Nonprofit operator asks Anchorage Municipality for $4 million management fee to stave off PAC decline

Cody Castello, president and chief operating officer of Alaska Center for the Performing Arts Inc. (ACPA), told an Anchorage Assembly work session that the nonprofit operator of the Municipality-owned performing arts center (the PAC) is asking the Municipality to increase the annual municipal management fee from $1,580,000 to $4,000,000 to stabilize operations and address urgent facility needs.

Castello said the facility faces decades of deferred maintenance and failing technical systems that threaten the PAC’s ability to host large productions and serve resident companies. “The infrastructure is failing, but the mission has never been more vital,” she said, and added that without refreshed operating support and a separate capital strategy the nonprofit’s ability to operate and expand programming will remain constrained.

The request is part of a broader plan ACPA presented to the Assembly that combines a management-fee increase with additional earned and contributed revenue targets. ACPA’s presentation included a target total annual operating budget of $8.5 million to $9.5 million over several years, and Castello said the $4 million management fee is intended to fund a more proactive repairs-and-maintenance program, hire development staff to grow philanthropy and earned revenue, and stabilize day-to-day operations. She…