Research Intern Abby Alger takes on the new Durham Performing Arts Center in the Duke Chronicle online here.

The Opportunity Cost of DPAC 

The Dec. 4 editorial, “DPAC excitement and reservation,” is insipid and
infuriating. The $46-million Durham Performing Arts Center has four
seats less than Carnegie Hall. The average ticket will be “around $68.”

Durham’s
$67-million debt-bond and interest-will be settled in 2036; Duke
already paid $7.5 million; and no one yet wants to buy naming rights.
Consultants made rosy predictions, but predictions didn’t stop similar
projects from flopping. (Google Randy Parton Theater, Asheville Civic
Center and the National Whitewater Center.)

Additionally, DPAC will compete with successful local theaters (e.g. Manbites Dog Theater) on those owners’ dime.

Insipid:
the editorial board approves of DPAC will little research, no analysis
and vague platitudes about arts and community. Infuriating: Durham
suffers from blight and poverty, aging public infrastructure,
overburdened courts, perpetual crime and woefully under-performing
schools. But $46 million is awarded to a yuppie’s dream “arts
center”-and the board doesn’t even give a damn.

Abby Alger

Trinity ’09

She also dukes it out (pun intended) with the DPAC developer on the Independent Weekly blog here.