for looking at this as a whole and getting the right pieces in the right place. I also wanted to mention Lori Houlihan has been extremely helpful in the process with DAC and dealing with LexArts. And this wouldn't have been possible, the transformation of the Downtown Arts Center, without the help of LexArts. and negotiations with them. And plus, we've freed up a considerable amount of their time and resources and allowed them to focus on their mission. So I wanted to add that. But I think we can be back with something that satisfies the bigger issue. Thank you. Further question? Yes. Proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Oh, I appreciate that. I think it's really, we've kind of gotten to a point here where we're having growing pains. We didn't have the Lyric Theater a few years ago. We didn't have the robust downtown art center. We didn't have moon dance. We've all of a sudden found that as a city, we have several artistic venues. So I'm really encouraged to know that we will be looking at more coordination, because I think we're kind of getting to the point where we probably need that. And one of the things I didn't mention, Amber, is marketing. You know, now we have all these artistic venues, and is there any, you know, potential for coordinated marketing? And, oh, by the way, of course, we have our wonderful Kentucky Theater friends. I mean, it's a different venue, but we're really growing, and that's a good thing. And so I think we have some really good potential. Bigger cities do this all the time. They have a coordinator who, you know, is it looks at all the venues that the city owns and operates. And so it's pretty exciting to know that we are growing and having our growing pains and can maybe move to a different level. You've already taken us to one different level. So I think it's important to keep looking at that, Commissioner. Thank you for your words on that. We're just in a different place than we've been ever, really. So it's a good thing. So thank you very much. I may not be here to hear the report back, but I'll read it in the newspaper or online. Thank you. Thank you. It's your first time on this aspect, so Council Member Clark and then Council Member Stinnett. I just want to make a brief comment. Commissioner Reid really said some of the things that I wanted to say, but I also wanted to caution the council and those people who would be involved. If you're going to put things together, you have to be really, really careful because sometimes you do that and you diffuse the effort. So you've got to be really careful about that. And I'm not saying there aren't some ways that we can cooperate because there are, But I would just caution you to be very, very careful and be sure you get all the principals involved and be sure that everybody feels like this is the way to go. I think that's very important. Thank you. That's all I had to say. Thank you. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Chair. And ladies, thank you again for coming today, giving us an update. I know this topic came up back in 2007, Budget Link. So this is how long we've been working on this issue with the Downtown Arts Center, as well as when we talk about the Lyric, the Kentucky Theater, now Moondance. Marketing has to be the key commissioner. That has to be our key goal is how do we share marketing and brand these entities as places in Lexington that we all can use. So I, too, look forward to that report back on. First step, it has to be marketing, how we share those services, because I think we can really help all four sites. And there's probably a couple others we maybe can add in there, like Bell House. They could be for some exhibits and things. So I like to see a comprehensive list, too, maybe a one-stop website to go in and either buy tickets or book a venue and then take you to that venue's website. There's a lot of things we can start doing on marketing and also personnel. I mean, when you have an event, you know, you always have to bring in extra people for that one event. Maybe there's some collaboration sharing there. So thank you. I think we're on the right track. And thank you, Vice Mayor, for putting this in committee. And Commissioner, when do you think you can report back to us on maybe some movement or what our plan is to get? We've been talking about this for a number of years. Is there a time frame? January. January. That's soon. Good. Very well. Thank you, sir. And thank you, Chair. Thank you. I'll just, before we shift to the next topic, I'll just add my own congratulations on this really good work. Lexington, the art scene is definitely vibrant, and the city's been a little bit behind the curve. I think this brings us kind of at least back up to level, if not better, and a lot of opportunity going forward. So thank you very much for all of that. Thanks to all of you. Thank you. next on the agenda is the update for the Kentucky theater renovation and is Harold Tate going to present or Council Member Lane you wanted to comment before we get a presentation yes sir I can make a couple opening comments just for the clarification the mayor put a hundred thousand dollars in his budget for the coming year and then at the end of or just recently we put another 95,000 in for 195,000 total to add to the renovation of the Kentucky Theater and at the time that that was put in it had not been before any committee so I felt like it would be a good idea just to bring it in and let us get an overview of what all was involved and it looks like we have the chair of the committee here today, so I think we'll get a really good oversight. So I'll just turn it over to Isabella Yates at this time. Okay, thank you. Welcome. