WaterFire’s flame is flickering

COURTESY WATERFIRE/BARNABY EVANS
ETERNAL FLAME? A WaterFire event at Brush Creek parkway in Kansas City, Mo., in 2007. The popular Rhode Island event has grown past state borders, but it now has a $200,000 deficit.
COURTESY WATERFIRE/BARNABY EVANS ETERNAL FLAME? A WaterFire event at Brush Creek parkway in Kansas City, Mo., in 2007. The popular Rhode Island event has grown past state borders, but it now has a $200,000 deficit.

At a time when it is more popular than ever, with cities across the nation and indeed the globe seeking to host it, WaterFire is struggling to stay alive in Providence.
The event, which draws literally a million people downtown every year, faces a cumulative deficit of approximately $200,000 incurred in 2010 and 2011, according to Barnaby Evans, founder and executive artistic director, with no apparent way to raise the income needed, not only to cover the deficit, but also to pay for future installations.
“We cannot survive another year with these deficits,” Evans said. “We are questioning whether we will be here next year.”
He spoke to Providence Business News in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview about the financial struggles that could mean, in a worst-case scenario, the end of WaterFire or its relocation to another city.
Neither alternative satisfies Evans, who is determined to keep the fires burning here in Providence. “We are such a symbol of the Providence renaissance.”
His 26-member, full-time staff is stretched thin. A team of 400 active volunteers has become crucial to its continuance.
WaterFire resources are limited, with little prospect for generating more revenue beyond the generosity of corporate sponsors and availability of foundation grants.
Funds squirreled away for eventual purchase of a building, so all operations would be under one roof, were spent to cover expenses left outstanding by the 2010 and 2011 fiscal shortfalls. Five separate locations in the city now house bits and pieces of WaterFire, including 21 trucks, 100 braziers, 70 stereo speakers and 23 boats, with an annual rent of $52,000 – about one-third the market rate because landlords want to help, Evans said.
The irony is that WaterFire, as it struggles to survive in its hometown, is enjoying growing popularity elsewhere.
WaterFire has been held in Singapore, with installations planned in Venice and Rome in Italy. In the United States, WaterFire five years ago became an annual attraction in Kansas City, Mo. Fires have been lit in Columbus, Ohio, and Tacoma, Wash. Houston and Chicago have called Evans, looking to have their own WaterFires. Organizers cannot spend any Providence-intended donations in other locations, Evans noted, so other places cover their own expenses, including construction of braziers and boats. “WaterFire is something that absolutely, no matter what, should be preserved,” said restaurateur and local historian Bob Burke, owner of Pot Au Feu Restaurant downtown.
“We are so fortunate as a city to have WaterFire, which has done more to bring tourists and a good name to Providence than any other single undertaking,” Burke said.
State and city government leaders, in response to WaterFire’s plight, praised the event but stopped short of promising more funds for it.
Approximately 14 million people have visited downtown Providence to see WaterFire since its start in 1994, Evans said.
In some ways, WaterFire is a victim of its own success. “WaterFire is more than just wood and volunteers,” Evans said. “It is vastly more complicated than that.”
The event is so successful and draws so much praise that most people assume it is a well-financed operation paid for by the city and state. Actually, corporate sponsors are the main source of WaterFire’s income, donating $772,000 to it in 2011 alone.
The General Assembly provided $225,000 each of the last two years for WaterFire. According to Evans, however, that funding included $100,000 each year to pay for the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra performances at the ballroom stage. Evans said he expected those orchestra performances to be paid for by additional state funds, rather than from the annual funding provided for WaterFire. Because the state did not provide the additional funding, WaterFire was left to foot the bill, Evans said, and now has a deficit to show for it. Larry Berman, spokesman for House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, said Evans must have “misunderstood” the legislature’s intent because no more than $225,000 each year was intended for WaterFire in 2010 and 2011. Former House Speaker William Murphy added another $100,000 for WaterFire from legislative grants in previous years when he was in office, Berman noted.
The Providence Tourism Council, through the state-collected hotel tax, provides $75,000 a year to WaterFire. Other than that, the Creative Capital provides no direct funding, but does provide some preparation and cleanup services, assisted by the WaterFire staff, and helps pay for police protection.
Evans said he is grateful for city in-kind support, but as it turns out, WaterFire ends up actually paying the city more than it receives when such expenses as permit fees and the full cost of police coverage are considered.
WaterFire works with an annual operating budget of $1.7 million, which Evans said should be in the range of $2.2 million. Sixteen lightings were held this year.
Income sources are limited. For instance, in the 2010 season, food vendors paid $70,000, fundraisers brought in $32,000, individual donations came to $103,000 and sale of merchandise, $34,000. Side attractions, such as the gondolas and human gargoyles, are independent operations that provide no income to WaterFire.
Barriers, so admission could be charged, would be a “profound mistake,” Evans insisted, because the main point of WaterFire as a “civic ritual” is that it is open to all, free of charge. “I would not relish telling Rhode Islanders they cannot walk in their own park,” he said. He questioned the financial effectiveness of barriers, noting it would cost money to staff the barricades and manage the cash. In addition, WaterFire receives little income from out-of-state installations. “Occasionally, some income but not much” will be generated when other states rent WaterFire equipment, Evans said.
Seeking financial support from host cities outside Providence has been tried, Evans said, but was not successful because other cities make no money off it and face the same structural problems that WaterFire does here in terms of erecting barricades and charging admission. “WaterFire generates no money in those places,” Evans said.
Plans are in the works to launch a major fundraising drive, with the goal of raising $7 million to purchase “a series of buildings” in Providence, Evans said, to house the entire WaterFire operation in one place. He and his staff have plenty of ideas of expand, but all such plans are on hold until the finances are resolved. What WaterFire most needs, he suggested, is a stable source of annual funding.
At the General Assembly, neither Fox nor Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed were ready to make such a commitment last week. “All departmental grants will be reviewed as part of the budget process,” Paiva Weed said.
Added Fox: “We will again evaluate the funding for all these worthy [community-service] grants.”
Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee was a little more supportive. “Even in these historically difficult economic times, we must work to keep WaterFire alive and well in Providence,” he said. He called WaterFire one of the state’s “most beloved assets” and a “key factor” in the revitalization of Providence.
In the city, David Ortiz, spokesman for Mayor Angel Taveras, pointed to the Providence Tourism Council’s $75,000 annual allotment. “WaterFire is a wonderful event, and the city appreciates the impact that it has,” he said, adding that Evans has not reached out to the city to discuss his financial hardship.
Evans told PBN he will seek a meeting with city officials. •

