THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9506300201
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
The shifting of Willett Hall management from the city bureaucracy to the private hands of Ports Events is a step in the right direction.
Never intended solely as a school auditorium, Willett Hall has been badly handled as a concert hall over the years, caught in limbo between the schools and public entertainment.
In recent years, after a multimillion dollar refurbishing job, the city assumed greater control and attempted to build a market for a variety of shows. However, the city frequently has fallen short of making a profit in part because it never appropriated enough money to promote and advertise the events.
Promotion must be strong enough to overcome the long-standing image as a school auditorium or Willett never will be successful.
It's always real interesting to hear comments from out-of-towners attending their first concert here. I eavesdrop on intermission conversation or talk to people as they leave and find out that they never expected to find such a pleasant place.
The series of free military band concerts there this past year which brought thousands of people to town makes the case. The audience grew each time as word got around about Willett Hall.
Most people can't believe the safe, free and easy parking. They can't believe the comfortable seats all the way to the top of the balcony. They generally are surprised at the quality of the hall.
Actually, the hall is on par with the best in the area and has roughly the same number of seats as Chrysler Hall and Harrison Opera House. And it has fewer less-than-perfect seats than either of those auditoriums. It can compete if we can just get enough people here once.
Only a private agency can make Willett a part of the thinking of every person in the region who goes to concerts and plays. City bureaucrats generally are too cautious to spend money to make money because that's not the way they think.
City Council has been generous in the first year's deal, appropriating $450,000 for operating expenses plus $65,000 for the management fee. If Ports Events follows its usual pattern of success, the city can expect to get a good portion of that back in gross receipts the first year and, hopefully, by the end of the three-year contract the city will be recouping its money.
Ports Events, as a private agency, will be able to negotiate more sponsored events and also to take advantage of special offers that come along.
I remember hearing about how we missed having Tony Bennett last year. It seems he was going to have a couple of nights between concerts north and south of us. His agent called Willett Hall looking for a deal. The deal required a few hundred dollars leeway.
The person working at Willett had to message his boss, Keith Toler, who had to message his boss, Lydia Patton, who had to message then Deputy City Manager Roy Cherry who, in turn, messaged then City Manager Wayne Orton. By the time the message went up the ladder and back down, Tony Bennett was booked somewhere else instead of Portsmouth.
At the time, Bennett was the biggest comeback guy of the year, getting ink in major publications all over the place because of his popularity with young people as well as the older crowd who remembered him from earlier years. Certainly, he would have sold out at Willett.
That's just one example of missed opportunities because the city was not able or willing to give employees any leeway in fees.
Port Events will be able to negotiate on the spot when people call trying to make a deal. If it sounds like a good deal, Linda Lamm or her deputy will be able to say OK without having to go through a chain of command.
If Ports Events wants to book a jazz concert and seek a sponsor to help pay for it, that is entirely possible under the contract. It was not so easy with the city running the hall.
The contract gives the city some control over the hall while eliminating the snarls that have caused us to miss out on some good shows. In addition, either side can pull out by giving 90 days notice to the other side, so if the situation doesn't get better, nobody is stuck.
I agree with Councilman Jim Martin that Ports Events must hire a staff person highly qualified and experienced in booking with knowledge of which producers and booking agents put good shows on the road. That's a real demanding and specialized job and if Lamm is smart, she'll spend some money to get the right person in it. In addition, she must have a competent full-time person to handle advertising and promotions when the hall picks up steam next year.
There's no way Ports Events and the city are going to make the hall work without spending money.
``The strength of the hall depends on the strength of our commitment,'' Councilman Jim Hawks said Tuesday night. ``I hope that by doing this we can make Willett Hall what it was intended to be.'' by CNB