The ASTC Letter – Winter 2009

the ASTC letter The Newsletter of the AMERICAN SOCIETY OF THEATRE CONSULTANTS NATEAC Conference exceeds expectations This article is reprinted with permission from the Fall 2008 issue of Protocol, the journal of the Entertainment Services and Technology Association, www.esta.org. All rights reserved. It was the evening of Saturday, July drank, and visited. We danced (well at Richard, who was seemingly every- 19, and my wife, Diana, and I had just least Diana and I did) and were treated to where during the conference, stressed the arrived at Pier 16 at the South Street Sea- a surprise fireworks display as we headed need for training, knowledge, understand- port, for the kick off of the inaugural to the dock at the end of the cruise. ing, and, above all, experience in the de- North American Theatre Engineering and Through it all, the buzz never ceased. It sign and execution of performance Architects Conference (NATEAC). We was the perfect kickoff event. spaces. His golden nugget for all atten- had arrived an hour early as the “meet, dees was, “Companies don’t succeed, greet, and herd the cats” team in prepara- The conference began Sunday morn- people do.” tion for a three hour cruise of New York ing at Pace University with breakfast and harbor on the Circle Line flagship, the registration. It was all pretty standard fare Hugh did a brief but amusing recap Zephyr. for a conference, except that there were of the evolution of theatres, and how that no lone individuals perusing their pro- evolution led us to the current state of the In the months leading up to the con- grams trying to figure out if there would art. Pointing out the diversity of perform- ference there was, as might be expected, be any interesting panels to attend. The ance spaces we now enjoy, but emphasiz- a bit of trepidation and anxiety about the buzz from Saturday night picked up ing the common purpose of them all, to conference. Would anybody show up? where it left off, a theme that continued help tell a story. Would the people who compete for business behave in a civil There were three one hour manner toward each other? [Richard Brett’s] golden nugget for all and twenty minute panel slots Would conference director, Bill attendees was, each day, with three concur- Sapsis, have to sell his home to rent panels in each slot. It was pay for the whole thing? No one “Companies don’t succeed, people do.” difficult to choose between knew for sure. the panels offered, but the throughout the conference. People talked distribution of attendees seemed surpris- People started arriving soon after we to each other all the time; they talked in ingly even. got to the pier. It became obvious imme- the panel rooms with the panelists, they diately that this was going to be a special talked in the rooms after the panels, they The first panel I attended was event. By the time the registration team talked in the hallways, and they talked in “Structural Issues in a Motorized World” began to sign in the guests, well over 100 the beautiful if not muggy courtyard. It moderated by Shawn Nolan, President of people had appeared and there was a buzz seemed as though people were meeting Nolan Engineering Services; with panel- that could be heard above the roar of the old friends and making new ones with ists William Gorlin, P.E., S.E., SECB, shark boat engines on the adjacent pier. every opportunity. Vice President of the Entertainment Divi- People were greeting long lost colleagues sion at McLaren Engineering Group; and introducing them to new acquaintan- The conference began at 9:30 a.m. Steve Rust, Director of Technical Ser- ces, creating a crowd in which no one with a keynote address by Richard Brett, vices at Sachs Morgan Studio; and Scott was more than three degrees separated founder of the Theatre Engineering and Fisher, President of Fisher Technical Ser- from anyone else. Architects Conferences in London in vices. They spoke about the demands that 2002 and 2006, and Hugh Hardy, founder new machinery and technical expecta- The cruise was a complete success. of H3 Collaborative Architecture. The tions place on a building’s structure, par- We toured the harbor and enjoyed a close address was given in the main theatre at ticularly older and historic buildings. up view of the waterfalls (the lighting Pace, in front of the set for Inside the Emphasizing that the load factors are not designers among us had a lot to say about Actor’s Studio; all that was missing was only bigger, but also increasingly three how they should have been lit). We ate, James Lipton. (NATEAC—Continued on page 3) ASTC Winter 2009 Closing the Gap between Program and Budget There are relatively few projects The task of achieving a middle The second way is to “reduce pro- where money is no object. In the over- course between program and budget ulti- gram” -- to cut spaces and equipment. If whelming majority of projects, the mately relies on our ability to manage the this second option is the only way to go, budget is a continuing matter of debate various expectations which have been set the difference between a good project and between those on the team who insist that up. a not so good project is how and when “we gotta have it” and those who say “we the cuts are done. Early in the process, the owner may can’t afford it.” As noted earlier, making cuts late in have publicly described the project in Negotiating the proper balance be- rather grand terms accompanied by se- the process is never a good idea. On the tween programmatic needs and the pro- ductive renderings and a confident decla- other hand, continual refinement of the ject budget is something that all members ration that this visionary project will be program through detailed examination of of the project team accept as a fact of life built for “X” dollars. All too often, these the quality and quantity of program com- and part of their professional responsibil- announcements occur well in advance of ponents starting very early in the process ity in getting the best final product. is always a good idea. any real thought being given to the scope The tension which exists between the and details of the project. Program refinement can include re- needs of the program and the limits of the Having made this commitment, the ducing all program areas by a small per- budget can, however, have dramatic im- owner’s expectation is that it will simply centage for a large overall saving and it plications if it is allowed to rise to crisis happen as prescribed. This expectation can include a careful look at how the fa- proportions; for example, when tender and the expectations which the owner has cility is scheduled so that room utilization documents are nearly complete and sig- raised in the mind of the public and the is optimized. nificant cuts must be made. users about the scale of project in relation The trade-off here – and it is a posi- In these last minute situations, there to capital cost may not be at all congru- tive one – is to spend planning time (at are no winners and the decisions which ent. this stage, a miniscule percentage of the are made to cut space and equipment will Is such a disparity a problem for the project cost) to achieve capital savings always compromise the project to the project team? Not if we make its resolu- (which may be a considerable percentage detriment of the end users. of the project cost) without compromis- tion our first priority. Is it a challenge for As Theatre Consultants, we can play the team to resolve it? Absolutely. In this ing the quality and functionality of the project. a significant role in harmonizing the pro- context, what is our responsibility as gram vs budget debate by encouraging Theatre Consultants? Keep the team’s If the timetable is tight, there will be the team to address the alignment be- attention on the program. pressure on the planning phase and this tween program and budget right from the In the end, there are only two ways critical time can be compromised in the outset. attempt to meet real or perceived dead- to look at resolving the program vs In our office, we encourage clients to budget debate: increase revenues or re- lines. The project manager or owner’s keep their focus on the fundamental con- duce costs. representative can play an important role cepts before authorizing the team to go in this phase by managing the work of the It is not, for example, beyond the architectural team to focus on the most full speed ahead with design. Our advice realm of possibility that the owner can is always, “Get the fundamentals right positive outcomes. find ways to increase the revenue side of and the details will look after themselves.” The goal of every project is to go to the budget and it is appropriate for the Initially, the debate is usually framed team to suggest this as an option. tender with a contract package that meets by the questions “are we building the the expectations within the budget. The But if the owner has made a public means of achieving this goal is through a program; or are we building the budget?” statement about the project’s cost and this These are valid initial questions which programming phase which leaves no cost is now to be changed, the team will stone unturned.

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