To fully appreciate the $93 million Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, you need to see an event. However, tickets are not cheap.
On Thursday, Nov. 18 from 2 to 7 p.m., the public is invited to an open house at the Tanger Center. The open house is free and gives people an opportunity to tour the Tanger Center and view what the public-private partnership, formed to build the new performing arts center, has accomplished.
The Tanger Center was built with over $43 million in private funds, provided through the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, and about $50 million in public funds, financed mainly with parking fees, ticket fees and the hotel/motel tax. No city property tax revenue is being used to finance the Tanger Center.
When the plan for the a new performing arts center to replace the ageing Memorial Auditorium in the Greensboro Coliseum Complex was first discussed by the Greensboro City Council in 2012, then Mayor Robbie Perkins suggested that the performing arts center be moved from the Coliseum Complex to downtown Greensboro and that $10 million in private funding be raised to pay the additional cost of building the new performing arts center, or “music hall” as some publications referred to it, in downtown Greensboro.
The original cost estimate for building the new performing arts center was $40 million at the Coliseum Complex and $50 million in downtown Greensboro.
The final cost of the Tanger Center was almost double that original estimate, but the amount of money raised privately increased more than fourfold. Congresswoman Kathy Manning, who now represents the 6th District, was the lead fundraiser for the Tanger Center, and as the cost of the Tanger continued to climb, so did the amount of private money that Manning raised.
Everything was in place for the grand opening of the Tanger Center on March 20, 2020, with the original public open house scheduled for March 29.
On March 12, 2020, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper cancelled all events in the state that involved gatherings of over 100 people due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So, the beautiful, brand new Tanger Center sat empty and unused until Sept. 2, 2021, when Rhiannon Giddens and Friends performed.
And now that original open house scheduled for March 29, 2020 is being held on Thursday, Nov. 18 beginning at 2 p.m.
$50 million in public funds, used to destroy people’s hearing.
The hotel/motel tax which hits our vulnerable population of homeless and poverty stricken community daily especially in this frigid weather. A monument to political donors and their puppets. An obstacle to private enterprise and a giant funding black hole for staffing and maintenance perpetually .
Are homeless people big hotel users in Guilford county? (Serious question)
All I have to say is after the newness wears off don’t come poormouthing for money like the Woolworth Museum.
The Tanger Center is going to cost the citizens of Greensboro millions of dollars every year in the coming years. It will NEVER support itself. Patrons are selective in which events they will attend and will NOT attend but a few each year. Parking will always be a problem and going downtown is never a good idea these days. Crime is a major problem now and will increase in the future. Two many events will prove to be a big costly mistake with fewer and fewer people attending each time. This is a non cultural City and NOT New York where there is a more supporters of the arts and quality patrons that enjoy this level of performance. Hold on to your wallets citizens YOU are about to be taken for a very expensive tide. Be the way, I”M a performer myself and I KNOW the ARTS.
It isn’t a question of knowing the arts as much a question of economics. Sellout shows will drive more business and increase tax revenues as a result. Wicked was a major success economically. Question is…will they have enough big shows to attract the out of town quests or was Wicked just that popular of a show and a one off.
Overall it is important for a city to have entertainment to attract and retain businesses and it’s workers. The old memorial theater wasn’t doing the job and the example of DPAC in Durham shows that this can be a very good thing if managed well.
Greensboro has plenty of entertainment downtown just look for the burning and looting of small stores and listen for the gunshots don’t worry about the police they won’t come