The Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts [BCPA] is in the running for a grant aimed at providing free music concerts for communities.
The city-owned venue and Friends of the BCPA are a finalist for a significant Leavitt Foundation grant. Their proposal aims to expand the First Friday concert series from four to 10 shows—and nix the $5 entrance free.
Around 300 cities applied for the foundation’s Music Series. Bloomington is the only Illinois city among this year’s 100 finalists. The top 50, selected through a community vote running Sept. 5-15, are eligible for three-year matching grants of up to $40,000 per year, for a total grant award of up to $120,000.
City of Bloomington Arts & Entertainment Marketing Manager Josh Maubach said he thinks the city’s reputation for hosting a popular concert series was a tick in their favor in becoming a finalist. And community support is their biggest priority right now.
“We're hoping that the community comes through for us,” Maubach said.
To vote for the BCPA, text “BLOOM” to (877) 409-5525 or vote online.
Maubach said First Friday Concerts have a symbiotic relationship with other BCPA offerings and downtown businesses — as the city begins a long-term streetscaping project likely to bring disruption to foot traffic.
“We want to bring people downtown and keep them downtown for as long as possible,” Maubach said.
With the Levitt Foundation grant, the BCPA can direct money currently used to pay for First Friday concerts elsewhere—and remove the $5 entrance fee.
Fuller houses followed a change in strategy
Both city-owned entertainment venues, the BCPA and Grossinger Motors Arena, have seen significant upticks in sales this year, with the BCPA seeing some of its best attendance on record.
Increased popularity came after a change in strategy marketing shows on a rolling basis rather than promoting an entire season’s concert lineup. Maubach said the approach has allowed them to drum up excitement for specific artists and book shows on a closer timeline—which often means they are less expensive.
The BCPA tallied a larger outreach for shows that were advertised individually or with only a week left to purchase tickets.
“It's no secret that venues all across the country are sort of seeing that the season ticket holder is less of a thing,” Maubach said.
That’s not the only marketing change both the BCPA and Grossinger Motors Arena will face — there’s been a shift in direction with the concerts and events themselves.
Classic rock artists and tribute bands will always remain a staple for nostalgic reasons. However, the highest demand from the community has been for live-action movie screenings — such as Napoleon Dynamite or John Cleese: Not Dead Yet.
The concept of viewing a movie screening beforehand and having a Q&A with the original cast of the movie afterward has been a hit.
“Those are two of our highest demand shows for the fall,” Maubach said.
The arena and cashless-gate
It’s been slower going for concerts at Grossinger Motors Arena, which competes with Peoria, Champaign and Decatur for some of the larger tours.
“When we took management of the arena, we were kind of left with a clean slate,” Maubach said, which had pros and cons.
It’s taken time to build relationships with the handful of live promoters who represent arena tours, including Live Nation—which booked two upcoming dates at Grossinger, including Dustin Lynch and Scotty McCreery’s Two for the Road Tour on Nov. 7.
Between concerts at both venues and Bloomington Bison games, Maubach said attendance has doubled since last year, requiring some creative problem solving to staff needs and bottlenecks at entrances and concession stands.
The city got strong backlash online when they announced both venues would be moving to cashless payments, with some saying they’d never go back. Maubach said they waited as long as they could, but the decision was based on trying to serve customers as quickly as possible.
“We ask that the community be patient with us,” Maubach said. “We're really trying hard to get people the best experience possible.”
