Landmark Columbus Foundation
Landmark Columbus Foundation
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At surveymonkey.com/r/columbusarts
A public survey measuring the interest and viability of a performing arts center in Columbus is earning substantial community interest, according to community leaders who are part of a local steering committee tackling the topic.

It fact, 357 responses were submitted in the first 24 hours alone last week, said Tracy Souza. She’s president and chief executive officer of The Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County that released the survey that takes about 10 minutes or less to complete at surveymonkey.com/r/columbusarts.

Survey deadline is March 15.

Theater Projects, a globally recognized venue planning consultant, is handling the query that asks questions such as how often respondents attend events locally, how often they go outside the community for events, and whether they would attend more local events if there were a dedicated arts venue for such.

“If there is a business case to be made for a performing arts center, this is the kind of feedback that will be important to know,” Souza said. “We don’t yet know if we actually need a performing arts center.

“We’ve always heard lots of opinions about whether we actually need one, but we don’t actually have a lot of specific data. And if we do need one, there are questions such as ‘How big should it be? How big should its market be?’

“And that’s where we’re starting.”

Serious talk of a performing arts center in Columbus dates to at least about 1990 when city and arts leaders such as Carolyn Lickerman floated the idea that never progressed passed the public discussion stage. Amid all the questions, Souza mentioned that there are some definite business elements.

“We need to understand that, if we put up a facility, we have to be sure it can somehow be sustainable,” Souza said. “And I think we know that any facility would have to become a regional draw. I think we all accept the fact that it can’t sustain itself just absolutely locally.”

Her point is important since self-sustaining arts venues are a rarity.

Souza’s background is one that includes dance, her daughter Maria Argentina Souza is regional stage actress and husband Matt is a singer and musician. Plus, she has probably been in more arts venues than many while catching her daughter’s various performances through the years.

Representatives from Theater Projects already have visited existing facilities such as The Commons, The Crump Theatre and Helen Haddad Hall.

As far as the cost of a facility, Souza mentioned that grants exist to help cover some of the price tag.

“That’s if we can make the right case fior it,” Souza said. “That’s why we’re starting with data.”

She’s hoping that survey data will be available by the end of April.

“We’ll have an idea by then whether we have any business doing this,” she said. “And then we’ll have to get into the money side.”

Steering committee member Misty Weisensteiner is executive director of the Columbus Area Visitors Center, offered a couple of perspectives on the matter.

“Of course, from a tourism perspective, an attraction like this has a great deal of potential. Should it come to fruition, the visitors center will enthusiastically market it,” Weisensteiner said. “A performing arts center could also be a great too for talent attraction. Not only would it provide additional leisure opportunities for residents, but it could also provide an outlet for local performers.

“We have an abundance of talent in this community, but organizations like the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and Mill Race Theatre Company are limited by not having a permanent, full-time home. Their seasons are constrained by having to book around the availability of venues such as high school auditoriums. It can also be challenging to market to visitors performing arts events held in high schools and churches.”

Steering commitee member Richard McCoy is the founding executive director of the nonprofit Landmark Columbus Foundation that cares for the area’s cultural legacy, and does so via a wide range of arts-related events. He believes that if Columbus’ downtown is to remain vibrant in the future, a downtown arts center is a must.

“I would bet that, if you really examine the data, a huge number of people here (in Bartholomew County) regularly go to Indianapolis, Louisville, Bloomington, Cincinnati and elsewhere for performing arts,” McCoy said, echoing information once linked to a Republic reader survey more than 15 years ago. “If a center were here, it would be wildly popular.”

McCoy is aware, as some other community leaders are, that a number of performing arts centers in Indiana and elsewhere are supported or subsidized annually by municipal funds, grants, or the like. In 2022 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in Bloomington, for example, programming income, comprising ticket sales, concessions, and rental fees, covered 52 percent of expenses, according to venue website.

“One thing is sure: Programming income will never cover 100 percent of necessary business expenses,” its website reads. An endowment fund now is a channel to support that venue.

McCoy and his Landmark staff, who have succeeded with events such as concerts when others have struggled, is unfazed by such.

“I believe that people simply just need to not be scared of that (assistance),” McCoy said. “I see that as an awesome investment (in a community).”
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