Musicians and Their Money
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“We’re a charity,” Acri says, explaining that the theater doesn’t have to make money. “Our basic mission is to provide seminars and programs for working musicians or people interested in careers in music.” The seminars, conducted by Acri and Allan Curtis, Cavalcade’s director of operations, address legal, financial, and promotional aspects of the music business. Acri is an attorney and MBA who cut his teeth in the trust departments of the Northern Trust and Harris banks; he launched his own investment advisory firm, Kenilworth Asset Management, about the same time he founded Cavalcade. Curtis is a longtime Skokie-based agent, manager, and promoter. So far they’ve taken their spiel on the road, speaking for free at more than a dozen colleges, mostly in the midwest. In the future they’ll offer seminars at the Skokie venue, which they say will also give students a chance to plan, promote, stage, and perform in concerts. Acri envisions the new headquarters as “an incubator for the great musicians of tomorrow . . . [with] students coming from across the country.” Curtis says they’d like to affiliate with a community college or local university, where a certificate in the business of music could be developed.
The Skokie Theater was built as a movie house in 1915, originally screening silent flicks. A revamp in the 1940s was responsible for its distinctive cream-and-brown tile art moderne facade, now neatly restored with the help of a $100,000 grant from the village. The seating inside has been reduced from 320 to 150 to make room for a bigger stage, backstage area, and larger restrooms, but Curtis points out there’s still minimal lobby space. Shows will be presented without intermission, and Cavalcade won’t sell concessions to boost revenue. Acri declines to identify individual donors, but says private contributions, including some pledges due by the end of the year, will pay off the purchase and remodeling costs entirely. In 2007, the foundation’s first full year of operation, the budget will be about $200,000. Curtis, who’d been producing ten concerts a year for Acri Sr.’s band in community auditoriums throughout the midwest, says he has a mailing list of 3,500 individuals and 3,700 groups and thinks they’re all potential audience members for the new venue. He plans to tap a “tremendous market of older, active adults looking for something to do in the afternoon.” Even with their near-give-away pricing, Acri expects ticket sales to cover the costs of the midweek concerts. Tickets for each of the four concerts this weekend, which include performances by the Diane Delin Quartet, the Greg Pasenko Trio, and the Bob Acri Octet, are $35. For more information, call 847-967-7652.