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Why purchase ‘a series of buildings’? Providence like most other RI communities MUST have vacant school buildings that could be used by Waterfire. Maybe start having a boat on either side of the river with volunteers collecting donations in creative ways – i.e. throw your change into the barrels or have long arm nets to reach up and collect the paper money donations. How about where vendors are selling foods – have volunteers being creative (but well maked as official collectors for Waterfire) collecting donations.

  2. Waterfire is a vital event to the city and to the businesses in the city. Perhaps the local restaurants which are substantially busier on Waterfire nights, would contribute a portion of their sales? I would imagine that even 2-5% would make a huge difference to Waterfire and it would be a way for the restaurants to “give back”?

  3. @ Stephen, volunteers do collect donations near the food vendors and many other locations. You may have noticed black stations with large jars and lighted blue signs requesting support. WaterFire does seek more ideas for creatively soliciting donations from visitors.

    @ K, many downtown Providence restaurants are already sponsoring WaterFire. Are you suggesting an increase or diversion in the city hospitality tax?

    It seems to me that Gordon Fox and Teresa Paiva Weed effectively cut WaterFire’s budget by $100,000 per year by requiring WaterFire to host the Philharmonic without additional funds.

    Considering all the tax breaks that are given out to various industries, it seems to me that Fox and TPW would have no problem shuffling funds and finding $200-400K for WaterFire if the public politely pressured them.

    Teresa Paiva Weed: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/PaivaWeed/
    Gordon Fox: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Fox/

  4. @Michael, was simply stating that perhaps instead of a simple sponsorship…where the restaurants also receive advertising space, maybe on Waterfire nights the area restaurants could donate 2% of the nights receipts to Waterfire? I’m not suggesting a ‘tax’ but rather a way to thank Waterfire for the foot traffic that is brought to these restaurants. Yes, the Capital Grille is busy most Saturdays–but not all restaurants are booked solid the way that they are on a Waterfire night. For that matter hotels, should also consider something like this. The same for the gondolas, its over $150 for 2 people for a 30 minute gondola ride–that $1.50 per person could be given to Waterfire, its a nominal amount…but they carry 12 people per hour and ride for approx 6 hours, for 16 lightings at 2%, that would yield $1,700 a year…will it solve their problem, no…but if every downtown restaurant, hotel and vendor–did so, it could make a dent! These businesses benefit from Waterfire and there’s nothing wrong with them helping to keep the fires burning too!