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. It's a great opportunity for me to thank you for all the support that you have given us. You know, just about two and a half years ago, well, maybe not that long, that the mayor asked me to celebrate the fact that the Kentucky Theater was 90 years old, and it had been 20 years since its restoration. So we got together and realized that we wanted to celebrate, but we also needed to renovate. It was time. There was a great need for new seats and for other innovations. So we formed a group, and our mission was to preserve and to renovate and to enhance the Kentucky Theater. We think it's one of the greatest treasures in downtown Lexington, and it really has become an icon. And now we're embarking on, we've completed our first phase, embarking on a new second phase to renovate and upgrade and expand the concession area. is certainly unneeded. And I'm just delighted that we have our group management here today. I'd like them to stand. And also, Penny Ebel is here. She's been our executive assistant. And our project manager, Harold Tate, whom we could never have accomplished anything without. So we really appreciate, and I appreciate all the board members who have helped with us so much because it couldn't have been possible without them, and it couldn't have been possible without your support and the support of this community. I feel the community is behind our efforts, and that's a great feeling, but without you all's support and the mayor's support, you probably couldn't have been successful. So thank you again, and I think Harold Tate is going to be coming to talk about our project and the expenses and everything that we've had to do with, and appreciate his involvement so much. almost everything has been pro bono with our board so it's a very great thing how can you take over i don't know all those particulars thank you isabel hard to follow welcome harold so well good morning been about four years since i've been here before we get started i'd like to say i'm glad to hear you're still working on the downtown Arts Center when I was here at the city. That was my project and it was one of my babies and I'm glad to see that you're all still continuing to make that event occur. So we have been working on the Kentucky Theater about two years. Yeah we've been working on us about two years. We started raising money for the project. In your packet you'll see a summary that I provided to you all. We got close to $600,000 in private donations toward the renovation. We were also fortunate that through the process, I was able to work with some people to give us some good discounts on our equipment that we had to buy. The first thing we focused on were the digital projectors, because without the digital projectors, the theater would be closing down, because they've gone strictly to digital film only. No film is no longer provided. When we brought Christie, that was the name of the, we had talked to two companies. We brought Christie in to look at the theater, and they just fell in love with the theater and basically gave us a two for one. So we were able to put a projector both in the state and in the Kentucky theater, which we had not anticipated. We were fortunate that Ruggleson, Ruggleson is the one, his father did the original marquee. So they came in and gave us a very good discount. We ran into some problems. The roof drain clogged up, and we got water into the marquee with the help of Mark Arnold. He came in, put in a new drain. We now believe the drain is functioning, so Ruggles will come in and complete their work, put the new transformers in that were ruined at no extra cost, and put in the new panels that will go on the back. You can see I broke down the cost of what we paid per item. Irwin Seat Company, I worked with them back in 94, 96, when we did the first renovation on the Kentucky Theater. They are also the ones who did the seats for us at the Arts Center. So they came in and gave us a very good discount on the equipment for the seats. And this time we acquired additional arms seats. So if something does happen during the next 20 years or whatever, we will have replacements for them. We went in and replaced every fixture with an LED fixture for cost savings and also just to be more energy efficient. We were able to work with a distributor here in town that I worked with when I was doing the streetscape project on Cheapside, Lime, Main, and Vine. And we got a very good discount on that as well. The carpet was installed by a company here out of Richmond, Kentucky. so we tried to keep as many local people as possible. The painter that came in, he loved the Kentucky Theater so much, he just gave us an unbelievable price for painting. So we were able to go through and pretty much do all the renovation at a cost that came to a little under $700,000 is what our