An article posted at LancasterOnline.com on June 2nd at 1:00 AM reports the following from Sylvia L. Strobel, Consultant to the Board of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music:
… there is ‘no truth’ to talk that the Academy’s new $25 million North Prince Street facility might have to close its doors because of its financial situation.
She also said rumors that the school may enter into an agreement with Franklin & Marshall College in which F&M would annex the Academy building are unfounded.
This is wonderful news for the staff, patrons of PAM and all of Lancaster.
Nonetheless, NewsLanc stands 100% behind our revelation yesterday. In fact, we only scratched the surface!
What is important is that Paul Ware, major creditor and Chair may be coming to his senses along with the Board. They need to recognize that patrons and the public (through ten million dollars in state and county grants) have invested $15 million in the Academy, placing their confidence in the Board and especially Paul Ware and Steinman family leadership. It is not becoming of Ware or anyone else to seek to pick up their marbles and go home.
The problem with the Academy Board is that it failed not only to consider where the money was coming from to support the lavish construction but also how they would keep up with operating costs.
NewsLanc‘s publisher, builder/investor Robert Edwin Field, has written about the great potential of a link between PAM and the Brunswick in establishing an international campus for musically talented high school students from throughout the world. For example, both Franklin and Marshall College and the private Linden Hall have been drawing a considerable number of students from Asia. (Editor’s note: Field is not and never has been an investor in the Brunswick nor does he have any investment within the City of Lancaster.)
Contacts made throughout the world over the decades by the Academy’s artistic founders Fran Veri and Michael Jamanis and continuing currently by the Academy’s Newstead Trio makes this a viable plan. PAM already has a “sister” campus in Beijing! But despite urgings from an expert in development, Ware and the Board are myopically focusing on their folly by over-spending and weak planning.
Let us be clear about something: Ware and the Steinman’s have done wonderful things for Lancaster. Ware has the means and has started us in the direction of creating a world class musical high school campus downtown, making use of the relatively idle Brunswick and generating Lancaster into a prosperous cultural center.
What seems to be lacking is only the will. Instead of “crying over spilled milk”, the Academy should be focusing on how to break even by 2012. With 200 foreign students paying $45,000 to $50,000 a year (consistent with costs elsewhere), PAM should garner a net $2 million a year to cover operating costs. Also, the families and sponsors of the students would become a source of future donations.
NewsLanc has been extremely cautious about reporting this story, believing that the less said, the better. We would much rather help PAM find its direction than make Strobel look silly.
