After Mayor Paul Soglin cut $1 million from the city’s yearly contribution to the Overture Center for the Arts earlier this year, Madison City Council members now want to restore $900,000 of that sum – and it looks like they will get their way.

Madison has a vested interest in the arts and maintaining a thriving arts scene. In order to protect that interest, the city must be willing to withdraw its monetary support if changes are not made to make the Overture Center more fiscally sustainable. The alders of Madison are damaging the city’s potential for arts engagement by supporting an inefficient venue that will require these bailouts year after year. A smaller stipend will save the city money that can be better spent elsewhere and, more importantly, will be an incentive to more fully serve the community.

The Overture as it currently runs is an ongoing expense for the city that is not earning its keep.

The premise of the Overture’s public-private partnership with the city was that this fixture would serve a broader demographic. However, despite discounts that the Overture offers, students and community-members face steep ticket costs to see most shows. The average Madisonian might not know there are eight theater venues housed within the building, each tailored to a different variety of performance. Since the building is so versatile in this way, it has the option to adapt to its patrons’ interests, but has not entirely done so.

We chalk this up to inequities in the Overture’s marketing budget – Broadway shows, which come to Madison bearing vast assets of their own, give the Center money to market their performances with TV ads and more. Yet, other shows must rely on small, targeted ads, emails and social media – modes of advertising designed to reach out to those who are already loyal to the Overture. Even then, there is not enough. Facebook, Twitter and paper flyers are essentially free marketing tools – community members should know about Overture shows before they even realize they want to see one.

It is also unfortunate that positive endeavors like the Overture’s Community Arts Access Program, which waives rental costs and provides advice for community groups, are not reaching their full potential due to a lack of awareness. Despite awarding more than $400,000 in discounts each year to encourage nonprofit groups and local artists to take advantage of the otherwise pricey – $100-$9,000 per evening – venues, according to Overture publicist Robert Chappell, these types of performances only make up about four percent of the Center’s annual visitors.

We are concerned the Overture Center does not set an admirable standard of marketing its entertainment offerings nor does it seek out popular shows that will fill seats. The Overture does not currently employ a salesperson to book shows, which has led to a motley assortment of offerings in its recent past. Chappell explained that this derives from an aversion to competing with neighboring for-profit venues, while the Overture does not explicitly need that revenue.

This is precisely the problem. These shortcomings derive from a lack of necessity since the Overture has grown comfortable leaning on the city for money.

One does not have to look far to find examples of better-run venues: Students pack into the Majestic Theater each weekend, which has made itself a staple of downtown night life. The Majestic runs a stellar marketing system. It also works closely with community members to spread the word about shows. The historic Barrymore Theater, despite being older and much farther from downtown, regularly shows big-name acts. Why is the nonprofit Overture Center “too big to fail” when its closest neighbor, the Orpheum, recently closed its doors due to poor business practices? This scenario emphasizes a bias of what the Overture represents to city officials over the Orpheum.

The Overture Center is an awe-inspiring piece of architecture for locals and tourists alike and is set in the most convenient location for students and downtown residents. It adds to a wonderful dynamic between fine art shown at the student Unions and the Chazen Museum of Arts’ Sunday concert series and boosts the surrounding economy an estimated $20 per theatergoer. But a posh venue will do nothing for the arts if it continues to lag in show promotion, does not seek out a broader assortment of offerings and retains an adolescent belief in its own immortality.