Thursday, August 28, 2008

By LISA MILLEGAN
lmillegan@modbee.com

last updated: September 09, 2007 05:28:18 AM

DAVIS -- Celebrating its fifth birthday this fall, the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts is by all accounts a hit.

Part of the University of California at Davis, it has added to the sophistication of the community, increased business for its downtown neighbors and inspired young people.

"It's made Davis a different kind of destination," said Maria Ogrydziak, president of the Davis Downtown Business Association. "The Mondavi Center brings in world-class performers and events, so that rubs off on everything else in the community. It brings people to Davis to then come and shop and have dinner downtown."

Backers of the Gallo Center for the Arts in downtown Modesto are crossing their fingers that they'll have the same experience.

The Gallo center board studied the Mondavi center extensively as part of its planning process and even hired its executive director, Brian McCurdy. He led the Modesto venue for less than a year before moving to New York in the fall of 2006.

While the Modesto arts center lacks the university setting, the two venues have many similarities. Both have two theaters, are intended to host a variety of entertainment from plays to concerts and received significant funding from a prominent winemaking family.

Both also are presenting about 70 events this season in addition to hosting local performances. In fact, the centers have booked several of the same acts. Gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama, Celtic band Leahy and circus show Cirque-Works Birdhouse Factory are among the performers visiting both places this season.

Centers have similar budgets

Situated just off Interstate 80 on the edge of the university, the $57 million Davis center was named after vintner Robert Mondavi and his wife, Margrit, who donated $35 million for construction of the center and a planned institute for wine and food science.

The Mondavi center operates on an annual budget of $7 million, receiving 40 percent from ticket sales and the rest from UC Davis, theater rentals, donations, grants and more, said Joe Martin, its public relations manager. The center has made its budget goals every year, he said.

By comparison, the Gallo center cost about $40 million and was largely funded by Stanislaus County, which contributed $15 million, and donations from 3,400 residents and businesses. It also has a $15 million endowment -- $10 million from the Gallo families and $5 million from the Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation.

The Gallo center will operate on a $6.5 million budget, with about 46 percent coming from ticket sales and rental fees, and the rest coming from endowment interest income and private donations.

As with the Gallo center, the Mondavi center attracted its share of critics before it opened.

"There were the naysayers that said Davis is too small and people aren't going to come," Martin said.

But phones rang off the hook the minute the box office opened, and shows sold out quickly. To the surprise of many residents, nearly half the people who bought tickets came from Sacramento, where people have many entertainment options.

Attendance was 135,000 the first year and dropped to 90,000 in subsequent years as the center scaled back its schedule from 115 events to about 70.

Martin said the center booked more shows the first year to attract interest and always planned to cut back its programs. The Gallo center is projecting an opening year attendance of 80,000, said Dave Pier, executive director.

A diverse group of people turns out for shows in Davis, with senior citizens preferring orchestra concerts, for example, and young couples in their 20s and 30s heading for salsa concerts, Martin said.

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