Where we would like to extend our performances across two weekends, we cannot. Other venues Williams cited are not financially and artistically viable for the type of art form the ballet produces. Five hundred or 800 or 1,000 seats do not generate the level of box office revenue required nor are the backstage facilities suited to accommodate the basic needs of the art form we practice. The same is true for the larger of our cultural organizations. Tradition tells us that opera and ballet can exist quite comfortably in a shared venue while symphonic needs are different.
Cities pass through a maturation process with regard to their cultural development.
First, they establish their institutions. Then they nurture the quality of the work to ensure excellence. Finally, they begin to address the venue and long-term financial needs of their organizations through the establishment of contemporary centers and meaningful endowments. It is this last stage that our community is entering. Our cultural organizations will be as good as the environment in which they perform.