Library district reduces rates for theater use

The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District Board of Trustees heard from the public Sept. 13 regarding its rental fee structure for library facilities. The discussion prompted the board to vote to reduce fees, effective immediately.

The meeting at the Clark Country Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, saw various groups speaking out about how the previous fee scale had impacted them.

Las Vegas Ballet Company founder Kyudong Kwak said he had to cut rehearsal time, which normally spans two days, "to four hours to save money ... I felt so sorry for the dancers."

Karl Larsen, president and executive producer of Signature Productions, said he was "asking (the library district) to help subsidize part of these productions and show the community that the library supports community theater."

Signature has been producing shows at the Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center, 1771 Inner Circle Drive, since its inception.

"We should not be forced to pay 100 percent of the cost when other library services are totally subsidized," he said.

Twenty-one people spoke, mostly from performance groups. Grace Riedy, 9, who couldn't reach the microphone and had to stand on a footstool, spoke clearly and in a big voice. She told proudly of being in Broadway Bound productions since she was 5 and engaged the board further by speaking a phrase as a munchkin. She said it was from her role in "The Wizard of Oz."

"I'm not nervous, and I'm not afraid because I'm a trained professional," she told the board, earning a big laugh from the roughly 100 attendees packed into the room.

In the end, the board scrapped the rates that had been in place since spring and settled on new ones.

Effective immediately, the hourly rental rate for its theaters is $40, down from $170. The cost for technicians will be $35 through September 2013, when it will become $40 through September 2014. Security will be $15. The dark-day fee has been lowered to $70 from $100.

The deposit to reserve the theater is now 50 percent, or $7,500, whichever is lower.

The dilemma of rising user fees came to a head this spring, when the Board of Trustees announced it was looking at increasing fees. Robb Morss, library district deputy director, said the district was not out to make a profit, only recover costs. It held meetings with concerned groups and took feedback, then implemented a new fee structure in April.

Under the former policy, in place since 1994, cost recovery was 19 percent. Cost recovery under the new numbers was 100 percent. Almost immediately, community clubs and performance groups did not renew their contracts and sought other venues.

Broadway Bound has considered the Summerlin Library theater its home since June 2009 for two shows a year. In January and February, it performed "The Wizard of Oz" under the old rates before its contract ran out. The two-week run cost $3,700.

To put on the same show now, said Broadway Bound instructor/director Michael Vojvodich, would cost $27,000.

Signature Productions and Broadway Bound made up 67 percent of the Summerlin Library theater's usage, Morss said. He estimated that the theater had lost 50 percent of its business with the spring rates. Meeting rooms did not see a significant drop-off, he said.

If the rates were increased only a small percentage from the 1994 pay scale, how could the amount still cover 70 percent of the cost?

"Realize that we did not change the meeting room rate; that's where the bulk of our revenue comes from," Morss said. "I had the same question you did when they came and proposed the $40 an hour, or the $50 an hour that we were looking at, and it became quite obvious that we have more meeting rooms than we have performing arts centers. We only have (four performing arts centers), where we have 24 meeting rooms, which can be used throughout the day. You have more product and more demand for that product than you do for theater."

He said the libraries were built at "a time when there was no culture in Las Vegas. ... If we were building a library today, based on The Smith Center being here and several other theater venues that did not exist when the district started thinking about this, we'd probably have one theater in a central location."

Morss added that the library district was tightening its belt and seeing what it could and couldn't afford to do.

"We're finding it (money) in all areas of our operation," said Pat Marvel, marketing and community relations director for the library district. "I haven't printed in full color in four years. Look at our Highlights magazine. It's a two-color piece. There are all kinds of small ways that we're adjusting our operational costs. Many of them are not seen or experienced by the public. They're back-of-house types of changes."

At the meeting, the Board of Trustees explained its own frustration at the process, which included not giving interviews to the media. It took issue also with the allegation that it had used a flawed formula in determining the amount needed to recover costs.

"Our figures were right. It's just that we were willing to compromise," said vice chairman Ron Kirsh, who added that the board had been prohibited from engaging in dialogue before the meeting. "This is the first time we can have a dialogue. We had to sit here. We can't talk to counsel. We can't talk to anybody."

After the motion to reduce the rates was carried, attendees burst into smiles and hugged one another.

"It feels good," said Marci Riedy, a parent volunteer with Broadway Bound. "We're just happy to get back to the library."

Larsen had been in negotiations with Sun City Summerlin to use the Starbright Theatre and purposely waited to hear the library district's decision before formally committing to the new venue. He said he was pleased the rates were lowered but that the group would likely put on "Kiss Me Kate" in March at the Starbright, 2215 Thomas W. Ryan Blvd.

Larsen could not say when the performance group would return to the Summerlin Library theater.

"The reason is because the time frame with (the Summerlin Library) is pretty much booked up with little piddly things," he said. "... We still have a contract ready to go with Starbright. I worked that out. Right now, that's probably all, unless something changes."

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.