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The UI's Hancher Auditorium gives a town like Iowa City the cultural feel of a much larger metropolitan area. But surely such an aggrandized presentation must come at a price.

By Zach Spittler

Psst. Hey, have you heard the rumor? Come in closer. No, closer — so no one else can hear. Wait till that hairy dude passes by. Ok, he’s gone. Now here it is: Hancher’s losing money. It’s nothing but a fiscal vortex, siphoning off any funds thrown at it, perpetually in the red. Not even Rent or Mamma Mia could sell that place out.

Oh, and we never landed on the Moon. Bush was behind 9/11. The Holocaust never happened. And neither did the Vietnam War.

Settle down. The world isn’t going to end, and Hancher isn’t going to crumble. The thing is, there’s actually some truth to that first rumor — in a sense. Hancher Auditorium rarely sells out its 2,533 seats. And the renowned presenting sodality runs on a shoestring budget out of a sense of social responsibility.

“We do lose money,” said Chuck Swanson, Hancher’s executive director. “But that’s part of the job. We find ways to get that shortfall covered.”

Statisticseses

In an average year, only 70 percent of Hancher’s $2 million programming costs is covered by ticket sales, and Swanson budgets for that. He and his partner, Judy Hurtig (who was unavailable for comment because she was out of town), cover the remainder through private grants, an endowment called the Hancher Enrichment Fund upon which they gain interest every year, donations, gift shop sales, and playbill revenue.

“We work hard to make that budget balance,” Swanson said. “Some years, it’s easier than others. But it’s risky, because that 70 percent doesn’t always hold true.”

Cold in Latin America

Take, for instance, the Paquito D’Rivera show that was scheduled for Dec. 1. Weather complications prevented the jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist from making it to Iowa City. The concert was rescheduled for Feb. 2, but Swanson said many of the 800 ticketholders are not expected to take rain checks, meaning Hancher will have to advertise more than anticipated just to retain an audience that had already been built. But Swanson and his crew are accustomed to things like this, because they’re bound to happen one time or another.

“You can’t count on anything,” said the 21-year Hancher executive. “Sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised [with a show’s success], and sometimes it’s a real disappointment. But you’ve got to make it all work.”

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