The plan could net tens of millions of dollars and help close funding gaps for proposed renovations, according to city officials and leaders at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
But before the city-owned and nonprofit organizations that run these big cultural institutions can book a dime of new revenue, they’ll need to work through a thicket of restrictions and complex renovation and redevelopment plans, and navigate public sentiment that values familiar names over corporate logos.
The city’s naming-rights plans would be separate from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA), the nonprofit theater group that is the largest tenant in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. That downtown complex, which also hosts Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Ballet, is scheduled for a massive overhaul by the city.
“Making sure that our theaters remain world-class will complement the redevelopment in the Next Stage plan,” DCPA president and CEO Janice Sinden said.
The Next Stage plan, still in the early phases, would renovate and expand the Denver Performing Arts Complex to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, including proposed new high-rise buildings and a new parking structure.
The Next Stage is managed by the city’s Arts & Venues arm, so it would not include proposed renovations to the DCPA’s own Stage and Ricketson theaters within the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex. The DCPA also manages the Space, Jones, Garner Galleria and Conservatory theaters, as well as the Donald Seawell Ballroom.
“The only theaters we have the ability to influence the name of are contained in the Bonfils,” Sinden said. “So we would have the ability to solicit a $5 million donor, let’s say, for the Stage Theatre naming.”
DCPA has requested $19 million from Mayor Michael Hancock’s $937 million proposed General Obligation Funds package, up for a vote in November, for its theater renovations. Revenue from naming rights could help fill the gap between the money DCPA needs and the money it actually receives, according to a DCPA spokeswoman.
Sinden raised the naming rights issue during a recent Denver Post interview with new board chairman Martin Semple, who took the reins July 1. Since hiring chief development officer Deanna Haas this year — a position that was empty for the last two and a half years — the DCPA is quietly launching its first big capital campaign, which is being presented to trustees for approval.
“We’ve never really been involved in any kind of major fundraising in the 40 years of our existence, and that’s going to be a whole new challenge,” Sinden said of the campaign, which will include the naming-rights proposal.
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http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/17/naming-rights-dcpa-colorado-convention-center/
By John Wenzel | The Denver Post
John Wenzel is a member of the Now Team, having covered comedy, music, film, books and video games for The Denver Post for more than a decade. As a proud Dayton, Ohio native, his love of Guided by Voices is about equal to his other obsessions, including Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth, “Mr. Show” quotes and Onitsuka Tigers.
Follow John Wenzel @johnwenzel