final cost was. We are still in the process of closing out accounts. We're also still selling seats. You can still buy a seat at the Kentucky Theater, and that's still occurring. And what we have done is we have met with Commissioner Reed and his staff in terms of what we have done and what we are looking at doing in Phase 2 as well. He's instructed me to work with Mark Arnold and Betty Kerr as well as the management company as we move on to the next phase. I've included in here just this is a guesstimate at this point of what it will cost to do phase two of the concession stand. Once again, we want to make it more energy efficient. We want to try and make it functional, but better. Currently, it's a small item, but the popcorn just goes into the air. And what it does, it makes it dirty, gets grease everywhere. So we're wanting to vent the popcorn machines so we don't have to worry about any additional maintenance that's done because of that. Working with the Coca-Cola company people to upgrade the system as well, give it better lighting. I think I included in a packet a proposal that we're looking at right now of how the new concession stand would be worked. That's not finalized. We still need to meet with, yeah, there it is. We still need to meet with the city and the management company to finalize everything, but that's just a concept that we came up with to see in terms of how it would work. This proposal shows we would take basically where the concession stand is, hung three hoes into that area. They would still be the same height as the exit signs that you can see, so it's all going to be the same scale. Give it better circulation. part of the problem that we've had in the fire marshal has talked to me about is the fact that you're coming into the theater and you have a line of people trying to get their popcorn and cokes if we could scoot that back and get that circulation working a little bit better he thinks it would work better as well so that's pretty much it in a nutshell be more than happy to Answer any questions. Thank you. Council members, comments, questions? Council member Lane. One of the points that came up with the concession stand is it is a major revenue producer for the tenant in the space. And if the city were to sort of underwrite the cost of that, do you think we would be open to any criticism for that? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. My point was that the concession stand is the major income-producing part of the theater business. And if we, as the city, take taxpayer dollars and underwrite renovating that for the current tenant, do you feel that we would be open to any criticism for doing that because we're basically helping their business, I guess. When we were doing the fundraising, we got a lot of phone calls from people asking why are you renovating a theater for another group? Our response was we're renovating a building that's owned by the city, not for this group. The building is what serves the function of downtown Lexington. Whoever manages it, that's not the Friends of the Kentuckys' concern. The Friends of the Kentucky Concern is to keep the theater open, keep it up to date, keep it clean, and keep it, you know, the gym that is for downtown Lexington. So that was always our response to people. Management's not our issue. It's the building that's our issue. And that's why we feel doing the concession stand is important because it is a way to bring in money for the management company. But it also does serve a purpose. every guy has to have their popcorn and coke when they have a movie. You know, it would be, I think it would be helpful maybe if we had some input from the operators of the theater and see what kind of ideas they have about that, that would be okay. And, you know, just sort of get a few ideas out into the public here. Morning. I'm Howard Stovall, part of the Kentucky Theater Management Group since 1992. And first of all, I want to say how much the management group appreciates everything that the Friends of the Kentucky have done. And it comes back to us the comments we get from patrons. You know, it has been a great, great thing. We do have some concerns about plans going forward at this point. One being that with all the improvements to the Kentucky, the state auditorium, the seating and carpeting and everything there is almost as old now as the Kentucky seating was when the upgrade process started. People definitely tell the difference between the two theaters. The addition of the loop system in the Kentucky Auditorium, which for people like me with hearing aids is phenomenal, doesn't exist in the state. So we've got a situation where people are calling to find out what theater is it going to be in. Oh, it's in the state. They're not coming. You know, we really risk having a good theater and a not so good theater. And I don't think that's the image that we need. We also have some concerns about recessing the concession stand. When you walk into Kroger's, if you're after milk or bread, it's not sitting there. You have to go past the deli. You have to go through the produce. If you go to Dillard's, you don't have a straight shot back to men's suits. You've got to zig and zag. And that's our thing. The concessions is a third of our revenues. Therefore, it's