The Terry Brown Amphitheater is $2.5 million and more than a year away from opening.
Even so, there are several aspects of the project that should inspire confidence as officials hope to complete the facility after a year-long hiatus caused by a lack of funding.
First, it appears that funding will soon be available. When the Legislature convenes in January, it will meet in an election year and that generally means legislators want to bring home the bacon for the voters who will decide their fate. For the past two sessions, the state’s budget crisis has meant no state bond money for projects. This year, money for those pet projects will almost certainly begin to flow again. In 2015, the state provided $3.2 million in bond money for the amphitheater. With $2.5 million needed to complete the project, city officials are confident the funding will be provided, if not entirely through bond money, with the help of a new 2-percent restaurant tax that also will be presented to the Legislature in the January session.
Beyond securing the funds needed for the project, we like many of the features the amphitheater will include – beginning with the location, obviously. Nestled among two of the best projects completed in years – the Riverwalk and the soccer complex, the amphitheater is a perfect complement to those venues.
There is also the size and scope of the project. With seating for approximately 3,500, the venue is well-suited to the area. It provides the city a large outdoor venue that it doesn’t have, but is not overly ambitious. With proper promotion, we believe this will allow the venue to attract quality entertainment in a niche of its own. The configuration of the seating provides flexibility. Roughly half of the seating is currently designed for lawn chairs and blankets, which adds an element of comfort, especially for parents with children in tow. But that configuration can be easily changed to accommodate different types of events. There are currently 1,100 chair-back seats and a large area with tables and chairs. As the amphitheater matures and we learn more about what audiences need, the venue is well suited to change according to those demands.
Finally, we are encouraged that the management of the facility will be entrusted to entertainment experts.
City officials say they intend to hire a venue consultant company not only to line up acts for the amphitheater but to maintain and manage it as well. It is a strategy that is employed by almost every comparable venue — from the BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo to the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater to the Brandon Amphitheater near Jackson.
It’s one thing to build a entertainment venue, but it can be quite another to operate one. Entertainment is a competitive business, so bringing in a company with experience in the field is essential.
Whatever temptation there may have been to keep operations of the amphitheater in-house has been over-ridden by the wisdom of letting professional venue operators take the reins.
As the completion of the amphitheater peeks just above the horizon, we like what we see so far.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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