Saving the Last Dance
Members of the Board of the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency approved the purchase of the leasehold owned by the Miami City Ballet.

By Robert Valencia

The Miami City Ballet and all its artists and staff have one more reason to dance. A resolution given by the Board of the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency approved the purchase of a leasehold owned by the Miami City Ballet, obtaining a $550,000 advance from the city mid-September. This amount of money will revitalize one of the largest ballet companies in the United States.

The 63,000-square-feet building, located at 2200 Liberty Ave, has been the epicenter of the company's maturity since 1986. But, the Ballet had struggled to achieve financial sustainability. In January 2005, MCB made a presentation to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee that later became the new oxygen for the cultural organization.

“We always had a good relationship with the City of Miami, since the foundations of our City Ballet in 1985,” MCB General Manager Mark Rosenblum said. “They were able to free this beautiful piece of land, and they said, ‘We would like you to give you half million dollars toward your campaign to build the building.'”

Three months into the previous fiscal year-between May 2004 and April 2005- it became perceptible that the Ballet would not be able to achieve their proposed income goal; instead, they reduced their operating budget. MCB incurred in a $2.5 million debt in the last six years. This situation forced Ballet managers to lend money from a group of banks, and repaying such amount of money in a 5-year period was a mission impossible.

“We had to look for other sponsors, but event such as 9/11, market adjustments, and competition made it hard for us at the time,” Rosenblum said. “There are other friends across the street, where the Miami Performing Arts Center, which will cost millions and millions of dollars. They have their own fundraising to do.”

Rosenblum added that organizations such as the University of Miami and the Florida Grand Opera, which are doing their own fundraising, became potential competitors.

“The last thing anyone wants to do is to foreclose the Miami City Ballet. They compare this to churches and schools” Rosenblum said.

	Thanks to funds from the City of Miami, Miami City Ballet Artistic Director Edward Villella won't be dancing into another county and looking for a permanent home for troupe.

The first step was taken by the government that will give $4.5 million dollars for the facility, and $500,000 was already given from the aforementioned total. In addition, they will add $740,000 for capital maintenance to look for the conditions of the building, which will include the air system improvement, roof fixing and sealing. This same amount of money will enable MCB to begin performances in the area starting 2006, as well as a studio theatre.

“In return, we want to do performances in Miami Beach. That is why we're proposing a new refurbishing of our facility, even though we'll be also performing in the future performing arts center,” said MCB Public Relations Manager Nicolle Ugarriza. “We want this theater a more professional venue to start as soon as we can.”

Chief Financial Officer Patricia D. Walker from the City of Miami Beach explained the reasons behind their investment. “We wanted to consolidate our ownership of the facility for our own best interest. So the building will be used for cultural purposes.”

Walker mentioned that by owning the land, it will also give way to own the building. Nonetheless, this is only a real estate transaction and will not affect other organizations.

Thanks to this financial investment, MCB is working to captivate new audiences with new shows.