General Information

Government Type

Interlocal

Entity

Utah Performing Arts Center Agency

Public Body

Board of Directors

Notice Information

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Notice Title

MEETING OF THE UPACA BOARD OF DIRECTORS, minutes

Notice Tags

Arts

Notice Type(s)

Meeting

Event Start Date & Time

April 24, 2025 09:00 AM

Event End Date & Time

April 24, 2025 10:00 AM

Description/Agenda

Meeting of the UPACA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Thursday April 24, 2025, 9:00am O.C. Tanner Lounge- Eccles Theater w/Cisco WebEx option Attendees: Angela Vanderwell, Sarah Dibble Lata, Jacque Jones, Matt Castillo, Robin Chalhoub, Helen Langan, Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin, Rachel Otto, Ross Romero, Jim Sirrine, Taylee Foulger Roll call and Introductions: Ms. Darby-Duffin called the meeting to order at 9:07am. Welcome: Ms. Darby-Duffin welcomed all. Review public comments: No public comments. Approval of minutes: February 20, 2025 & February 27, 2025 This agenda item was moved to later in the meeting, waiting for more Board members to join, to make a quorum. 2024 Eccles Theater Annual Report - Matt Castillo, Angela Vanderwell, Sarah Dibble All reports were emailed to the Board prior to this meeting for their review. Ms. Vanderwell shared the report with the Board. Ms. Vanderwell advised we had a fantastic 2024, a lot to celebrate! She presented a slide presentation for the Board. Broadway at the Eccles: 11 season titles, 122 performances, 246,236 attendees, 272,082 tickets, 16,362 new ticket buyers, and 90.25% occupancy. We are working very hard to develop new audiences and bring people into the theater. Arts for All is growing, our utilization in 2024 was 92%, it was 85% in 2023 and 79% in 2022. Our goal with this program within the County is to see 90% utilization, we are hitting the mark. One driver of this success was bringing on a full-time Arts for All manager who has been able to develop many relationships with different programs and schools across the county, bringing this opportunity to those who qualify. Ms. Vanderwell went over Eccles' outreach with the community. The first program mentioned was the Eccles Theater Technical Outreach program (ETTO). This program is designed to reach out to high school and college students who may be interested in technical theater as a profession. She gave a list of all ETTO events. Eccles outreach engagement events for community activation was the second community program mentioned. These were held in the summertime as free events for the community: Steppin' On Main, SL Beats, SL Speaks, Slam Poetry Ehhibition, and the annual Lights On! reception. The total attendance for community activation events 4,985; also worked with 50 artists and groups. Voces en Bloom was launched to reach our Spanish speaking community. Our Patron Services provided coverage for the shows/events; we had 24,987 volunteer hours offered to Eccles Theater in 2024. We rely on volunteers, and the number of volunteers has grown since the pandemic. We are focusing on growing the volunteer youth service program, expanding the patron experience, and finding Spanish speaking volunteers- we are finding a need for this service. Ms. Vanderwell asked the Board for feedback on reaching out to the community to find Spanish speaking volunteers. Ms. Vanderwell went over the 2024 financial reports: Eccles Theater Building Operating Budget, Net Operating Income to Owners, Eccles Theater Site Operating Budget, and Arts for All Operating Budget. We had a great 2024 Eccles building operating budget, we expected to reach 6.5 million, and we ended up with a total revenue of 11 million. We put tickets on sale in 2024 for 6 weeks of Wicked, as well as 3 weeks of Les Miserables, even though these shows would be performed in 2025. The distribution to stakeholders is; Salt Lake City 2.7 million and Salt Lake County 1.7 million. This is by far the highest financial result we've seen for the theater since it opened in 2016. We are anticipating 2025 will be another strong year but also want to ensure the board understands that revenues will be cyclic due to how touring Broadway typically works. Right now, we are working to support both the City and County Mayors to record a welcome to the theater announcement, like what you hear at the airport. The script is being written to highlight how Eccles supports the community. 2024 Eccles site operating budget report was given to the Board. Mr. Castillo said from 2022 until 2024, the revenue has been growing almost doubled from 2022. We are moving the utilization of site in the right direction. Mr. Romero asked about the restaurant Tin Angel. It was explained how we have worked with them on different business aspects like hours of operations, menus, etc. and we will continue to work with them on an ongoing relationship and how best to serve the patrons. Our working model is similar with others across the country. Our model is not a drain on the budget. The goal is to find a place where we break even. 2024 Arts for All operating budget report. Mr. Castillo went over the report. We have been approved to spend down the budget, we have presented to the Board how we intend to spend these funds. We see increased revenue, because we have increased ticket sales. 2024 Annual Building Activity report & 2024 Annual site activity reports were shown. These reports show how we are moving in the right direction. 2024 Broadway performances total tickets issued were shown. Year over year we are maintaining 90% capacity, and for LIVE! we are at 88%. A chart revealed what parts of the Salt Lake County the ticket sales are coming from. We are looking at doing campaigns in different areas of the County to increase awareness of Eccles. Ideas were given about partnering with local hotels in each area. Ideas like this will help grow our broadway season subscriber base. The last slide shown to the Board communicated our total attendance, we are trending in the right direction, increasing our attendance. The floor was open for questions, feedback and discussion during the presentation. Ms. Chalhoub had joined the meeting, we now have a quorum. Approval of minutes: February 20, 2025 & February 27, 2025 Ms. Langan moved the request to approve the minutes. Ms. Chalhoub moved to second. Unanimously approved. Current Budget and Activity Reports- Sarah Dibble, Angela Vanderwell Ms. Dibble advised of the current budget reports, for revenue at building, we're already at 36% of what is budgeted. Broadway is excellent, even with Wicked & Les Mes ticket sales in 2024. Expenditures are at 18% for the year thus far, revenue is outpacing expenditures. For January Arts for All had 100% utilization of their tickets. We are on track with our goals for 2025. The floor was open for questions and discussion. Arts & Culture and Eccles Theater General Updates - Matt Castillo, Angela Vanderwell We are wrapping up our season subscriber ticket sales for the 25-26 season, we are at an 88% renewal rate now, down from 92% but still healthy. Markets across the country have an 80% subscriber renewal rate benchmark and many don't meet that benchmark. We are still asking questions as to what might be causing this, and we are monitoring it. Suggestions were given as to how we could address this situation. Ms. Vanderwell advised that there are still seats available for Wicked, and please share with their community contacts. A question and answer, feedback period happened during the presentation. Meeting adjourned at 10:00am. Next Meeting: June 26,2025 2025 Meeting Schedule All meetings start at 9:00am and are held in the O.C. Tanner Lounge at the Eccles Theater with a Web-Ex option. (Dates, times, locations subject to change. Additional meetings may be added) a. February 20 b. February 27 - Interim c. April 24 d. June 26 - Capitol Theatre, Capitol Room e. August 21 f. October 23 g. December 11

Notice of Special Accommodations (ADA)

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodations (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) during this meeting should notify Angela Vanderwell at avanderwell@slco.org.

Notice of Electronic or Telephone Participation

Electronic telephonic participation is available for this Body upon request.

Meeting Information

Meeting Location

Eccles Theater- Tanner Lounge
131 S Main St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
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Contact Name

Angela Vanderwell

Contact Email

avanderwell@slco.org

Contact Phone

(385)468-2524

Notice Posting Details

Notice Posted On

April 24, 2025 01:41 PM

Notice Last Edited On

June 26, 2025 12:41 PM

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Audio File Location

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