a third of the city's revenues. We don't want people to shoot on paths there. Slowing them down on the way in is a good thing. Smelling the popcorn, hearing the popcorn, pulls people in like a magnet. Those are basically where our concerns are that we think needs to be taken into account. I'd also, while I've got the microphone, I make one comment on the previous presentation that some sort of way to connect the various venues, you know, not a week goes by that we don't get a request for a production of some sort, which either because of date conflicts, size, one reason or another, we can't handle. it would be great to have someone who could say, oh, but it could be done over here, and vice versa. When they call the Lyric, they don't have enough seats, you know, they could put it there. Thank you. I have a—Council Member Lane, will you—does that answer your question? Vice Mayor Gorton. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Harold and Howard. And I do appreciate everything the Friends of the Kentucky Theater have done. I'm looking at Vice Mayor Yates back there. You all have done a wonderful job. And if I understand correctly, the concession stand is kind of extra because you raised extra money. That's a good problem to have. My sense on the concessions is that when people come to the theater, they know they want to get their popcorn and their beer or whatever at the Kentucky, and they definitely will find the concessions. We actually, as a council, some of you remember, Vice Mayor Yates might remember when we used to go get popcorn at the theater for our zone change hearings. So I do think that concessions are part of theater going. So I'm kind of optimistic that people will not pass it by and not spend their money there. I did have a question. I'm not sure I heard this in the presentation, Harold, but when do you expect this to be completed? You may have said that, and I may have missed it. No, I didn't. I'm sorry. I apologize. That's one of the things we'll have to work out with the management company. I've talked to Fred a little bit about we haven't even really done drawings yet. We've just done stuff like this to kind of get an idea. We didn't want to spend too much time doing that until we did get the go-ahead, which we've now gotten from Jeff. And we know who the team is that we need to work with, so we'll start finalizing that. bringing in because we will have to put in a separate heating and cooling system for that area since it's kind of back off the side. And one thing that Howard had talked about was, you know, the state theater. I've been working with Mark. I've been sending him cost estimates to replace the seats. The hearing loop that Howard mentioned has been a very big success. I still get emails from people about the hearing loop, how they can really and truly hear. And it's been so successful. UK has contacted me. They're wanting to put it in some of their auditoriums now as well. And we're fortunate we had one individual who wrote the check for that hearing loop. And to do one in the state, it's probably going to run about, I'm going to say somewhere between 15 and 20,000. Because what you have to do, you'll have to take out all the seats, and you'll have to take out the carpet. And then what you do is you grind a line that's about half inch deep and about a quarter of inch wide that the wire or the loop goes in. And this loop is exactly what it is. It's a loop. It crisscrosses back and forth. and then after that is filled or installed you put a concrete mortar back over that line and it's good forever as long as you don't hit it so what you do is after the concrete mortar's gone back in you connect it to a light and as they're installing the seats and drilling the hose if the light goes out you know they've hit the line and you can go in and repair it real quickly So that's what we'd have to do at the state as well. And then after that's done, then your carpet goes down, your seat goes in, you paint the floor and all that. So I've been sending those cost assessments to Mark so that he kind of knows about what that's going to cost. It seems to me that the state theater presents an opportunity for some seed money, as we've done for the Kentucky, in the next budget. I mean, that would be, the timing is kind of a perfect opportunity for the mayor and the council to consider some seed money to begin on the state theater. Because I know exactly what you mean. Kentucky and the concessions and everything will be fabulous. I mean, it's terrific. And so then we would want the state also to be very good. So I think it's an opportunity. At one of our meetings, we were talking about the restrooms, too. The restrooms, 96, I guess, Fred, you know, 96 is when they were done. So they need a lifted, uplifting as well. One step at a time. One step at a time. Well, I appreciate all that everyone has done. The Kentucky Theater is a gem in our community. And so it's great that so many people have worked really hard on it over the years. