Executive director of Asheville Area Center for the Performing Arts pulls down $217,000 salary, but project makes little progress
One of the highest paid arts professionals in Asheville got a raise in the 2009-’10 tax year, according to tax records, although the project remains far from completion.
James Baudoin, executive director of the nonprofit Asheville Area Center for the Performing Arts, took home $217,903 in the year running from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. That’s up from $209,605, the amount he made the year previous. That’s according to the latest IRS tax form – a public document – that nonprofits are required to fill out each year. (See the Asheville Area Center for the Performing Arts latest tax document here.)
The long-planned performing arts center is envisioned as an $85 million center that would including a 2,000-seat, state-of-the-art performance center that would be used by groups such as the Asheville Symphony, Asheville Bravo Concerts and touring artists. The center’s location has been pegged to a city-owned lot boarded by Eagle, Spruce, Marjorie and Davidson streets near Asheville City Hall.
The last big news about the project came in 2009, when the organization announced that the nationally known architectural firm William Rawn Associates of Boston would collaborate with local firm Calloway Johnson Moore and West to design the center. There’s been little news out of the group since then. Its latest newsletter says the group is working on a fundraising campaign, and working to update plans.
I asked if Baudoin’s salary was too high last year when I started hearing some low-level grumbling from some folks around town. Now I’m hearing that same grumbling again.
I don’t know Baudoin’s job duties, but in this austere day, it seems awfully high for a project that has shown little progress in at least the past five years.
Category: News
