At an Owensboro City Commission work session held Tuesday, city commissioners listened as nonprofit arts agencies discussed their needs for additional funding from the local government. Spokespeople from the RiverPark Center presented their expected revenue streams, economic and cultural impact on the city, as well as their financial burdens as part of their presentations.
Chair of RiverPark’s Board of Directors Jeff Ebelhar asked city commissioners to provide an additional $182,539 toward the performing arts center. Ebelhar said the money would bring the funding level back to the amount provided by the city two years before.
“The goal of RiverPark Center is to seek to improve the quality of life in our community,” Ebelhar said. “RiverPark has a major impact on the local economy and, I think, on economic development.”
Ebelhar said RiverPark held 275 community events last year on a $2.5 million budget, bringing a $6 million economic return to the region on an annual basis. He added that 95 volunteers provided 8,000 hours of service toward RiverPark last year as well.
However, RiverPark has struggled to keep its head above water for years, and Ebelhar said the City of Owensboro grant they receive — totaling 7 percent of its annual income — is a major factor in the company’s economic impact. Hosting free events for the public, such as Friday After 5, comes from the funding provided by the City, Ebelhar said.
Part of RiverPark’s financial struggle has come from retirement and pension costs, Ebelhar said. The performing arts center uses the same pension plan as the county government. RiverPark had an unfunded pension liability of $1.1 million by the end of August 2018.
“We’re paying 23 percent of everybody’s pay. We now have two fewer full-time employees to help manage that,” Ebelhar said. “We’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get out of this. Our employees haven’t had a raise in two years, but they’ve stuck around because they understand.”
RiverPark also suffers from a fund balance that continues to decrease each year, Ebelhar said. RiverPark Executive Director Roxi Witt said RiverPark goes “dark,” or, doesn’t have an event, around 100 days out of the year.
However, Ebelhar, Witt and the rest of the RiverPark board have been working to create revenue streams that will allow it to continue providing a quality level of performing arts for the community and its surrounding area.
By leasing out the former International Bluegrass Music Museum (IBMM) building — recently rebranded as the Turley Building — to potential small-business owners, Ebelhar believes a new stream of revenue could help RiverPark stay afloat. However, while the property has been shown to several potential clients, nobody has signed a lease. This is due, in part, to the former tenant having just moved out, Witt said.
Around $500,000 will be needed to renovate the Turley Building, Ebelhar said, and RiverPark is working with Gulfstream Development to fix the space up and find a client to lease it out to the right person who plans on using that space for a long time.
Ebelhar publicly announced a new “Entertain the Future” capital campaign RiverPark will spearhead, which will attempt to raise $750,000. These funds would not only pay for the renovation of the Turley Building, but $150,000 will go toward expanding the women’s restrooms inside RiverPark and another $100,000 that will pay for new lobby carpeting and other expenditures.
Luckily, Ebelhar said, $227,000 has already been raised, and $195,000 is sitting in escrow with the City for the Turley building. RiverPark needs to raise $350,000 more to cover costs for updates they deem necessary to remain a high-functioning arts center for the city.
Ebelhar also announced that RiverPark is offering naming rights for the building at a cost of $5 million, which would get them out of debt and leave them with enough money to spend on additional upgrades and costs.
“We’ve got some good prospects, but this doesn’t happen overnight,” Ebelhar said.
