In the four years since he helped reopen The Stone Church, partner John Pasquale has seen some memorable shows at the Newmarket venue. Among his favorites were recent concerts by Richie Havens and David Grisman, as well as earlier shows by Loudon Wainwright and Hot Tuna. But Pasquale’s fondest memories have occurred backstage, where he has spent time with some of his favorite musicians.

“Those are some of the better memories, hanging out in the kitchen with (singer-songwriter) Kathleen Edwards and talking about chicken soup, or making Bloody Marys with (keyboardist) Marco Benevento.”

Unless Pasquale and others can come up with a last-minute solution to rescue the Church, it will be up for auction on Friday, Sept. 12. Despite a knack for drawing a balance of local acts, nationally known legends and below-the-radar touring bands, The Stone Church has struggled mightily to cover its overhead expenses. When Pasquale, Paul Nessel and Peter Hamelin reopened the historic venue in August 2004, they poured $400,000 into extensive building renovations and equipment improvements. Recovering that investment has proved difficult.

“Basically, we put a lot of money into it and a lot of that was borrowed money, so our debt load was fairly substantial,” Pasquale said. “Even when the economy was better it was tight, just because of the enormity of the project that we undertook.”

With the economy taking a dive, staying afloat has become tougher than ever for the music club. And The Stone Church is not alone. A number of other performing arts venues are treading water as they battle the poor economy, high energy prices, pricey code enforcement upgrades and dwindling crowds. The Bell Center for the Arts closed its doors in Dover in late March, and Mill Pond Center for the Arts in Durham went on sale less than two weeks ago.

Executive director Katie Muth said the Mill Pond Center’s programming has done well in 2008, and ticket sales were high for the New Hampshire Folk Music Festival on Aug. 23 and the upcoming New Hampshire Jazz and Blues Festival on Saturday, Sept. 6. But the non-profit organization on Route 108 encountered a number of crippling expenses last winter. Heating costs were double what Mill Pond had budgeted for the winter, and $18,000 went toward plowing and sanding the driveway and parking lot.

“We’re just really hesitant about going through another winter with the escalating prices,” said board president Françoise Meissner.

Muth said the organization has spent thousands of dollars getting the facility’s electrical wiring up to code. Despite a lean budget, Meissner added, Mill Pond has been unable to keep up with its mortgage, operating costs and property maintenance expenses.

The Bell Center found itself in a similar situation in the spring. “As with many non-profit organizations in these times, our operating cost became greater than our income, and we simply could not meet our financial obligations,” reads a notice posted on the Bell Center’s Web site.

Roger Detzler, owner of Ioka Theater in Exeter, said the current business climate has created a “perfect storm” for performance venues. The soft economy, coupled with rising utility and insurance costs, has forced him to raise ticket prices, which has in turn caused fewer customers to attend events in the downtown building. It’s always been a challenge to attract big crowds to Exeter, and to fill the room, Detzler has all but eliminated 18-and-over shows. The Ioka is currently operating on a month to month basis. “We’ve got to make X amount of money every month, or else we go away,” Detzler said.

Adding to the Ioka’s difficulty are building code enforcement laws that have prompted Detzler to spend a bundle on safety improvements. “We’re still trying to deal with some of the safety issues,” Detzler said. “It’s a lot of money to deal with these new laws and regulations, and there’s no help from the state.”

According to Detzler, the crackdown on code enforcement stems from the deadly fire that destroyed The Station nightclub in Rhode Island more than five years ago. Close to 100 people died and nearly 200 others were injured when flames erupted during a Great White concert in February 2003. The band’s pyrotechnics reportedly ignited the blaze, which engulfed the entire building within minutes. Many patrons were trampled during the frenzy to escape the club.

The incident brought attention to the importance of strict code enforcement at music venues. The club was allegedly filled beyond its legal crowd capacity, fire extinguishers were missing and the building’s exits were not clearly marked. What’s more, the owners had soundproofed the building’s walls with highly flammable foam, and the band’s manager had ignited pyrotechnics without a required city permit. (A co-owner of the club and Great White’s manager received prison sentences for their roles in the accident.)

Detzler said the tragedy forever altered the landscape for music venues. “In a lot of ways, it was our 9-11,” he said. “It changed the industry and ushered in a whole new wave of regulations for places of public assembly.”

The new laws removed clauses that previously protected historic buildings like the Ioka from having to conduct dramatic renovations in order to meet modern safety codes. “These are old buildings, and it’s very expensive to do this work in old, preexisting structures,” Detzler said.

Both the Ioka and The Stone Church are currently under pressure to add sprinkler systems to their historic facilities. Chris Hislop, partner and general manager at The Stone Church, said the state gave his club a few years to add a sprinkler system, but its time is running out. Sprinklers constitute “another awfully expensive fix” that the Church cannot afford to absorb, he said.

The Stone Church and the Ioka have considered becoming non-profit entities, but making the transition is not easy. The Stone Church held a fundraising concert this summer, which has helped the venue book shows into September, but it did not dig the Church out of its financial hole.

Being a nonprofit carries its own challenges. The Mill Pond Center has used several streams of revenue to stay above water since opening in 1981, including grants, membership fees, ticket sales and office rentals in its building. Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees has been forced to put the facility on the market and has not booked any performances beyond the Jazz and Blues Fest on Sept. 6.

