A few folks in Elgin, Illinois, have been mulling over a new concert hall or performing arts center off and on for a long while now. This Wednesday, the city thought enough of the idea to throw $100,000 at a feasibility study on the subject. The study is intended to explore the readiness of the community for building and supporting such a facility, and the true cost of bricks, mortar, and operations. A key request to the analysis team is that they tell it straight:
The crucial instruction to consultants is that they provide an honest assessment of the need and financial impact, said City Manager Femi Folarin.
“What it boils down to is this: What does a concert hall really mean to the city and at what cost, and can the money be raised?” Folarin said.
Cultural facility feasibility studies are complicated creatures, jam-packed with political and community intrigue. Often, they are commissioned by the passionate people who initiated the project (looking for confirmation rather than cold water). And often, the consultants doing the assessment are the very ones who will be involved in its eventual design and construction (and the cash that flows therefrom).
As a result, feasibility studies can often become confirmation and strategy studies that skip over the question of whether something should be built, at all. I’ve heard of several communities that burn through consultants until they get the ‘yes’ they were looking for.
Here’s hoping Elgin buys true clarity, balance, and dispassionate assessment with their $100K. Otherwise, decades of more expensive surprises may await them.
