Arlington Heights board likes Metropolis' progress, OKs funding

Arlington Heights will spend more than $400,000 to support Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in 2016, but officials were full of praise for the theater's new ownership and direction before approving the money on Thursday night.

Executive Director Joe Keefe and Metropolis Board President Steve Daday presented their budget to the village board on Thursday and said that all metrics for the downtown theater are trending up, including ticket sales, subscriptions, memberships and school enrollment.

For example, Keefe said typical past shows had between 35 percent and 40 percent of seats sold, while "Spamalot," which just concluded its run, had greater than 60 percent attendance.

"I think there is great buzz in the community about how well the Metropolis is doing and the positive direction where things are going," said Village President Tom Hayes.

Under the approved Metropolis budget, the village will contribute $250,000 toward an operating subsidy, $50,000 toward a restricted reserve account that the village controls, and $121,000 for capital projects.

Of the capital projects budgeted, $18,000 will go toward upgrading the theater's sound system, $15,000 for its phone systems and $34,000 for lighting and equipment.

Another $20,000 is budgeted for a marquee sign outside the theater, though Metropolis officials said they haven't yet planned what it will look like.

Keefe said Metropolis will continue to improve the quality of its productions to bring in more patrons and do more outreach to attract more sponsorships and donations in 2016. He said the theater also will have students from the School of Performing Arts at Metropolis put on opening acts at next summer's Sounds of Summer concerts as a way to spread the word in the community about their offerings.

Keefe said the theater plans to coproduce a Polish language play at Metropolis in January that he expects to bring in strong revenues because of the large Polish population in the Chicago area.

"We think this serves our cultural side, but it is also going to bring hundreds of people into Metropolis that would never even know we existed," Keefe said.

In spite of the positive news and additional village funding, Metropolis started the previous fiscal year in the negative, as it has every year since its opening. In spite of that, officials said they were pleased with the turnaround and unanimous approved its funding.

"I've been a critic about some of the financials in the past, but I think it's a lot better now," said Trustee Carol Blackwood.

Trustee Joe Farwell said the level of financial reporting has improved from previous years when the village board didn't trust the numbers it received.

"This is fantastic to be able to look at this and not come up with as many questions and raised eyebrows," he said.