The Rochester Opera House is another non-profit venue that has faced rocky times. Located on Wakefield Street downtown, the Opera House celebrated its centennial anniversary earlier this year, but it nearly closed before the party could take place.
Co-director Susan Page said the venue encountered financial distress late last year, and the organization was only rescued through a massive volunteer effort. The total staff salary was reduced by $120,000, she said, winding up with just seven paid employees who make little money.

“We addressed creditors, we found some new board members, we had a little skeleton staff that was tremendous, and we were able to put it back together again,” Page said. “The Rochester Opera House maintains itself through the sheer will and the goodness of our volunteers and the support of our community.”

Like other venues, the Opera House has felt the sting of high maintenance costs. The building was restored in 1996, and getting up to code was costly. “It was like building a new theater, because there was so much that had to be redone,” Page said.

Although Detzler understands the demand for public safety, he feels some of the code regulations that emerged after the fire in Rhode Island go too far. “I have to say, in all honesty, that a lot of what I’m seeing is excessive,” he said. “This building has been here 93 years. It used to be lit with gas lamps and it used to show nitrate film and it didn’t burn down. Over the years, it’s only gotten safer.” 

There are other factors working against performing arts venues in New Hampshire, Detzler added. The state requires businesses that serve liquor to offer a full food menu, essentially forcing people who want to run music venues to also run a restaurant. A former musician, Detzler believes people attending concerts should pay attention to the music onstage instead of their dinners.

“Food and music cheapen both experiences. The unfortunate effect in New Hampshire is that the business environment is set up that you have to be that way,” he said. “I don’t want to be in the restaurant business. I want to be in the music business.”
Location is also an issue for the Ioka and other venues outside of destination cities like Portsmouth and Dover. Additionally, interest in live music has declined over the last five to 10 years, with the influx of home entertainment and digital technology that allows people to listen to whatever they want, wherever they go.

Not all performing arts venues are struggling, however. The Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom set record attendance numbers in 2007 and has come close to matching that success this year, according to director of marketing Andrew Herrick. Although sales of high-priced tickets have been down, the Ballroom has sold out several concerts and stand-up comedy events, including recent performances by George Thorogood and Buddy Guy, Puddle of Mudd and Bullet for My Valentine.

Herrick said the Casino Ballroom, which holds around 2,000 people (much bigger than The Stone Church or the Ioka), has spent a fortune on making sure the building on Ocean Boulevard meets fire codes and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) regulations. But he said those costs have always been a factor for music venues.

“Any sort of mass gathering, you’ve got to make sure everyone’s safe before anything else happens,” Herrick said. “We’re very aware of that and we’re constantly spending in order to improve every aspect of that.”

The Music Hall in Portsmouth has also had success. Trends early in the venue’s 2008-2009 season showed increased sales over last year, and, with help from grants and sponsors, the Chestnut Street building will unveil a newly renovated lobby in September. The Music Hall also purchased office space on Congress Street this summer.

Some people worry that the grim news at other area performing arts venues will do immense harm to Seacoast communities. The Mill Pond Center offers a number of programs for children and adults, including karate, pottery, ballet, yoga and art classes. It also offers an outdoor concert space for musicians and a small indoor theater for actors and playwrights. Its sale could mean one fewer venue for working artists.

“I think it’s going to be quite a serious impact,” Meissner said.

“A lot of people are going to be touched by it,” Muth added. “We think we’re a great asset to the community.”

Hislop’s biggest fear is that someone will purchase The Stone Church and tear it down to build condominiums. “Somebody might take a bulldozer to it and knock it over, and I don’t think anybody wants to see that,” he said.

With several organizations competing for funds, there may not be enough donors to go around. Only four years ago, the three venues were hoping to create a collaborative marketing plan that would draw people from around New England to themed events on the Route 108 cooridor, but now representatives from The Stone Church, the Mill Pond Center and the Ioka simply remain hopeful that they can somehow rebound. The Stone Church’s partners have been talking to investors in the hopes that they can restructure their finances and bounce back before the building goes to auction. Failing that, they hope that whoever buys the Church will continue to use it as a music venue.

“I’m hopeful,” Hislop said. “The parties that are interested are very enthusiastic and they understand the time crunch and they’re working awful hard to see if they can pull things together.”

Detzler is looking for new investors to partner with him in operating the Ioka, and he continues to brainstorm new ideas. Although the theater is still primarily known as a movie venue, 50 percent of its revenue comes from other sources, such as concerts and comedy performances. “If all the Ioka had were movies, we’d be out of business, but that’s not all we do,” Detzler said.

In addition to staging music and plays, the Rochester Opera House has hosted presidential candidates and school field trips. Many of the events are free or cost as little as $5. The Opera House recently developed a strategic business plan, which should help with grant writing. The fall season hasn’t started yet, but Page is confident that the venue will draw crowds. “I do feel very hopeful,” Page said. “We made a huge turnaround from December 2007 to now.”

Although they are loathe to move out of their historic building, Muth and Meissner do not plan to dissolve the Mill Pond organization. They have been talking to town officials about relocating to an alternate venue. “It’s our intention to keep the organization going,” Meissner said.

It’s also possible that whoever buys the property will keep it as a performing arts venue of some kind. But Muth and Meissner both became a bit gloomy and nostalgic as they spoke about the pending sale. They hoped wistfully that some “knight in shining armor” would come to the rescue and buy the property back for them, but it seems unlikely.

“We are hoping to relocate, but it won’t be the same,” Muth said. “It’s very sad.”