SSU music center projected to run deficit

The annual cost of running the Green Music Center, which is nearing completion at Sonoma State University, will exceed projected revenues by $1.15 million, according to the university's business plan.

That deficit is proposed to be offset by $500,000 in funds from SSU's academic and instructional budget and $650,000 from endowments and an annual fund-raising drive, officials said.

"We are not incurring those costs yet, we have virtually no staff," said Jeff Langley, chairman of the SSU performing arts departments. "It will be a phase-by-phase startup. The business plan is based on it taking eight years to get to the critical stage of operations until the costs kick in."

The operating deficit, especially the need for $650,000 in donations, is not unexpected, said Larry Furukawa-Schlereth, SSU's vice president of finance.

He said he visited a dozen performing arts sites across the country, and the $650,000 was in line with donations that all needed for operations.

"They all require there to be an annual campaign of some sort to keep the thing going," Furukawa-Schlereth said. "In the performing arts world, that isn't huge for the type of venue we have; that would feel about right."

Patricia McNeill, SSU director of development, said there already are planned gifts being offered as endowments for operations, one of which is for $500,000.

"Even as we are raising money for the building, people say they want to contribute to programming, to operations," McNeill said. "We have people setting up planned gifts for that right now. People are looking forward to it opening and know it will take donations for operations."

The business plan for the $110 million music center, which will be the home of the Santa Rosa Symphony, was completed this month by AMS Planning & Research of Petaluma.

It was produced for the SSU Inaugural Season Working Group and is intended for anyone who is interested in the operations of the center, including SSU faculty and staff, and potential donors and investors, said Susan Kashack, an SSU associate vice president.

The Green Music Center is named for telecommunications pioneer Don Green and his wife, Maureen, who started the project with a $10 million donation in 1997.

The heart of the center is a concert hall that will seat 1,400 and have two 52-foot high doors that open onto a terraced lawn. It is patterned after Seiji Osawa Hall at Tanglewood, a world-famous music center in Lennox, Mass.

It is to open in 2010, along with Schroeder's Recital Hall, named after the Beethoven-loving pianist in the "Peanuts" comic strip.

A hospitality center is to open next spring.

A music education building, with classrooms, rehearsal rooms and faculty offices, is opening this fall semester.

The music center is being built with $47 million in private donations and $45 million in public financing, with an additional $18 million in private donations still being sought to complete the concert and recital halls.

The concert hall would host 267 rehearsals and performances and the recital hall 257 rehearsals and performances a year, with half of those by SSU students and performing arts groups.

Attendance is estimated to be 270,000 a year.

Rental fees and ticket surcharges are estimated to bring in $842,860 a year, while operating costs are estimated to be $1,967,860 a year, according to the business plan.

The revenue shortfall would be made up with $400,000 from the university in academic support and $100,000 from a student instructional fee.

There would need to be $650,000 a year in support from donations and endowments.

Langley said fund raising for operations will be enhanced once the music center is open.

As a comparison, UC Davis has a $5 million endowment for operations, part of which goes to the Mondavi Center.

Full-time staffing for the Green Music Center is estimated to cost $1.16 million a year, with part-time staff costing $143,720.

There will also be fund-raisers for the music center within the SSU development office.

The operating costs include a $321,000 annual repayment for a construction bond for the hospitality center.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat

.com.