The reviews are in. Right here in the middle of the Capital region is a performing arts center that ranks with the best in the world, at least in terms of ticket sales, according to two national magazines.
Closer to home, a clear majority of respondents to a local art collaborative’s survey says arts venues such as Michigan State University’s (MSU) Wharton Center are of paramount importance in their selection of where they will live.
Pollstar Magazine, an industry source for concert and tour information, and Venues Today, a publication covering global live music, arts and sport facilities, ranked the top international venues based on ticket sales. Michigan State University’s (MSU) Wharton Center is in the top 20 in both magazines’ mid-year reports for ticket sales.
Pollstar based its ranking on tickets sold between January and June 2009 for Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall. The Wharton ranked 19th with 113,932 tickets 
sold. Venues Today ranked the arts center at number 11, basing its finding on 148,655 tickets sold from Oct. 16, 2008 to May 15, 2009 in all four halls in the center: Cobb Great Hall, Pasant Theatre, MSU Concert Auditorium and Fairchild Theatre.
The rankings for tickets sold in both publications only included national tours and do not include local and educational productions, such as Lansing Symphony, Department of Theatre, College of Music, or Act One Series.
While ticket buyers can come from elsewhere, residents surveyed are from here. The survey is fielded by the cities of Lansing and East Lansing, MSU, the Arts Council of Greater Lansing and the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries.
It is a step on the way to creating a cultural/creative economic development plan for the two cities. Seventy-two percent of respondents said the cultural aspects of a community are most important.
But Mike Brand, the Wharton’s executive director, says the whole state can take pride in his hall and the magazine publicity shows producers and promoters that Wharton Center is the place to bring their presentations.
“This listing will help us continue to attract the best in performing arts.”
The center presents more than 60 attractions yearly ranging from Tony Award-winning Broadway shows to jazz, classical music, dance and opera. This season will include the Phantom of the Opera, A Chorus Line, Itzhak Perlman
and River North Chicago Dance.
Source: Mike Brand, Wharton Center
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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