Editorial: Can we afford not to support the local drama?

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

July 23, 2009, 3 p.m. -- For more than 50 years, the Stephen Foster outdoor drama has been part-and-parcel to tourism here in Bardstown and Nelson County. According to census data, approximately 70 percent of Nelson County residents don't remember not having the Foster outdoor drama. To say it is part of our heritage and culture goes without saying.

In the face of changing consumer tastes in entertainment, increased competition for local tourists and more recently, the faltering economy, what's known to locals simply as "the drama" faces a tough road ahead.

Recently the drama has requested financial support from both city and county governments -- with requests of $30,000 from each entity. Nelson Fiscal Court gave Judge-Executive Dean Watts authority to see if there were funds available in the budget; the Bardstown City Council has taken no action on the request.

The debate over what some term a "bailout" of the drama continues. In calls to WBRT's "Brooks & Company," some listeners say it is a matter of using tax dollars to support an enterprise that's as good as dead anyway. Times have changed and entertainment choices have changed. It is no longer 1958; the allure of live music in an outdoor amphitheater has lost its ability to draw an audience. Tax dollars used to support the drama are a waste of money, the thinking goes.

It's easy to sit on the sidelines -- or in the audience, if you will -- and do a little "armchair quarterbacking" by complaining about what the drama management should have done in the past, or should be doing in the present. The truth is that despite the struggles they face, outdoor dramas have not perished; some have been forced to close, yet others continue on.

What would happen if the drama association folded its tent and went out of business? First, it would mean the end of the jobs the drama creates each summer, both on-stage talent and off-stage; the end of the concert series the drama association (known now as Stephen Foster Productions) produces each year. It would also spell the end of the variety of events sponsored by the drama, including The Beautiful Dreamer Ball.

Years ago, the drama association had a substantial surplus and invested some of their funds by purchasing local area estate; as pointed out recently in The Kentucky Standard, the drama association also helped fund the city's chamber of commerce for years. But as attendance trends have changed and numbers fallen, the drama association sold off its real estate holdings.

While there's no disputing the facts of what's altered local tourism trends and entertainment choices, perhaps the question we should be asking is not "Should we 'bail-out' the drama?" but "Can we afford to not support the drama?"

If there's any question about the impact closing the drama might have, one must look no further than the neighboring state of Ohio. The July 4th edition of The Dayton Daily News carried a story about the impact of the closing of its local outdoor drama. The drama, "Blue Jacket" was named for a Shawnee Indian chief who had to deal with the influx of white settlers into his tribe's territory in the late 1700s. The drama -- complete with skirmishes on horseback and flaming arrows -- closed in 2007 after its 26th season.

The closing of this outdoor drama has had a considerable economic impact, the article states. The loss of "Blue Jacket" represents a loss of $750,000 to the local economy, according to figures provided by the Greene County Convention and Visitors Bureau. And though Dayton is a much larger community that Bardstown and Nelson County, there's no reason to believe the impact of the loss of the drama would be any less severe on a smaller scale. And the loss of the drama as a local theater event and as the state's official outdoor drama would be a hit on our culture as a community.

Has the drama management been blind to the changing trends? The changes in this year's schedule indicate that answer is an emphatic "no." Moving the concert series to Thursdays and offering free movies are both excellent changes.

My friends and I tend to kick around scenarios for ways to get more rear-ends in seats at the amphitheater. In my view the facility is underutilized. How about dinner theater? Gospel music performances? I'm sure these ideas -- and many others -- aren't novel or new.

Support of the arts by public and private entities is nothing new. Government funding for the drama at this time deserves close scrutiny and perhaps justification by examining the organization's budget. But in the final analysis, support of the arts via the drama association is indeed a worthy expense of taxpayer money.

If the group isn't yet considering it, now may be the time for a new capital fundraising campaign -- including soliciting support from corporate entities across the state -- as the drama association continues to evolve the concert, drama and event schedules.

The drama is a part of not just local history and culture, but that of the Commonwealth. Bardstown and Nelson County have a special place in state history as well, and the drama is part of that. The drama association and its continued production of arts and cultural events deserve our patronage and our support.