Once the new CEO, Gary Allan Wood takes over, give him 16 months to produce a 180 in the building, if he cannot acheive that, terminate the management company’s contract, and start over.
Wood confirms to STORMLAND News that he has resigned as the CEO of the Washington Pavilion. He said it was his own decision and that he is excited about a lot of new opportunities that have come his way.
And the fact that he got tired of the board of directors having him by the balls.
Wood declined to say what opportunities he has been offered, but he says he will talk about his decision in more detail Friday.
I guess it takes a day or so to come up with the proper lie to tell the public. As I have said in the past, I hear a lot of silly rumors that I never post about. Someone tipped me off about this about a month ago, they said, “From what I hear, Wood and the Board of Directors are not seeing eye to eye and it is causing major tension.” Which didn’t surprise me, but it really wasn’t something I could say much about until now.
Of course, the Board of Directors kind of candy coats the resignation by not answering why he left;
“Gary came with some wonderful experience and knowledge of the arts, and he’s done some good things for us, and we’ve been pleased,” Pay said Thursday night.
“But we’ve reached a point this year – a horrible year for all arts organizations – where we’re scrambling to find out what it is we need to be going to prepare ourselves for this economic climate in the new year,” she said.
Okay, so why did he leave? I hope Wood has the gonads to blow the roof off of that place once and for all and tell the public about the Board of Directors and how they run the place with an iron fist with the help of their puppet and spy, Director of Operations, Jon Loos.
And if you have to have a meeting about this blog post, you have identified one problem already.
This sucks ass, I think Wood was a good fit and would be able to really take the place to the next level if he were unleashed.
Deb K’s comments in the Argus about this being a tough year for the Arts community is spot on. We’ve had $10 trillion in wealth erased in the last 18 months and unfortunatly damn near evey idea pitch in DC these days is magically paid for by raising taxes on the “wealthy”.
And before all you “It was all Bush’s mess” robots chime in, one stat you might want to wrap your brain around is Charitable Donations, note when the high water mark was reached:
Washington — Americans increased their charitable donations significantly in 2006 to more than $295 billion — a record, according to a study released June 25 by the Giving USA Foundation, which reports on charitable contributions.
Read more: http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2007/June/200706261522251CJsamohT0.8012354.html#ixzz0ZOdaVEOJ
What I can’t figure out about the Pavilion is even when the economy was good, the place lost money. I don’t understand how a place that actually has a profitable Great Hall, receives Federal grants, private donations and a huge subsidy from the city each year (not to mention doesn’t pay a penny for building upgrades – that comes out of the CIP fund) can be in the red every year?
Two problems have been identified from the beginning and the board refuses to address them.
1) The Science Center is a money pit. However, it could be turned around if they changed to night hours and offered more diverse entertainment in the cinedome.
2) Salaries are too high and raises are not based on performance.
BTW, is that the same John Loos who went to WHS class of ’87 I think?
It was great reading your take on Gary Wood’s resignation from Washington Pavilion. I agree completely, especially when I know one of the board members. This member takes enjoyment in making ones life a living hell. So I am sure Gary Wood has had his turn with his antagonizing style…
Probably, he is also the brain surgeon behind the Harrisburg School Board debacle.
I think it is time they fired the entire management company. I have a feeling that a new mayor is going to take a long hard look at that contract.
SMG has been fighting for years to have the contract on the Great Hall, I say let them have it. They have made the Arena and Orpheum profitable.
The real problem here is city leader corruption. The Pavilion was built by overpriced non-competitive bid contractors. It was never meant to make money but provided a method to rape the taxpayers. It is an over-inflated construction project with ongoing milk money payoffs. Employees are political favors or worthless brother-in-laws. There are only 2 management company choices because the king wanted to see who could pad his pocket most. This is what an EC would be and why it is important to stop any contracts from being let till after a new mayor is elected. It’s also a fine example of why this leadership and the city (now/later) should not have anything to do with federal flood control.
One of the volunteers that works there, told me that the volunteers get to attend the events there for free. That could end up costing a fair amount of money. Granted this person did say that not all of the events are that way, but some are.
Well, when I worked there, the volunteers did get to watch the shows when they volunteered, but were not allowed to sit in seats unless they were open. They did occassionally get comped tickets if shows did not sell well, but that was rare.