ARCHIVES OF LEAD STORIES
February 5, 2004
Activists question business
dealings of Strand mgmt.
Jeremy Schwab
Those in Boston’s arts community who have
had dealings with the current management at the Strand Theater
in Dorchester often complain that finances are unpredictable,
marketing is poor and staff are underskilled.
Former Strand employees and leaders of entertainment groups that
have used the theater say that since Victoria Jones was appointed
two years ago by the board of the M. Harriet McCormack Center
for the Arts to run the Strand, management has cancelled shows
and upped prices on producers, causing some producers to cut ties
with the theater. Management has also hired family members and
friends to help run the 85-year-old Upham’s Corner venue.
“It just seems like a very different place from when Che
[Madjun, former co-director] was running it,” said an entertainment
company representative who wished to remain anonymous. “We
would go to book an event there and then the cost would constantly
change. They were supposed to help with public relations and marketing,
but the website hadn’t been updated to say what events were
coming up.”
Jones vigorously defends her management team.
“We give [producers] a rental agreement with everything
in it,” she said. “We do not have any hidden costs.”
She downplayed her organization’s responsibility for advertising
productions that take place at the theater.
“We rent, we don’t do co-productions,” she said.
“We can only say here’s the space, you rent it. If
you want help with marketing, we’d be glad to do that.”
Former Theater Director Emerson Kington, who was let go in October
of 2002 after serving four months under Jones, said that marketing
was not the only problem at the Strand. He described a chaotic
financial situation.
“We had lost two or three grants that we had gotten in the
past,” he said. “We were planning programs with the
expectations of getting those grants.”
Kington says that he repeatedly asked to see the theater’s
finances, so he could plan his programs better, but management
refused.
“They barely let me know what happened with the grants,”
he said. “A few times, I paid people and checks came back
and bounced. When I went to find out why, I couldn’t.”
Jones would not answer questions about Kington’s criticisms,
as Kington has filed a complaint against the Strand for employment
discrimination.
The lack of heat, unsanitary facilites and poor communication
from management have been sore spots for some producers.
“In the last couple years, we missed services a couple times
because staff were not there to let us in,” said Bishop
Hessie Harris of the Mattapan-based Born Again Evangelistic Outreach
Ministry, which used to conduct Sunday services at the Strand.
“And there was no way to communicate with them. Their numbers
were changed. Also the cold and filthiness. That’s why we
really moved out of there.”
Some observers also criticized the theater’s hiring practices.
Kington was not the only staff member to see a quick exit under
the Jones administration. Kington said then-Program Manager Margie
Shaheed was let go the same day as he. Kington’s replacement
did not last long. Soon after the exit of Kington and Shaheed,
whose philosophies about the direction the theater should go in
reportedly clashed with Jones’ views, two of the McCormack’s
six board members quit. Neither board member would comment on
why they left.
Jones has also been criticized for hiring family members. Jones’
daughter, Lisa, was hired as operations and marketing director.
Lisa’s boyfriend and a friend of Victoria’s were reportedly
hired part-time.
“I hired Lisa Jones not because she is my daughter, but
because she has 18 years of marketing experience,” said
Victoria. “She owned her own company for the last 12 years.”
Victoria referred questions about the hiring of the two friends
of the family to incoming McCormack Board Director Juan Evereteze.
“I’m not aware about Lisa’s boyfriend,”
said Evereteze. “I can’t even confirm that. I have
seen Stephen [Hamm, reportedly Victoria’s partner] around,
but I’m not sure if he is working for us.”
Evereteze said that while the theater may sometimes be at fault,
disputes with producers are usually due to greedy producers.
“We have a small budget and for lack of a better term [miserly]
producers,” he said.
Victoria Jones paints a picture of her theater in sharp contrast
to the poorly managed company that some observers portray.
“We were given $2 million by the city to begin renovations,”
she said. “We are expecting $1.8 million in July to begin
phase two of the renovations. We are beginning a capital campaign.”
According to Jones, the Strand recently received grants for Arts
in the Afternoon, the theater’s after-school arts program
for children ages 6 to 11.
Jones said she has formed partnerships with the Huntington Theater
and Boston Jewish Film Festival, and increased performances by
the Pro Arte Orchestra.
Some producers questioned whether they were given enough money
under the theater’s manual accounting system, according
to Kington.
Jones said she had no knowledge of complaints about the manual
system, but admitted that the system didn’t work well.
“If [producers] complained, they never said it to us,”
she said. “We automated everything about a year and a half
ago. For the first six months, it was manual. It was so bad.”
Some in the tight-knit arts community who had criticisms of the
Strand wished not to be identified or not to comment on the record.
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