My producing group is now gone

SteveB

Well-Known Member
As of this past Wed., Brooklyn College has stopped operations of our in-house non-profit promoter/presenter.

60+ years of operations. Some major stars presented. 4 FT staff fired abruptly plus 3 in box office and house manager told 20 hr week. No replacement for the Production Manager.

2300 seat road house is closed undergoing painful and much delayed renovation, as is it's basement 150 seat black box. The $100 million new facility that is attached is theoretically open, but they haven't seen fit to issue keys. As well, many, many design and construction issues.
 

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Sorry to hear that man
 
Sorry. Don't know what to say. Will they close - shutter - any of the facility or venues?

Bill, The 2300 seat road house and the 150 seat black box (used by Dept. of Theater) are under renovation. To re-open in a year ?, maybe 2 if they dove-tail "Phase 2" of the planned renovation for the basement spaces. This was the primary space used by the now defunct non-profit promoter.

The new $100 million "Tow Center" opened last week, has had it's first show. The 200 seat Buchwald theater (He's Howard Sterns agent) has only half functioning aisle lights and many other issues, but is 85% ready. The rest of the building is about the same, just no phone, no WiFi, no Ethernet connection to the college and they are making 11 staff members share 3 sets of keys that we have to go cross campus to the Public Safety office to sign out and return. The students are in the building, the front of the building has no functioning fire alarms so has a disappearing fire watch officer.
 
Sounds like renovations could slow or stop, and not re-open.

No accounting for the actions of bureaucrats and bean counters.
 
I hate to hear this. Here's hoping they sort stuff out and those folks find new gigs asap.
 
That's really lame. It sounds like there's hope for the future, but it may be years of mess between now and then. Worst of all is the immediate human cost of good people losing their job. Best wishes.
 
Just as the business world goes through management trends, so do universities. Right now, there are too many schools for too few students. Most universities are struggling for enrollment and money is tight, so the trend is for them to look hard at activities that are beyond the core mission and cut, cut, cut. Their standing and recognition within the larger community no longer matters as that's the old way of thinking.

Anyone employed by a university who isn't directly involved in teaching or student services had better be prepared for job insecurity. Programs that can be made independent and self sustaining need to plan for how to have an amicable divorce and survive.

I went through this two years ago. I work for a public radio station that was owned by a university for 49 years. Money at the university got tight and they suddenly announced the station would be sold and the employees jobless as soon as the FCC approval was granted. Happily, the public outcry was very strong, and the buyer, another university, allowed the station the chance to match the sale offer within 6 months. Though it seems impossible, we raised more than $7 Million in 4.5 months, entirely from our listeners. The station continues on as an independent non-profit, with a renewed mission. The programming and staff are much the same as before. It was the best possible outcome.

What is interesting is that, while owned by the university, the station raised all of its operating funds. The university used phony accounting to show that it was costing them money to justify the need for the sale. Later, they tried to prevent us from buying the station, giving themselves a public relations black eye in the process. Since then, most of the university's leaders that cooked up the plan have left. The lesson here is that university leadership is not always honest and can make decisions with ulterior motives. So much for scholarship, intellectual honesty, and public service.
 

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