Year in Review 2021/22
CENTERARTSPERFORMING
San Luis Obispo
As I retire from my position this fall, I owe thanks to many people who have facilitated the PAC’s success during my six-year tenure as Managing Director. First, I am grateful to my predecessor, founding Managing Director Ron Regier, who le me a stable organization in healthy financial position with strong community support. I’ve benefited significantly from the support and guidance of Cal Poly Senior Vice President for Admin istration and Finance, Cynthia Vizcaino Villa, my supervisor, and the leadership of Cal Poly President Je rey Armstrong; SLO City Manager Derek Johnson; the Foundation for the Performing Arts Center Board; and mem bers of the PAC Commission. I’ve enjoyed working with wonderful partners and colleagues in the leadership of our resident arts organization clients. To you, our patrons and donors—I can’t thank you enough for your support and commitment to this wonderful community resource—what a gi you’ve provided to your fellow citizens! Finally, I have been blessed with the best sta any performing arts center manager could wish for—a team of creative, dedicated, skillful, passionate individuals who drive the PAC’s success and impact. I am honored and humbled to work with them every day.
LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR
I’m pleased to share our season recap with you—a year filled with both challenges and successes as our clients returned to live events a er the pandemic shut down the PAC for over a year. Despite the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, the PAC sta hosted 364 events enjoyed by over 83,000 patrons and our School Mati nee Program presented 12 virtual matinee programs serving nearly 12,000 students. We welcomed Molly Clark as the new Director of Cal Poly Arts and Kristin Hoover as the new Executive Director of the Foundation for the Performing Arts Center. The pandemic required flexibility, creativity, patience throughout the year. We all endured frequently changing COVID risk mitigation requirements and experienced last-minute post ponements and cancelations. I’m incredibly proud of how our sta overcame these challenges and so thankful for the support and understanding we received from our clients and patrons as we worked to ensure a safe environment for events.
Due to the great work of our incredible sta and support of our partners—Cal Poly, the City of SLO and the Foundation for the PAC—we achieved a modest operating budget surplus at year-end and contributed nearly $400,000 to our Major Maintenance Fund. We also secured grant funding from the Federal Shuttered Venues Operator Grant program and the California Venues Grant program to o set the significant loss of revenue during the 2021 shutdown, and initiated a partnership with KSBY to enhance marketing support for our It’sclients.diicult
to pick season highlights from all the incredible performances our clients presented this season, but several were particularly moving for me. It was wonderful to see the return of the Civic Ballet’s Nutcracker to the PAC in December, continuing a nearly 40-year holiday tradition interrupted by pandemic. In February, Cal Poly Arts presented the outrageously fun a cappella group Straight No Chaser, followed by an extremely moving return of the Alvin Ailey II dance company to the PAC stage. May brought a wonderful collaboration between the world-renowned vocal ensemble Chanticleer and the Cal Poly Choirs, followed by an astounding SLO Symphony season finale concert featuring local violinist Gilles Apap performing the fiery Tchaikovsky violin concerto that brought audiences to their feet!
Chris Miller Managing Luis Obispo
PerformingDirectorArtsCenter San
HIGHLIGHTSSEASON
Celebrating 25 Years EVENTS AT THE PAC
TOTAL
Since its opening in fall of 1996, the Performing Arts Center San Luis Obispo has welcomed over 1.3 million guests with over 5,000 performances from resident performing arts companies and worldwide touring artists. This season, the PAC welcomed over 83,000 guests for performances and private events.
364 PERFORMANCESTICKETED 147 EVENTSNON-TICKETED 217 TOTAL BUYERSTICKET 56K
OUTREACH
OFMINUTESCONTENT
Santa Maria 2nd Grade Teacher
The virtual field trip partnership between the PAC, Cal Poly Arts and Foundation for the Performing Arts Center served thousands of K-12 students from throughout the Central Coast. The School Matinee Program is free for all schools and students and is made possible by the generous support of the Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust, along with Foundation for the Performing Arts Center.
STEP AFRIKA
322
JAZZY ASH
We’re returning to in-person school matinees for the 2022/2023 season!
Santa Maria 3rd Grade Teacher
It was extraordinary. I wanted to dance the entire time and I was able to teach a culturally diverse unit.
SERVEDSTUDENTS
10K
Kids laughed while learning! It’s not every day we get to do that. Thank you!
