It’s Booking More Events, But Municipal Auditorium Still Relying On Metro Funds

Rascal Flatts is one of several acts to use Municipal Auditorium as rehearsal space. Image: Bradley George/WPLN

UPDATE (06/06/14): General Manager Bob Skoney now says Municipal Auditorium is booked for 160 days this year–more than at any other time since the venue hosted a hockey team in the 1990s. Skoney says he’s hopeful Municipal can operate without a subsidy in the next budget year, starting July 1^st. But he says it’s too early to know for sure.

ORIGINAL POST:

Downtown Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium is hosting more events in 2014, but the 52-year-old venue is still relying on funds from Metro to balance its budget for now.

New events include everything from American Idol auditions, to graduation ceremonies for Wilson County high schools. Auditorium General Manager Bob Skoney identified another at a Mayor’s budget hearing in April.

This year, it’s been a lot of rehearsal dates. We have a lot of major artists who have come by and rehearsed.

They include Rascal Flatts, whose trucks were spotted outside Municipal in early May, before the country group started a nationwide tour. The auditorium is also seeing more foot traffic from the Musician’s Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened in the basement last year.

Mayor Karl Dean eliminated the auditorium’s subsidy in 2013. In April, the Metro Council approved an additional $415,000 to get the venue through its current fiscal year, which ends this month.

Officials from Municipal Auditorium will make their case before Metro Council, at a budget hearing Thursday afternoon. The auditorium asked Mayor Dean to restore its subsidy. While he declined the request, the Mayor’s recommended budget does include money for a full-time finance director at the venue. Metro Council must sign off on the budget by June 30.

Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium opened in 1962 and this Church of Christ gospel meeting was the first event held there. Image: Wikimedia Commons