Great facility, great shows and lousy attendance.
It was clear Moe McGuinty had a lot on his mind about the Dekker Centre’s finances in his final presentation to North Battleford city council Monday.
“You hate to put it in a context of ‘use it or lose it,’” said McGuinty. “But the attendance to these shows is not what was ever anticipated.”
McGuinty, who is retiring this year as Dekker Centre general manager, reported the facility lost money in 2017. According to the audited statement submitted to council that night, perpared by Holm Raiche Oberg, the facility reported a deficit of revenue over expenses of $17,512 for the year ending Dec. 31. That compared to a surplus of $44,678 in 2016.
This is in spite some belt-tightening at the Dekker Centre. McGuinty noted that expenses were lower than in 2016. But “our revenues were a little shy,” he said. Those dropped from $622,696 to $545,145 in 2017.
Councillor Kent Lindgren, who serves on the Dekker Centre board, noted attendance was the reason behind the drop.
“Attendance has been down this year and that’s really where we’ve seen our revenue decrease,” said Lindgren. He urged the public to attend the “amazing” shows hosted.
“Hopefully, people can still come out and support. Your attendance is support, but we want you to come out to everything.”
There are some theories as to why attendance has been an issue.
“That could be a product of the economy, there’s a lot of factors at play when you’re in the entertainment business, there’s a lot of variables,” Mayor Ryan Bater said to reporters.
McGuinty’s remarks at council indicated it has been an ongoing struggle for the Dekker Centre to live up to their mandate from the City to “provide a diverse program of live entertainment every year that we produce and bring in.”
The Dekker Centre has had to adjust. McGuinty noted the 2018-19 program at the Dekker Centre isn’t as diverse as it used to be. There has been less drama, less dance, less classical music this year.
“And that is a balance that we have to try and come to grips with. I mean, if nobody’s going to come, then, you know, at some point you have to pull the plug, which is a shame,” said McGuinty.
“On the other hand, and I’ve said it before, you don’t want to change the name to the Dekker Centre Country and Western Saloon. So there’s a balancing there that we’ve had a very difficult six years trying to reach.”
McGuinty also voiced the belief that more vocal promotion of the Dekker Centre by those who support it would go a long way.
“We can all be a little more evangelical about saying ‘hey, get your ass off the couch, quit watching the hockey game, and go to a show.’”
McGuinty expressed confidence that if that were to happen, in six months the Dekker Centre statements would be in the black again.
It was not all doom and gloom in the Dekker report. McGuinty noted the Dekker Centre did return $20,000 to the City in ticket fees and approximately $35,000 to local performing arts groups.
“That is one of our mandates given to us by the City is to promote the local arts community,” said McGuinty.
So “while we lost $17 (thousand), we put $50,000 back into the City. And I think that’s what we were supposed to do.”
At the end of his presentation, McGuinty thanked council for their support during his time as the manager.
“This will be the last time that you will see me making a presentation. I’ve decided to pack it in,” said McGuinty. “I can only say I know you’ll support my successor as enthusiastically as you supported me, so thank you very much.”
In his concluding remarks, Mayor Bater thanked McGuinty on behalf of the people of North Battleford.
“You’ve certainly made your mark in this community,” said Bater.
“You took a facility that was a dream, an idea, it was a building, and you turned it into an enterprise that we’re all proud of. You’ve done a remarkable job over the last six years, and it’s hard to know what to say other than thank you, and you will be missed.”
