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Dear Editor:
I have been scolded in an e-mail from the spokesman for the Palladium. He challenged my statement that the Center for the Performing Arts averages just 467 patrons per event.
I had quoted the mayor who said in his State of the City address: “Since the Palladium opened in 2011, our Center for the Performing Arts has become a leader … hosting more than 1,800 performances, welcoming more than 840,000 patrons.” Naively, I divided 840,000 by 1,800 and got 466.667.
Asked if he thought the mayor’s words were baseless, my correspondent wrote, “The mayor’s words are correct. Your premise is faulty.” He rightly noted the Center includes three venues of different capacities – the Palladium at 1,600, the Tarkington at 55, and the Studio Theater at 200.
I gladly recalculated. First, I divided the 1,800 events by 8 years since 2011 – annual average of 225 events. The 2018-2019 schedules for the three venues is 48 – 177 short of 225.
But, by proportioning the 840,000 attendance proportioned to capacity and dividing that by 8 years and that by the 2018-2019 event number:
- The Palladium shoe-horned 1,974 patrons into 1,600 seats.
- The Tarkington crammed 4,565 bodies into 500 seats.
- And, the Studio Theater creatively places 1,522 folks into 200 seats.
Even in artsy-craftsy, creative, cushy Carmel, that’s some act.
Bill Shaffer
Carmel