Logan » It's not curtains after all for the Utah Festival Opera Company, according to founder Michael Ballam.
Following a 6-1 vote by the Cache County Council to approve a "heroic" $150,000 stimulus to save the company from financial ruin, Ballam told a reporter Tuesday that the 17-year-old company will be alive in 2010.
"We will be full-steam ahead next year and hopefully for the next century, maybe a millennia," he said. "I realize what a difficult decision it was for the council and I am very grateful that they would be willing to stand up for the arts."
In a May address, Ballam thanked the Cache County Council for approving $255,000 in Recreation, Arts, Parks and Zoo monies and asked the elected officials to reconsider the company's other $400,000 application. A five-member committee, formed to evaluate the opera company's request, publicly announced June 18 its unanimous recommendation to a compromise, the allocation of $150,000 in RAPZ funds, with stipulations such as a revamped financial plan.
Among opponents to Ballam's request were a few individuals, business owners and representatives from five cities in Cache County (Smithfield, Hyrum, Nibley, North Logan and Providence) who submitted letters to the council. Providence Mayor Randy Simmons said every city in Cache County has dealt with shortfalls by cutting personnel, services and payroll.
"I believe that the UFOC needs to do the same thing -- tighten their belts, reduce their offerings, raise ticket prices, seek private funding and anything else that allows them to get through this year within their currently available funding," Simmons wrote.
Also received by the council was a letter supporting Ballam's request with 54 signatures of so-called "Summer Citizens," people who live in the Cache Valley during the summer. Many attended the public hearing.
"The opera is one of the highlights of our time here," the letter said. "While we may not vote, [we] do add value to the economy of the community."
Cache Councilman Gordon Zilles said he has never been to the opera, mostly because he farms all summer, but he supported the bailout saying the summer opera series adds greatly to the local economy.
UFOC Education Director Susan Ames, of Providence, said the opera also adds to the quality of life for residents, visitors and especially thousands of young people who benefit from a multitude of company music programs.
"I am delighted with the recommendation and that it passed," Ames said. "As a company, we're going to work really hard to do what needs to be done."
