Audiences viewing productions at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center may not realize that tension exists both onstage and behind the curtains.
Companies within the center currently are trying to hammer out differences with the city of Evanston in order to settle monetary disputes over the center, 927 Noyes St., said Jason Loewith, the artistic director of Next Theatre Company, which calls the center home.
Loewith said that the Arts Center, overseen by Evanston’s Department of Parks/Forestry and Recreation, charges companies within the center high rents to continue using the facilities.
“A lot of residents in the building were forced (to comply) with a number of new policies that made it more difficult for us to run a business from a facilities point of view,” Loewith said.
Loewith said he was upset that Next Theatre, which has been headquartered in the Noyes Center for 21 years, was charged more per square foot than the other companies that use the center, such as the Actors’ Gymnasium and the Piven Theatre Company.
Department of Parks/Forestry and Recreation Director Douglas J. Gaynor, however, said Next Theater is charged the same rate as other companies that share the floor.
Companies on the first floor of the building pay more than artists on the second, but the rate is the same per square foot for each. Next Theatre pays rent equivalent to that of other companies on the first floor.
“The City Council says that the rent has to pay for the operation of the building,” Gaynor said. “(The companies) are going to have to pay rent.”
The city maintains the Arts Center and leases the property to a number of Evanston arts groups, which currently are conducting their annual negotiation process for using the space with city officials.
One of the issues this year is the artists’ request to use certain facilities within the center that are not yet approved for lease, Gaynor said. For example, the theater companies would like to utilize the center’s hallway space for certain projects.
The Arts Center’s cultural arts coordinator, Angela Allen, said that companies such as Next Theater should feel lucky that they can acquire space to rent at all, because there is not much room for arts groups elsewhere in the city.
“The reality is, in this area, space is very expensive to keep, maintain and build,” Allen said. “Money goes pretty fast.”
Allen also said that the companies do not have to pay property taxes in the center. Therefore, whenever Evanston’s property taxes rise, Next Theatre and other groups are not affected by the change.
“The city has managed to support the arts by maintaining the building over the years,” Allen said.
Gaynor also said the city attempts to assist the arts as much as possible.
“The city is extremely supportive of the arts, especially to the Noyes Art Center,” Gaynor said. “Our support is extremely generous.”
Allen blames the somewhat tainted relationship between the theater companies and the city on their insufficient correspondence, causing a general sense of misunderstanding with the city that has ensued during the past few years.
Evanston Mayor Lorraine H. Morton, who met with representatives of the arts companies to discuss their problems, said a lack of communication between the city and the groups may have been the primary reason behind the tensions.
“I think the problems were not being addressed due to the fact that situations had not been brought to the attention of the department (of Parks/Forestry) so they could be fixed,” Morton said.
While companies within the Arts Center are experiencing difficulties, other theater groups throughout Evanston seem to be developing with more ease.
In October a renovated Metra’s Main Street Stop will become the Evanston Arts Depot cultural center, hosting such theater performance companies as Piccolo Theatre and Evanston Festival Theatre, Inc.
“I can hardly wait,” said John Szostek, executive director of Evanston Festival Theatre. “It’s going to be great.”
Szostek attributes the Evanston Arts Depot groups’ ability to thrive without difficulty to their effective fiscal practices. Like Allen, Szostek also said companies should not fault Evanston for their money problems.
“We feel that we should exercise really good financial practices,” he said. “The city, contrary to other people’s beliefs, does not have much outside money. Evanston has limitations.”
But according to Loewith, the future appears bright for Next Theatre and the other companies within the Noyes Cultural Arts Center.
“We have done our best to work with the city and they have done their best to deal with us,” Loewith said. “We expect to have a positive relationship with the city staff.”
