10/04/2024
Hello readers, my name is Jessica Huckabey, and I am an independent theatrical producer. My nonprofit is called Central Florida Stages INC, and our mission is to create theater spaces and produce live entertainment. I am the producer that brought you “Moonshine and Mistletoe: An Appalachian Christmas Tale” to the Garden last year. Like you, I do not want this venue to close. However, I want to take this opportunity to educate the public on how theater works so that you, the audience, can better support theater makers and also assist in making sure theater and entertainment remains in the Garden Theatre.
The building “The Garden Theatre” and the non-profit that was running it, “The Garden Theatre INC” are NOT one and the same. This creates a bit of confusion in the public eye. The building itself is owned by the City of Winter Garden. They have simply given permission to the non-profit business entity to manage and operate within the space. The non-profit theater company itself can, and likely will, be replaced. However, this is not simple.
The Theater Company “The Garden Theatre INC” has already, or will be, completely dissolved. This means that this non-profit will no longer be operational, and that all of their debt will simply be absolved, minus their obligation to make final payroll to their employees. This means they have no obligation to pay back any money they owe to anyone, including ticket holders, donors, creditors, etc. I don’t personally know anything about their operations or intentions. They may still try to pay certain things, but they are not legally obligated to, as far as I know. They are basically “bankrupt” which for a non-profit means they have to close.
Let’s talk about speculation as to why they have closed:
Many people are out there forming opinions on their operations, and this has created huge strife. Honestly, it is irrelevant. People make mistakes, sometimes they are irreversible. That’s unfortunate but true. At this point, we should applaud this company for their years of dedication to the arts, and leave it at that.
There have been comments about the governor defunding the arts. Yes, it’s a huge problem. But it would not have saved this situation in the immediate, as that affects next year’s funding and would have been a problem eventually.
United Arts and the City/County governments have been brought up. It is important to understand their roles in the arts. Governments do not run or control private businesses or non-profits. All arts organizations are independently owned/managed and operated. The government suppprts this as a service to the community by providing space (when they have it, which is rare) and by providing taxpayer money via a long, tedious vetting application system managed by United Arts. Those grants are something you have to apply for annually, be approved, and then wait until the following year to receive. To many start-up theater companies, they are useless and cumbersome, as they will not ever get you anywhere until you are already somewhere. I don’t even bother with them because it’s not enough money to do the type of larger-scale work I do, and without a brick-and-mortar operation, you cannot make enough money annually to qualify for anything substantial.
So “what happens now?”
Now what’s going to happen is The Garden Theatre, INC, is going to wrap up their operations and hand the building back to the City of Winter Garden. The City will then determine what non-profit gets to operate the building next.
Central Florida Stages, INC is ready with a team to come in and keep the building operational. However, we must have cooperation and permission to do so. I have already been to the economic development office yesterday morning and spoke with Eric Fischer about it, and I have spoke to one contact within the Garden’s organization to discuss options for a transition. At the moment, there may be other theater companies doing the same; I don’t know. I do know that any theater company that comes in will have to rely 100% on donors and private funding from community support. I am prepared to bring some private funding and to receive the support from generous contributions from local patrons and businesses to try and keep the building operational and get programming back up in the space.
How can you help?
For today, It is not necessary to petition; the city government is trying their best to figure this out. They are not going to let the building sit empty. You can support best by advocating for my organization to take over. You can send letters to the economic development office for the City of Winter Garden to show support. You can pledge support here on this thread and share this post, which can be helpful to know who out there is “willing to donate what” to get started.
How much money is needed? I can’t answer that yet. I would say that $1 million would make a great seed. But with $500k we can probably get going…I don’t know yet, there are too many variables. I’ll know if and when I am given any sort of permission to move forward and can have access to necessary documentation.
In the meantime, my team is working on a business plan. If there are people who want to help with that, let me know. I’m very good at them; they are just time consuming and there are a lot of sections; I’ll happily let you join me. Or you can donate a Frappuccino to keep me awake.
If you would like to donate a tax-deductible donation to Central Florida Stages, INC, a 501(c)3 non-profit, you many do so by sending it via Zelle using [email protected]
Please see the photo below.
Feel free to contact us at the above email address or via social media with any questions, comments, or to provide assistance.
Please help support the arts in Central Florida, all arts organizations deserve this!!!
