Arts Equity Onstage calls it quits

[Chief]

http://columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHomeNews/2008/02/02252008_Arts-Equity-Onstage-calls-it-quits.cfm

Monday, February 25, 2008
By Mary Ann Albright, Columbian staff writer

After three years and 467 shows, Arts Equity Onstage is vacating the Main Street Theatre in Vancouver. Disappointing ticket sales made it impossible to pay the bills, said founder Llewellyn J. Rhoe.

Arts Equity opened in 2005 as Clark County's first professional theater to have its own venue.

"It was our biggest asset and our biggest liability," said Rhoe, 59, who estimates that he and his wife, managing director Helene M. Rasanen, have sunk $400,000 into the venture.

Arts Equity will not stage any more productions in Vancouver, although the organization will maintain its nonprofit status and could be reinvented elsewhere, Rhoe said.

Arrangements have been made for subscribers to see other shows, he added.

**SCHNIPP**

What a shame!

This just emphasises the need for the City to invest heavily in the Bosie Cascade site because according to Eric Holmes, Vancouver’s economic development director, the City needs:

“shift away from Vancouver’s former resource-based economy to more of a technology and knowledge-based, creative-class economy,”

I have no doubt that all this poor troupe of itnerant actors needs is for the City of Vancouver to underwrite an exact copy of the Schnitz at the Boise Cascade site. We have that group down there pushing for some sort of performing arts center anyway, so lets hook these people up with Gramor, and Eric Holmes, and see what can be done!!

::)

[tefen]

My guess is they needed an adverstising budget. Seriously. Never heard of Arts Equity Onstage.

[Chief]

That makes 2 of us...yet it's breaking news tonite at you know where...

I wonder what that guy's $400 Large bought him anyway...

;)

[Waterbuffalo]

Chief: are you proposing the "Val Ogden Center for the Performance Arts?"

[Chief]

Sounds like that would have been a safer investment for his money WB...

[Waterbuffalo]

“shift away from (enter name of town, community or nation) former resource-based economy to more of a technology and knowledge-based, creative-class economy,”

This is what is used to make every country, state OR town like every other one in the world. Does every other community want technological jobs, businesses or IT related fields that can be MOVED on a whim from one community to other?

Honestly, if you look at how Lenovo bought out IBM's low end server, laptop and computer builds, Acer bought Emachines/Gateway, most of the HP branded stuff and hardware is sourced from China or some other South East Asia country.

Along with most software development is occuring in the same countries. It means that any country could HOST OR BUY any company worth its salt from CEO down to stocker boy and girl and move it off shore. Even software companies are the easiest way to move offshore if one wanted to.

Back to my commentary on the Devevlopment downtown.

if your going after this segment of a population of IT and arts community that can move with the rogues of the wind, are they going to stay in this community more than FIVE years to help pay for all of what's being proposed to be a 1.2 Billion subcommunity in our community. This is going to have to be a discussion we NEED to have.

The arts community has not worked here. Most of it needs that SAME level of intense commitment and money that Vancouver doesn't really have. Sure there is a nice couple community based symphonies that have part time conductors. But none of them can be hosted or stay here because of the costs to support them.

I've loved "the vision" of this whole thing is being brought to Vancouver. What I'm not hearing several things that need to be addressed (and Chief has commented on.)

1) WHO is going to PAY for all of the development charges? The City has no money and please don't tell me that the state and federal government is going to help us pay for this.. Its been stated on many different levels that they're not going to pay for MUCH of Columbia River Crossing or THIS? So does some one have a hip pocket government scorecard, political reference sheet or some other thing that the average.

2) Because of this development and "THE RESERVE" taking up so much time on the Mayor and the City of Vancouver's limited RESOURCES of time, money, spirit and desires are BEING plentatively ignored to Focus on this 1/10 of the City of a strip land on the west side?

3) With Light Rail coming INTO the City, who is being ignored to finance it? With limited resource, some thing is losing out. There have been numerous threads here at Clarkblog over the past two years that could can attest and address a number of our needs..

[Waterbuffalo]

I'd like to note that I cut that down from about 5 pages of printable text into this short piece. One to save brains of our readers and to cut out a lot of stuff that didn't need to be in the discussion.

When I get passionate about a subject, I get lighted like a bottle rocket and strean off into the stratosphere.

What I'd like to see is our community leaders SHOW and TELL us Why this is Important for the whole community? I swallowed 20 years of "the Reserve and Downtown Vancouver" and its needs but this one could harder pill to swallow when we've got so MUCH basic needs that one can't cut a police, fire or budget any further.

May be this is a discussion I need to have with political officials in private, so that I can understand when so many basic needs in this community are cut to the bone to pay for things like this that remind of "Fantasylands" or Disney-like development.

My next question is to the City of Vancouver: When are YOU going to have open houses on this subject property for Community Input?

[karma]

Art doesn't pay until one dies!

[Waterbuffalo]

Touche Karma..

[karma]

Ya know that is what my Art Professor keep saying over and over and over and over. I had this professor for all my painting classes!! Let's just say I brightened up his days to the point when I saw him 15 years later he remembered me! His first words were have you gotten rich yet with those bold colors??

[Waterbuffalo]

"have you gotten rich yet with those bold colors??" Touche #2...