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Chair. Harold, I'm somewhat conflicted, I guess. I went to the police retirement event last week, which was in the state theater, and sat on the aisle seat. And I thought I was sitting on a new seat. On a what? A new seat, brand new. I mean, it looked just fine to me. It looked like it would last forever. And the lighting down the aisles, nine times out of ten, in other places, including airplanes, there are lights that are out. Every light was on, and it looked like that was brand new. So I saw no problem, I guess, as relates to that. and of course you all are a lot closer to it than I am, but the real reason why I wanted to speak, it seems that, and I can be contradicted, so don't worry about that, the marquee looks a bit dated. It either needs to be cleaned or whatever, but it doesn't splash like it used to. Let's put it that way. Okay. What they'll be doing, like I said, we put new transformers in because some of the neon wasn't working. And if you go out there now, you'll notice some of the neon's still not working. When we had that drain issue, it flooded out and shorted out some of the transformers. So what Ruggles is going to do is they're going to come in first. All the white panels that you see in the marquee, those are coming out. and we're getting new ones that won't yellow like the ones we have now. And then they're putting in a new stainless steel grid system. The new letters have been delivered to Fred. He has those. And then all the new neon has been replaced, but that transformer, when it gets back in, then it's going to come back on. We looked at using LED lights on the marquee, and it just didn't look good. It didn't have that same sharp image of the regular incandescent lights. I'm glad to hear you all are ahead of the game on that. So they should have, we're hoping the marquee should be done, completed by the end of this month. Oh, wonderful. Yeah. Wonderful. Yeah. Well, I'm very pleased with what's happened so far. And, you know, I grew up here, and to go to the Kentucky Theater was kind of a special treat. It is. It was a little more expensive, like 50 cents as opposed to 35 cents. And I'm telling on myself. But anyway, it, you know, it's just part of downtown Lexington. And I'm glad it's there, and I'm glad it's there alive and well. So thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Lane. Yes, I had a question for Isabel Yates, please. Well, the first thing, before I ask you the question, I want to say that I've seen you in action in fundraising, and you're very effective. And, you know, my question to you is, would you recommend or encourage the urban county government to try to provide some additional funding so that the state theater could be upgraded, the same type of seating for the Kentucky theater, and maybe the bathrooms could be upgraded in the facility too? try to get some surplus money to do that with, would you think that would be a good investment for us? I would be glad to see that happen. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. We want to go ahead, I think, with the renovation of the concession area, which I think will be more inviting for all of our theatergoers. and we certainly want to make it so. And certainly if the timing is right, and you know how important timing is, we'd be glad to do that. I think we want to go ahead with our plans right now for the concession area and then go forward. And certainly I would like to see the state have the hearing loop. And I want all the things, But we have to go in a gradual manner and go through due process for that. Okay, well, I just want to say thank you again for all the efforts you put into fundraising for the Kentucky Theater. And if you could just put some charm on the state theater, too, then we'd really be moving forward. We would like that very much, of course, in time. Thank you so much, Isabel. Appreciate it. That's all, Mr. Chair. Thank you. I'll just kind of, nobody else signed up, just to wrap up. My thanks also to all of the people who've been involved, the Friends of the Kentucky Theater for their work, the city for pitching in with renovation and so on, and the funds we provided, and to the management group, and of course to Fred Mills, who has been the face of the Kentucky Theater for too long, or so long that we forget how long, but thank you all for all of the work that you've done. The Kentucky has been a key part of the cultural life of this community, and it's great that it now will be renovated and continue on. So thank you all for that. Last item on our agenda is the items referred, and I believe that the first four items have all been taken care of today. I would entertain a motion to remove those from the agenda. Second. I have a motion and a second to take the first four items off. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Are there any other motions regarding the pending items? Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Unless there's a burning desire from anyone else, an item I had placed in committee about halfway down the restructuring to remove the Division of Budgeting from finance, I think I'll go ahead and move to remove that. since there hasn't seemed to be any interest in moving it forward. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Are there any other motions at this time? If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Second. Motion to second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. We stand adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.