The Pablo Center Celebrates Six Year Anniversary

EAU CLAIRE– The Pablo Center at the Confluence will turn six years old on Sunday September 22. The $60 million performing arts center opened its doors in 2018, and has been a hub for Eau Claire entertainment since.

In the past six years, the Pablo Center survived a pandemic and the accompanying venue closures, hosted big names such as Leann Rimes and the Goo Goo Dolls, and paid off all but $3 million of its capital debt.

A Brief Timeline of the Pablo CenterThe Pablo Center came in response to the need for a new performing art center in the region, Pablo Center Executive Director Jason Jon Anderson said. In the early 2010s, it had become clear that both the State Theatre and the UW-Eau Claire’s Haas Fine Arts Centers were worse for wear and would cost a lot of money to rejuvenate.

By 2012, fundraising began for the project that would eventually become the Pablo Center at the Confluence. Although there were a few setbacks, including multiple referendums and mixed signals from the state government regarding funding, the Pablo Center officially opened in 2018.

The Pablo Center had a strong first year when it opened in 2018, actually turning a profit, which is unheard of for a first-year performing arts center, Anderson said. In its second year, the Pablo Center faced setbacks due to offerings that were “too bold” and the pandemic which forced them to close from spring of 2020 to fall of 2021.

Following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, performing arts centers, including the Pablo Center, saw an amazing year operationally. Since then secondary and tertiary market venues, like the Pablo, have seen between a 20-40% decrease in ticket prices, Anderson said.

This is, in part, due to rising ticket prices in primary markets. When consumers buy tickets for these more expensive performances, they can’t afford to frequent secondary and tertiary markets, Anderson said.

At the moment, the Pablo Center is, “still not thriving, but surviving,” according to Anderson. They are still monitoring the cash flow of the venue on a daily basis.

The building itself has an operating cost of around $5,000 a day. This includes things like electricity and water, not the cost of staff salaries or putting on a performance.

Looking ForwardThe Pablo Center is currently in the midst of its seventh season. In October, it will begin to host some of its more high profile performances including touring Broadway productions like Dear Evan Hansen and The Addams Family.

These productions are one of the things Anderson is most proud of, as the venue is still quite young to be hosting touring Broadway shows, especially considering this is the third season they are doing so.

In the next six years, Anderson hopes the Pablo Center will have paid off all of its capital debt and created endowments for the maintenance of the building.

The biggest priority, however, is expanding the educational programs offered by the performing arts center, Anderson said.

Currently, the Pablo Center hosts summer programs that regularly have waiting lists of up to 300 or 400 students long. Based on the demand, Anderson thinks the Pablo Center needs to expand their educational programming to offer sessions year-round.

In order to expand these programs and maintain high quality education, there are four key staffing positions that must be added, Anderson said.

The Pablo Center and the SonnentagThe six year anniversary of the Pablo Center at the Confluence comes just two weeks after the grand opening of another event venue in Eau Claire, the Sonnentag.

The Sonnentag Event Center is home for Blugold men’s and women’s basketball and can be used as a performance space, holding audiences up to 5,000.

During Sonnentag’s official opening week, it hosted two nationally touring performers, country singer Chris Young and comedian Brian Regan.

Some community members have expressed concern about how a city of Eau Claire’s size will support two major venues. Anderson admitted almost “six out of the ten” questions he and his staff received were about how the new venue would affect the Pablo Center. But Anderson is not worried.

“[The Sonnentag and the Pablo Center] do not cross purposes,” Anderson said. “If we each deliver incredible guest experiences, we can both help each other.”

The Sonnentag Event Center is best suited to hosting nationally touring single performers like singers and comedians. These are performers the Pablo Center has had to turn away in the past, due to its limited capacity.

Since the largest theater in the Pablo Center only has a capacity of 1,200, ticket prices for these shows would have to be astronomically high to make it worth it. And since Eau Claire is a relatively small market, if a performer has to choose between underselling and not playing, they often choose not to play, Anderson said.

Meanwhile, the Pablo Center permanent stages and theaters are still better suited to hosting plays, musicals and classical music performance compared to the Sonnentag.

The Sonnentag and the Pablo Center plan to work together to avoid overlap and have a shared calendar to that end. Afterall, the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire, which helped fund the building of the Sonnentag, is also a key partner that leases space in the Pablo Center.

Overall the lack of overlap, and the level of collaboration between the two venues have Anderson feeling hopeful for a symbiotic relationship where the Sonnentag draws in new audiences that will eventually attend both venues.