Sunset Cultural Center, Inc. (SCC) (2004 – 2011) Globenfelt to Lesnik to Sandin: ‘Performing Arts’ Mission to ‘Events’ Emphasis

ABSTRACT: “Our prior directors had their primary strength in presenting performances at Sunset Center, which obviously is an important element of our role,” (SCC Chairman Jim) Price said. “However, SCC is charged with a much broader responsibility by the city which would include conferences, seminars, special events, weddings — activities that are not only a benefit to the people of Carmel but bring business to Carmel.” To implement this significant change in mission emphasis, SCC Board of Trustees hired Christine Sandin, former marketing and development consultant to SCC, former Executive Manager, Monterey Bay Blues Festival; former Director of Sales and Marketing, The Whittemore Center Arena, University of New Hampshire; former Managing Director, The Music Hall, Portsmouth, N.H.; and former employee of Global Spectrum, a company which “hosts a wide array of popular sports and entertainment, trade shows, performing arts, and other special events.” Previously, former Executive Director Jack Globenfelt had 40 years business experience including experience with the Fresno Convention Center, the Harlem Globetrotters, the Nassau County Coliseum and the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and numerous entertainment contacts. And former Executive Director Peter Lesnik had been Executive Director of the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center at California State University Long Beach for ten years, had theater experience, and administrative and marketing experience. Excerpts highlighting reporting from The Carmel Pine Cone on SCC, Christine Sandin, Peter Lesnik and Jack Globenfelt are presented. COMMENTS and QUESTIONS are made regarding the City and SCC’s management of the Sunset Center.

2011: On Managing Director Christine Sandin and SCC:

“She seemed exceptionally qualified for our objectives,” Price told The Pine Cone Wednesday. “She has a very positive attitude and a lot of experience with both venue management and event presentation.”

While the theater will continue hosting performances, the center should draw more multi-day festivals, weddings, conferences and other activities that will generate more money for the center and the city.

“Our prior directors had their primary strength in presenting performances at Sunset Center, which obviously is an important element of our role,” Price said. “However, SCC is charged with a much broader responsibility by the city which would include conferences, seminars, special events, weddings — activities that are not only a benefit to the people of Carmel but bring business to Carmel.”

Those options have not received much attention in the past, according to Price, leaving that market largely untapped.

“‘Event’ means multi-day, like the Carmel Art and Film Festival and the Authors and Ideas Festival,” he said. “We want to do more of that. We will not be decreasing show presentations but will be putting much more effort into those kinds of events.”

2008 – 2010: On Executive Director Peter Lesnik:

Jim Price, SCC Board Chair, said on behalf of the trustees that Lesnik’s leadership in arranging a diverse and popular series under the Sunset Presents banner is a significant contribution to Sunset Center’s program calendar, which has great benefit for the community. He engaged a large number of shows and worked to deepen the audience experience by adding special pre- and post-show events.

“We wanted someone not only with theater experience, but with strong administrative and marketing know-how, and also someone who would work well in the community and with the city,” Price said. “There were a number of candidates who had excellent qualifications in some of those areas, but Peter has qualifications in all of those areas.”

Lesnik will play a major role in all that — and is ideal for his new job, according to Price, because he’s “energetic and innovative,” and has experience not only managing performing arts centers, but in directing, producing and otherwise working in theater.

2005 – 2007: On & By Executive Director Jack Globenfelt:

SCC Chairman Perry Walker:
“When we took over Sunset Center, we thought we would be doing 10 Performance Carmel series shows,” he said, referring to the series that’s been produced in-house at Sunset Center for 15 years.

But after the center’s extensive $21.65 million remodel, and subsequent increases in rental rates during the following few years, many of the groups that had been presenting shows there did not return. As a result, the center’s management, hired in 2004, increasingly assumed the responsibility of finding, hiring and scheduling various artists.
“We are now the major presenter at Sunset,” Walker said. “We are taking on that risk, and that is a huge change in what our mission was.”

Between July 1, 2006, and June 30 this year, Performance Carmel featured 11 shows, and Sunset Center Presents — the other in-house series — hosted 28. The Historic Presenting Partners, such as the Monterey Symphony, organized 57 performances, and “other events” accounted for 22.

Credited with bringing an eclectic gathering of high-level performers to the city-owned venue...

SCC secretary Dee Adolph read a resolution adopted by the board Oct. 23 thanking Globenfelt for his “dedication to the performing arts” and for bringing a “great diversity of presentations” to the theater...

Walker credited Globenfelt with bringing talented performers and popular shows to Sunset, which reopened in 2004 following a $21.65 million renovation. With more than 40 years’ business experience that included stints with the Fresno Convention Center, the Harlem Globetrotters, the Nassau County Coliseum and the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, Globenfelt tapped into his entertainment contacts and abilities to make Sunset popular with entertainers and patrons.

While we have pushed to lower costs and raise income, it cannot be anticipated that these results can be sustainable in the future,” Globenfelt’s report concluded. “Costs for services, materials and artists’ fees continue to rise, and we are expecting substantial competition for performers and entertainment in the market.”

COMMENTS:
• Widespread community support is essential for Sunset Cultural Center, Inc. (SCC) success. Yet, SCC does not have widespread community support. Why? Not only did the City renege on its public pledge to ascertain whether there was community consensus for management of Sunset Center by a non-profit organization, but the Mayor and City Council installed SCC despite significant objections from many knowledgeable and informed community members. This inauspicious beginning in 2004 could have been overcome if the SCC Board of Trustees had decided to open their board meetings to the public for the purpose of giving community members the opportunity to understand the Board’s decision-making processes. Now, largely because community members have no idea of the rationales and reasons for the lack of director and board continuity over nearly seven years, and significant change in mission emphasis, SCC does not have, nor deserve, widespread community support.

• Recall the $21.65 million renovation of Sunset Center involved the Sunset Theatre and related Rehearsal Studio and Green Room, not the community rooms, including Carpenter Hall, Studio 105, et cetera. The scope, then, of the renovation supported the original emphasis on Sunset Center being a performing arts center, first and foremost, which was embraced by both executive directors, Jack Globenfelt and Peter Lesnik.

QUESTIONS:
• In making this significant change in mission emphasis, did the Board of Trustees perform a Feasibility Study for a Combined Performing Arts & Conference Center? If not, why not? If yes, SCC should release the Feasibility Study for public review.

SOURCES:
Sunset Center hires managing director, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, February 11, 2011, 14A & 24A

Veteran theater exec, producer, director to head Sunset Center, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, November 23, 2007

Fans, friends gather for Sunset Center leader’s sendoff, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, November 2, 2007, 12A & 15A

Sunset Center reports strong fourth quarter ■ Nonprofit signs on to manage theater for another three years, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, August 17, 2007, 16 A

No new contract for Sunset Center exec, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, June 1, 2007

Ticket sales, fewer jobs put Sunset in the black during third quarter, MARY BROWNFIELD, The Carmel Pine Cone, May 4, 2007, 8A