The Saber Center at Franklin High School logged gate attendance of 22,585 across rental and district events in 2024-25, the center's director told the school board on July 9, and described several planned facility updates and a new multi-year marketing plan to broaden community engagement.

The update matters to the district because the Saber Center functions both as an instructional venue for music, theater and academic presentations and as a rented community performance space that can generate revenue and community connections.

Saber Center director Mr. Stewart told the board the center continues to support regular academic programming (music, AP presentations, health speaker series) and community rentals including dance and cultural organizations. He said the facility handled about 22,585 attendees in 2024-25 and that student participation in backstage and technical roles continues to grow (32 registered students in the tech crew program and sizable student involvement in fall and spring productions).

Facility work in the last year included a humidity-control system for the grand piano, a newly built lectern assembled by students and staff, and modest video-system reconfiguration to improve backstage and lobby presentations. Stewart said ticketing remains managed primarily through an external vendor (Lutus) and that the Saber Center recently moved scheduling and billing coordination to the municipal recreation office to streamline rentals.

Stewart described development work this year: a marketing intern revised the Saber Center website to improve navigation, the director engaged outside communications consulting, and the center secured local advertising and a hotel room block for visiting performers. He said a new "all-in" ticket-pricing requirement that took effect in May required changes to how advertised prices and fees are displayed and that the ticket vendor had updated its platform to comply.

On programming, Stewart outlined a three-show community series planned for the next season (a regional choral Christmas program in December, a touring family science/education act in January and a returning variety act in May) and said several dates were timed to market to school families around elementary programs. He said some facility fixtures, including several house lights, required replacement in September and that seat removal would be needed to access ceiling fixtures.

Board members asked for more financial detail on rental revenue; Stewart said he did not have a full dollar tally in the presentation but committed to follow up with a detailed rental-revenue summary. He also described ongoing efforts to expand student curricular participation in theater production and technical theater classes.

The board welcomed the report and asked staff to return with rental revenue figures and performance attendance trends to support long-term planning for the center.