Saturated?

Cancellation this week of two shows slated for the dreaded lvec is disappointing for fans of those shows, for the facility itself, and for Kingstonians.

The question is: is Arcturus SMG saturating the market? Does Arcturus SMG know the market, and where does it get its information about it? As of today, here are/were more than 17 events on the program up to June 30th.

Certainly, it takes time, perhaps even a cycle of a year, to find out what the locals want. Arcturus is no new rube in facility management. They operate over 11 facilities in N. America, including this one and the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. And every market is different.

Kingston has to make some decisions, and there's one very big one. How will it decide that an event should be in the wonderful new Grand Theatre vs in the new K-Rock Centre? One good example is Englebert Humperdinck and Avril Lavigne. The Grand would be a good venue for EH, and the lvec for AL.

Let us hope that there is public discussion about event location in Kingston. Neither facility should be left behind, both should be well-served and busy. But, each facility will serve different kinds of events, and perhaps diffferent client groups. Let's get that discussion going in public, and not leave it to whomever they hire to book/program/manage the Grand (is Arcturus SMG going to get that as-yet-unanncounce contract?).

If the market is saturated now, what will it be like when they start to book events at the Grand?