Drew Silvaggio | Civic Ballet of SLO
I think of them more as artistic partners rather than just another crew. Our success is their success, and you can feel it backstage with the pride that they take in their work.
The technical staff goes above and beyond what is expected of them and make working shows more enjoyable. Without them, our show would not have been what it was. They’re all talented individuals, and I'm glad I got to work with them this year!
Jordan Perlas | United Movement Cal Poly
SUPPORTTECHNICAL WORKEDEVENTS 364 EVENT WORKEDHOURS 100K SERVEDORGANIZATIONS 55 CAL SERVEDORGANIZATIONSPOLY 37
teams! They make all their clients look good in all that they do.
The marketing team is incredibly talented at developing creative strategies. We are so grateful for their partnership!
Molly Clark | Cal Poly Arts
Michele Abba | Cal Poly Music Dept.
FOLLOWERS +16% +60% 5,5611,804 FOLLOWERS
&MARKETINGTICKETING
the university through our ticketing system along with providing support to Campus Health & Wellbeing. In addition, our ticketing and patron services sta provided vaccination and negative test checks before performances, as mandated by the state for most of the season, totaling over 640 hours of additional work.
IMPACTPANDEMIC
While we were incredibly grateful to return to live performance, this season did not come without its challenges. The PAC made necessary adjustments to accomodate state and county COVID guidelines that changed several times throughout the season. Our ticketing sta continued to create testing appointments for
TheFestival.Foundation
received a $1 million dollar gi from Trudie and Ty Safreno, through their company, Trust Automation, which will be used to transform the PAC plaza into an “enchanted oasis.” We are incredibly excited to watch this project unfold and look forward to the various ways in which this donation will provide new ways to utilize the plaza space!
Kristin Hoover Executive FoundationDirectorforthe Performing Arts Center
$28,000
FOUNDATION FOR THE PAC
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
reminder of the tenacity and community spirit it took to build the PAC and how it has continued to provide incredible experiences to patrons and performers alike. The PAC exists and thrives because of our sense of community and belief that the arts are crucial to the health and culture of our residents. We thank each person who was able to make a donation, attend a performance, perform on stage, volunteer time or simply be an advocate for elevating the arts in our community. It is through our collaboration that we have survived two di icult years and will continue to work together to extend our community reach year a er year. To learn more, visit us at fpacslo.org.
AWARDED TO RESIDENT ARTS GROUPS THROUGH THE CLIFTON SWANSON FUND GRANT THIS YEAR
Joey Leslie Board FoundationPresidentforthe Performing Arts Center
FPAC’s Documentary Film “Playing In Unison” debuted at the PAC for the 25th anniversary and was accepted to both the SLO International Film Festival and the Marina Del Ray Film
The Foundation for the Performing Arts Center is grateful to report an extremely positive year, despite the challenges of the pandemic. Our faithful supporters continued to provide funding to fulfil our mission as we learned to adapt and overcome when our plans and events had to be adjusted. We were able to continue to sponsor the virtual school matinee program, provide grants to local resident arts organizations performing in the Harold J. Miossi Hall, and fund our contribution to the overall maintenance and upkeep of the beautiful PAC facility. We celebrated the 25th anniversary of the PAC, albeit a bit late, but the premiere of our documentary film was a wonderful
Thank you to our incredible sta & presenters! STAFFFULL-TIME 16 TECHPART-TIMESTAFF 70 USHERSVOLUNTEER 140 EMPLOYEESSTUDENT 45 RESIDENT ARTS ORGANIZATIONSTHEPACISPOWEREDBY
SLO SYMPHONYNATIONALGEOGRAPHICLIVEFIDDLERONTHEROOFAILEYII FESTIVAL MOZAIC VOCAL ARTS ENSEMBLE SLO MASTER CHORALE HAIRSPRAYPUPPYSNARKYARTSMOVEMENTCOLLECTIVEWAITRESSFRANLEBOWITZ PACSLO.ORG VIOLINBLACKOBISPOOPERASANLUIS OFBALLETCIVICSLOCOREDANCESLOTHEATREBALLETCAL ARTSPOLY RYAN’S AMERICAN DANCE CLASSDANCEACT DEPARTMENTCALFOLKLÓRICOBALLETDEMÉXICOPOLYMUSICILIZASHLESINGER CAL &THEATREPOLYDANCE