What began this summer as an attempt to solve the Overture Center for the Arts’ financial woes by mid-November has evolved into an ongoing and increasingly complicated effort to come to a decision before the year’s end.
Early Wednesday morning, members of the City Council decided to postpone their final decision on Overture after many alders said they heard an unexpected amount of new information at the meeting.
The model for Overture’s financial restructuring a plurality of alders supported was the one model Overture officials rejected. Under that model, the Madison Cultural Arts District Board would take complete ownership of Overture after the resignation of all of its current members.
Overture officials and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz both have said they support the original focus model, a public-private model allowing the city to buy the performing arts facility for $1 while maintaining the building’s operating costs.
Throughout the focus model’s evaluation process, many members of the council said the plan was too risky and eventually proposed two additional models in late November.
Technically, the council’s Wednesday morning meeting is still in progress, but is recessed to allow alders time to chew on some of the new proposals, some of which were introduced during the meeting.
The timeline for when the meeting will come out of recess is currently unclear, some alders said. City Council President Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, said he hopes the negotiations can lead to an agreement that would come to a vote on or before the council’s next official meeting on Dec. 14.
“If we can make some progress in discussions with the Overture board and get something scheduled, then I’m hopeful we can resume the meeting,” Clear said. “At this point we need to have some conversations and see where we are and see where the donors are and if there’s any agreement we can get to from where the council was last night.”
The possibility of the Overture’s major public donors walking because of the council’s indecision became a particularly pressing topic at the Wednesday morning meeting. Clear said he believed the risk of donors walking is possible and was exacerbated by last night’s indecision.
Clear also said there is a possibility the donors view the indecision as a stalemate, where the council will not reach a decision the donors can support when the council does choose a proposal, also possibly causing them to walk.
He added he was disappointed in the decision to postpone a vote despite “six months, three studies and a lot of work put in by an ad hoc committee.”
Although Clear was pessimistic about the possibility of donors walking, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he did not believe many of the philanthropists helping keep Overture financially afloat would walk.
“It is highly unlikely that any of the half dozen or so donors…would all of a sudden say ‘this isn’t worth it, I’m going home,'” Verveer said. “These folks are all deeply committed, longtime local philanthropists, not the type of person who is just going to walk away abruptly.”
Verveer said he remains optimistic the council will come to a sound decision by Dec. 14.
