Civic centers, however, cost a lot of money to operate, the Helena Civic Center included. In order to keep the civic centre economically viable in an era of diminishing budgets, especially for "non essential services", the city has hired an out of town firm do do an online survey, to find out just exactly who in the community is interested in what type of entertainment and how many are sufficiently interested to actually attend an event at the center.
The beginning of a Helena Independent Record article on the findings of that survey and its implications follows.
Survey shapes strategies for Civic Center's solvency
AL KNAUBER | Dec 12, 2016
Results from an online survey are helping a consultant come up with strategies to improve the Helena Civic Center's financial performance.
A report, with options on opportunities that exist in the community, is anticipated to be provided to the city commission in either late January or early February.
A town hall meeting last week at the Civic Center, attended by 17 people despite the near zero degree temperature, gave Martin Cohen, a partner with The Cultural Planning Group that has offices in California, Philadelphia and Hawaii, a chance to present results from the survey’s 563 responses.
This fiscal year’s city budget includes $480,000 toward supporting the Civic Center.
Revenue from events and other sources are projected to add $208,000 to the financial picture, although that would be a conservative number based on last year. While events and shows were projected to generate $208,000 in revenue, they actually contributed $567,710.
While there is no flexibility on the monthly charge for water and wastewater services, a performing arts venue needs to be flexible and able to financially accommodate opportunities for entertainment such as a show that’s passing through this area and offers a performance between shows already scheduled in other cities, Noonan explained.
This flexibility in pricing for use of the Civic Center, he added, can encourage entertainment promoters to include a stop in Helena and help the Civic Center increase its revenues.
Of those who participated in the survey, nearly 70 percent identified themselves as female and nearly 30 percent said they were male.
This roughly 70 percent/30 percent division in responses was typical, Cohen said, and didn’t adversely affect the survey’s results.
When people gave their top three reasons for not attending additional Civic Center events, 59.6 percent indicated a lack of interest.
Read more at the Helena Independent Record