HUMBOLDT — Arts Humboldt celebrated a strong year that featured 11 events, banking away money that would be used if a performing arts theatre was built in the city.
“We ran some a number of large events that were good money makers, and we ran also ran a number of small events, like small concerts,” said Brian Grest, the organization's treasurer, after the organization's Nov. 26 annual general meeting.
For the 2018-19 fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31, the organization saw a net increase of around $12,000. Art Humboldt ended the year will almost $59,000 in the bank, with almost $40,000 of that set aside within term deposits that will be used to contribute to a theatre project.
The two largest concerts Arts Humboldt hosted were Live Voltage, an AC/DC tribute band, and Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band. Both had the potential to lose money for the arts organization.
“You have to put a lot of money up front to get those types of acts into Humboldt, so you pretty much need to sell [a certain] amount of tickets,” Grest said. “In both situations, we sold enough tickets to make them profitable.”
Smaller events included an improv night, a Christmas concert with Maxime Moore and Joan Jackson, and concerts with musicians like Tom Savage and Kevin Harcourt.
“Missoula Children's Theatre was something that we continue to do annually, which is one of the reasons we founded Arts Humboldt in the first place,” Grest said.
The treasurer said Arts Humboldt is planning to host a concert with singer-songwriter Luke McMaster on March 15, as well as a few events that don’t involve music or concerts that will be announced in the future.
Arts Humboldt also selected a new board of directors for 2020. The executive has Trevor Ross as president, Caitlin Senko as vice-president, Brian Grest as treasurer and Desiree Kindrat as secretary.
