Taco extends sponsorship of PPAC

A year before theatrical commitments to the Providence Performing Arts Center are made, President J.L. “Lynn” Singleton is busy talking to Broadway producers about the possibility of bringing openings of national tours to town.
Running parallel with those conversations, Singleton told Providence Business News, are discussions with major sponsors.
And while there’s not necessarily any direct correlation or benefit, Singleton says, to the Taco/The White Family Foundation’s recently announced multiyear sponsorship of PPAC’s Broadway Series, which covers the opening of one national tour – “Cinderella” – and six other productions, the sponsor’s commitment through the 2016-17 performance season elevates the theater’s profile.
“It’s probably helpful that you have a major sponsor, a major business in Rhode Island, on the team supportive of the organization,” said Singleton. “Now that they’ve made a multiyear commitment, that’s a vote of confidence in [PPAC].”
“Cinderella,” which runs from Oct. 10-18, is the fifth national tour to open at PPAC, following “Elf the Musical” in 2012 and “Evita,” “Once” and “Phantom of the Opera” in the 2013-14 season. All four prior openings qualified for a state tax credit, and Singleton said PPAC will be applying for a comparable benefit for “Cinderella.”
State law gives certain musical and theatrical productions a 25 percent tax credit against total production, performance and transportation expenses for a show that plays here as the first stop on a national tour following a Broadway run – or for a show that previews here before moving to Broadway within the year.
“Elf the Musical” received $210,493.59 in tax credits, but the other three shows have not received them yet, because the R.I. Film and Television Office does not yet know the results of audits performed by the R.I. Division of Taxation, said Steven Feinberg, executive director of the film and television office.
The exclusive sponsorship that the foundation now has is not new, though the commitment for successive years is, said Thomas J. Farrell, foundation president. And the sponsorship covers the entire Broadway series, not just “Cinderella.” Deciding to commit to a longer sponsorship, the value of which Farrell declined to disclose, “didn’t have anything to do with ‘Cinderella,’ ” he said.
“We’ve had a relationship with PPAC which goes back three years,” Farrell said. “It works out well. PPAC enhances the cultural life in Rhode Island and, equally important, it provides a significant economic boost to downtown Providence, so those are the reasons.”
The sponsorship also meets one of the foundation’s five objectives, which include bringing the “best in music and the theatrical arts to all Rhode Islanders,” Farrell said.
While PPAC’s only tax-credit-qualifying show right now is “Cinderella,” Singleton said he is always exploring the possibility of enticing more openings of national tours, or Broadway previews.
“The formula is to do what makes sense for both the show and the market and the availability of time in this building,” he said. “Our unwritten goal is to open one or two [openings for national tours a season]. Three is a reach, but sometimes it happens.”
The availability of the tax credit, which sunsets July 1, 2019, is a competitive advantage because even if PPAC doesn’t get a national tour to open here, it gives the theater and Broadway show producers “the opportunity to have a conversation and get that competitive edge,” Singleton said.
“Once you’ve had that conversation, if the opening doesn’t make sense, while you’re on the phone you get to pitch them to come to Providence,” he added. “You’re at the front of the class.”
For employees of Cranson-based Taco Inc., which makes heating and cooling equipment, the previous sponsorship had an unexpected extra benefit. About 300 to 400 of the company’s 500 employees were treated to a dress rehearsal of “Evita.” •

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