Students and nonprofit organizations planning to use the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts will face a discount reduction starting this summer.
The 20 percent discount currently offered will be reduced to 10 percent beginning in July as part of a three-year plan implemented by the Phillips Center, said Michael Blachly, director of UF Performing Arts.
The plan, put into effect July 1, 2010, reduces the rental discount from 50 percent to 10 percent over the course of three fiscal years, Blachly said.
The discount was reduced to 30 percent in 2010 and to 20 percent in 2011. Starting July 1, the discount will be 10 percent.
Blachly said the center received tax funds until 2006. For two years, it looked for alternative funding. Beginning in 2008, Phillips Center administrators announced that they would need to reduce nonprofit and student discounts. This continued for two years.
The center needed to pay for maintenance to the facility to ensure user safety, Blachly said.
"The stage is basically a construction site," he said. "If things start to go bad, it can go bad in a hurry."
He said a discount will always be offered to student and nonprofit organizations.
Amanda Rose, a 21-year-old English senior and vice president of Floridance, said she does not believe the reduced discount will affect her dance company's ability to perform at the Phillips Center.
Rose said the funding received from the Florida Players theater company helps pay for Floridance performances at the Phillips Center once a semester.
However, Rose said the company is always at risk of losing funding because of budget cuts. This could make performing at the Phillips Center expensive with the drop to the 10 percent discount this summer.
"We would not like to end that tradition," she said.
