New BAC director looks to rebuild donor base

John Shelton, the Brewery Arts Center's new executive director, has only been on the job for a couple of weeks, but he already has big plans for the longtime Carson City institution.

Shelton, 52, whose career includes positions with the Nevada Arts Council and the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in Reno, said the main priority right now is putting the BAC back on solid financial ground.

"I think the first goal is to stabilize the institution," Shelton said. "The recession has really beat up the BAC."

That means reviving the center's donor base, which has suffered during the recession. Today, donations, grants and paid memberships amount to less than

15 percent of the center's budget. It should be closer to about half, Shelton said.

"What we have to do is go back out into the community and build that membership relationship, we have to build a donor base, we need to build our grant base, go out and get more funds," he said. "So what we can do is use those funds to actually help support the program aspects of what we do so we're not forced to always make everything on ticket sales."

During the next few months, Shelton said he wants the BAC to begin to focus on a larger variety of programs to fulfill what he describes as the mission of a community arts program.

"The gist of this is we have an entire cultural campus and we have a function as an arts council that we really need to fulfill. It's not that we hadn't been doing it, it's just been more focused in presentation and concerts than in the whole gamut of things that we do," he said.

Shelton said he wants to see entire families engaged with the BAC through theater and arts programs and classes. He hopes to eventually see events at the center every weekend.

"We want to help the

cultural resources in the community develop more," he said. "The art professionals that need training, we can provide that... that's what we should be doing as an arts council."

Shelton got his start with a ballet company in Idaho in 1981, which eventually led to a job with the Idaho Commission on the Arts. In 1987, he came to work for the Nevada Arts Commission, which in 1991 led to the executive director position at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in Reno where he introduced Broadway plays and increased the center's budget from $400,000 to $1.5 million by 1999.

Since 2004, Shelton has run Impresario Management, a consulting firm for non-profits in the region.

Shelton said he wants to introduce things like season tickets or package deals for the community to help the center better anticipate its budget for the year. And while he has plans for a number of fund drives, growing the BAC after a recession will be a challenge.

"You have to stick with the things that are sure winners, they may not be cash cows, but they're consistent so you can predict the outcome and you can start to build that base back up more gradually," he said. "You can't afford to take too many risks when you're in that kind of position."

Still, he said he will push for more types of artistic expression at the BAC.

"We have to do other things as well and it can't always be based on what's going to sell the most. It has to be what's going to provide the most diverse cultural experience within the community," he said.

Shelton adds, "As a capital city, we should be setting the example for what an arts council can do in the state."