Good For The Henderson County Commission

[Supsalemgr]

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/201 ... ed-for-now

I was a harsh critic of the commission for its shenanigans concerning the Highland Lake fiasco. However, I support their move on the funding for the FRP. Before any more taxpayer money is provided this organization there should be a full review of their current financial sitauation and determine exactly what is the cause of the financial stress of FRP.

[neoplacebo]

I feel that if we repeal Obamacare, cut taxes, and eliminate senseless regulations, the Playhouse (and everything else) will be just fine. This is the Mark Meadows universal solution.

[rstrong]

I feel that if we repeal Obamacare, cut taxes, and eliminate senseless regulations, the Playhouse (and everything else) will be just fine. This is the Mark Meadows universal solution.

And unicorns. Don't forget the unicorns.

[Bungalow Bill]

This won't give Vince much time to crank up his woe are we bullshit machine.
This will be tough to overcome, but if anybody can do it, he can.

[Supsalemgr]

So none of some of the resident libs have a comment about the actual subject of the thread.

It appears they are all programmed to spew the same old lib bulls--t on any thread.

[O Really]

I have one. I personally support FRP with my attendance as well as a contribution level that gets me into the program. I've done so for several years. The County Commission has idiots for members. FRP is a valuable asset not only to just Henderson County, but WNC as a whole. It's one of the best regional theatres in the US, and, in addition to ticket sales, fundraising, etc., should be heavily supported by the city, the county, and the state. How's that - on topic enough?

[Supsalemgr]

I appreciate O Really's post. I am not oopposed to assistance from the county if the commissioners can determine the funds are not being wasted.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

[k9nanny]

The Commissioners should cough up what they already approved.
OK. I'm a liberal, I agree that FRP is an asset, and I was a theatre (related) major to boot.

Nonetheless, I'm losing sympathy. Something ain't right. Maybe BB said it best when he suggested FRP is doing too much too fast.
It may be really simple: Henderson County isn't big enough to support two venues. FRP did just fine for many years, including programs for students, and maybe trying to be so cosmopolitan is a mistake. They are The Vagabond Players, not The 500 Miles Off-Broadway Players.

FSM help me, now I'm going to sound like a conservative. If the County has discretionary funds, my vote is for the schools.

[Colonel Taylor]

Any money that comes from taxes and gets redistributed anyplace should be accounted for. Another words books should be open to the public from the head salary to the bathroom cleaners. This is the computer age it shouldn't be very hard. If there's money left over it should go to schools first.

[Bungalow Bill]

After watching a piece on WLOS, I'm liking Vince's chances a little better Apparently FRP will
have to present some sort of business plan on Dec. 3. All they have to do is go with
some kind of Romney clone plan--lots of smoke and mirrors leading in actually nowhere.
And since taking candy from babies is a hard job compared to getting easy cash from these
suckers, it might just work. The curtain ain't come down yet.

I don't too much about their actual finances, and maybe they don't want anyone to know too
many details, but it does sound, at least in part, like a case of over expansion. Maybe they
would still have losses if they only had the Mainstage, but they likely would have been much
smaller.

[O Really]

I saw the Commissioners, or at least one of them, on the news tonight. This guy http://www.hendersoncountync.org/board/ ... young.html Young, was the spokesman. I began to understand why these idiots may not appreciate what they have in their backyard. My guess is he's taking the $50 thou allocated to FRP and sponsoring a Noodling tournament or maybe trying to bring this event to Flat Rock... http://summerredneckgames.com/.

[k9nanny]

Larry Young is dumb as a stick. It's beyond me why nobody will step up and run for his seat.

[Supsalemgr]

If ii is the expansion of the second venue then that should be addressed and shut it down. Then again, and I don't know, if it is the new guy bringing his metropolitan thought process to hooterville then that business plan should change. All I know is if the county is ponying up thousands of dollars the commissioners have the right to have thorough audit done on the FRP operation before providing any more funding.

[Wneglia]

I have one. I personally support FRP with my attendance as well as a contribution level that gets me into the program. I've done so for several years. The County Commission has idiots for members. FRP is a valuable asset not only to just Henderson County, but WNC as a whole. It's one of the best regional theatres in the US, and, in addition to ticket sales, fundraising, etc., should be heavily supported by the city, the county, and the state. How's that - on topic enough?

I agree with O'Really and am also a supporter of FRP, but also agree that there should be more transparency and accoutability. I don't know the accuracy of this data, but here is the economic impact of FRP to the community.

[Colonel Taylor]

I have one. I personally support FRP with my attendance as well as a contribution level that gets me into the program. I've done so for several years. The County Commission has idiots for members. FRP is a valuable asset not only to just Henderson County, but WNC as a whole. It's one of the best regional theatres in the US, and, in addition to ticket sales, fundraising, etc., should be heavily supported by the city, the county, and the state. How's that - on topic enough?

I agree with O'Really and am also a supporter of FRP, but also agree that there should be more transparency and accoutability. I don't know the accuracy of this data, but here is the economic impact of FRP to the community.

Do they really draw a 100,000 people per year, isn't that about 2,000 folks per week all year round? That sounds kind of high but who knows. Also a $10,000,000.00 impact, I don't see it from 57% of the non locals. If things are this great they should be doing much better financially!

[neoplacebo]

I do not contribute to FRP but it seems that from the old forum, this subject was broached and the general consensus seemed to be that the management of the theatre (some sort of fancy New York City theatre type) was in some way deficient, or at least not on track with what had been the traditional way of running things. I tend to think that continuing financial problems are the fault of who is running things, not the clientele of the place. I supppose there's somehting to be said for the general economic recession of the past few years as well to be considered.....probably less attendance overall. And, there's also the factor of the 47% (or whatever it is) of people who will never attend or contribute. The commissioners should fork over the money, though, if they already allocated for it.....they should not attach strings to it after the fact.

[Wneglia]

The 2013 Season at Flat Rock Playhouse is extremely ambitious, and should have sufficient variety to attract a wide audience.

[O Really]

I don't know what the Commishclowns want to see - or what anyone else wants to see, but from just the published numbers, it's clear that attendance in both venues is back up, and this year is projected to be a break-even. It was also documented that 2010 was the bugaboo, and maybe they shouldn't have opened downtown when they did, but it has nevertheless been successful and should not be closed. Lots of companies of all sorts, and particular in the arts had a couple or three fairly tough years. How short are our memories?

[Bungalow Bill]

100,000 patrons, $10,000,000 of economic activity. That's $100 per person. They must
count the tips they leave at restaurants.

Looks like 2013 will be the year of the daringly avant-garde--The Odd Couple, Evita, CATS,
A Christmas Story.