MIFA Executive Artist Director Don Sanders met with the City Council to discuss updates to the Victory Theatre project.
Reminder Publishing screen capture by Tyler Garnet
HOLYOKE — MIFA Executive Artist Director Don Sanders met with the City Council to discuss updates to the Victory Theatre project.
“I just wanted to come by this evening because I always like to come in person and tell everybody how well this project is going. It’s a very important project,” Sanders said.
Sanders mentioned he saw that recently on Oct. 1, David Weinberg spoke during public comment and gave some “misrepresentations” of what has happened in the project and has answered them in a report that he submitted to the City Council.
At the Oct. 1 City Council meeting, Weinberg handed out documents to the City Councilors and explained that the information was taken from the MIFA 990 IRS tax returns.
He stated that the Victory Theater paid $96,000 for lobbying in 2023 and that Sanders needed to be asked who that money was given to and why.
“This was a lot of money for a small organization,” Weinberg claimed.
Weinberg also said there were $49,000 in travel expenses in 2022, as well as $950 for program service revenue.
He also noted that Sanders was paid a compensation of $49,000 in 2021.
Weinberg said, “I was not mistaken when I last said that. The charge shows throughout the years Sanders has excessive program service expenses and gets back very little money in return. That shows the Victory Theatre project should not be supported by the city or state and should only continue to be privately financed. I don’t want my taxes to be used for it.”
On the sheet that Weinberg submitted, he said that two of the figures in the two MIFA tables are suspect and may be false.
“Sanders needed to explain this more fully. I will return in January with more information,” Weinberg said.
Sanders sent a follow up letter to the City Council that he said, “respectfully corrects misinformation in Mr. Weinberg’s presentation before the City Council on Oct. 1,” and added anyone is welcome to ask him questions.
He said, “I encourage David and anyone else who has questions about the project to come to us, come directly where our doors are open. We actually enjoy talking to people and explaining any kind of complications that happen in this project because it is a complicated project.”
The letter included travel expenses from previous fiscal years and that Charles Group Consulting and 27 South Strategies is registered and credentialed state lobbying firms who are paid monthly and attachments with different financial line items and background information.
The letter from Sanders also stated that the MIFA Victory Theatre project professionally generated pro forma business plan projects income and expenses based on a 1,600-seat theater. Weinberg suggested that the MIFA Victory Theatre events during the developmental years leading to its opening disprove that capacity.
When talking about the progress of the project, Sanders said, “I think people always come away kind of astonished at the complication and as astonished as I am how well it’s going. Having said that, I’m very excited today totally out of the blue, not totally out of the blue but we got tremendous news about a challenge donor and you’ll be hearing more about that over the next couple weeks.”
Recently in May, The Victory Theatre has announced its historic murals restoration project is complete, another key step in bringing the theater closer to its eventual reopening.
Additionally work needs to be completed before the reopening of the historic Victory Theatre but Sanders said that they are looking at June 2026 for when the theater will be ready to open.
