The new managers of the Veterans Memorial Auditorium Arts and Cultural Center (VMA) hope to bring the historic theater back to its grand days in the 1950s and 1960s, when international superstars such as Leonard Bernstein, Luciano Pavarotti and Rudolf Nureyev graced the stage.
But times have changed, and there is one inconvenient financial truth that may stand in the way of such progress.
Steve Habl, recently named general manager of the VMA, and James P. McCarvill, executive director of the R.I. Convention Center Authority that is now in the charge of the theater, acknowledged during recent interviews that financial support from the state will “always” be needed to keep the doors of the VMA open.
The VMA will be self-sufficient “to the greatest extent possible,” Halb said, “but we’ll always need some help.”
“There always will be a need for the state to support this facility,” McCarvill said. It is too early to speculate on how much support the VMA might require, he said. But even if the theater runs in the black every year, McCarvill pointed out that physical repairs and improvements are sure to be needed, and since the state owns the building, it would be required to make the capital investments.
Much depends, he said, on the amount of private support that comes forward and on “the ability of [the Providence Performing Arts Center] to attract more business” for the VMA.
The state took over the VMA on Aug. 1 from the nonprofit foundation that was running it, placing the theater under the aegis of the authority and hiring Habl, who formerly worked for Twin River and the defunct Warwick Musical Theatre. Professional Facilities Management (PFM), a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), is now in charge of VMA bookings. PFM, based in Providence, operates nine other theaters in the U.S., including PPAC.
The state is paying $150,000 a year for the services of Professional Facilities and SMG, a Philadelphia-based management company in charge of security and maintenance at the VMA. The R.I. Department of Administration absorbed the $300,000 deficit left when the state took charge, McCarvill confirmed.
He added that for the time being the two management groups receive only the $150,000 flat fee, but that a system of incentives will be put in place “within the next three months or so. … Eventually, there will be incentives.”
He held out the hope that any future state support would be “minimized” because VMA operating revenue will increase and the theater will be used more often. In 2007, the VMA was in use just 70 times, including 10 high school graduations.
“I definitely want to get the lights on and the doors open more often, for sure,” Habl said.
Habl and McCarvill believe PPAC’s involvement, in the form of Professional Facilities, will provide the extra boost needed. “They just know the game inside out and backwards,” Habl said of PPAC.
McCarvill noted PPAC personnel have ready access to booking agents and “great connections.”
The Professional Facilities group also operates theaters in Florida, North Carolina, Maryland and Connecticut. So, “it’s one-stop shopping,” Habl said, for artists and booking agents who could plan an East Coast tour in Professional Facilities theaters alone. Similarly, he and McCarvill noted that having an arts, sports, entertainment and convention center all under one umbrella in Providence – the VMA, the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, the Convention Center – will provide scheduling options none has on its own.
Halb told the Providence Business News that a Christmas show featuring Mannheim Steamroller has been confirmed at the VMA for Dec. 3, the first event announced since the state takeover.
Although already in the planning stage before the state took charge, a unique upcoming event at the VMA is sure to draw attention. Temple Emanu-El of Providence, in partnership with the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of Rhode Island, will present “Shining Through Broken Glass” on Nov. 9, a concert marking the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. “Crystal Night” in 1938 saw the Nazis set off a virulent wave of anti-Jewish pogroms throughout Germany and Austria, the beginning of the horrors to follow.
Halb said he is working with the next-door Renaissance Providence Hotel to schedule hotel events at the VMA. “It’s a good partnership,” he said. “The hotel needs more space and we need more events. We will do functions for anywhere from 100 to 1,900 people.”
The Rhode Island Freemasons began building the VMA in 1927, but construction stopped in 1929 due largely to the Great Depression, resuming in the late 1940s when honoring veterans became the focal point. A mural in the lobby stairway depicts the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, and another is a painting of World War II soldiers in various combat poses. The seals of the different U.S. military branches are prominently displayed along the rim of an ornate ceiling dome.
Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the theater, with a mezzanine and two balconies, hit its heyday in the 1950s and early 1960s. A glass cabinet backstage holds yellowed press clippings from years ago, including one that reviews a Philadelphia Symphony concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Festival Ballet of Rhode Island, the Providence Singers and the Narragansett Bay Chorus will remain VMA tenants, Halb said.
“This theater is an absolute jewel, and nobody knows about it,” Habl said. •
