Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/94702
Piraino with members of Overture Center Foundation's "J-Team," Jill Pfeiffer (left) and Jessica Scheidler. It's a quiet Monday afternoon at Overture Center for the Arts. A few people wander in from the bustle of State Street to the Overture's airy fi rst fl oor to escape the early winter chill. Voices of patrons buying tickets for upcoming shows bounce off the marble tile, reverberate up the three-story rotunda and down along the glass staircases and blonde wood walls. It's an all-together different sound than the intermission hum on the night of a show. Or the excited jabber of children, piling into the lower level of the rotunda, wide-eyed with the thrill of seeing a performance. bustling theaters in a grandly scaled building that has fi lled the 200 block of State Street with an array of performing arts shows since 2004. While its face hasn't changed, the ornate halls of the Overture have at times been clouded by fi nancial hurdles and an uncertain future. Much of it started with the well-publicized transition of Over- Th is is the face of Overture: Th e open-to-the-public lobby and was created and a $2.4 million fundraising goal was set to bolster the operating budget for fi scal year 2012. It was a feat that some— including Mayor Paul Soglin—publically doubted could be done. Yet, just one year later, a jubilant board of directors and develop- After much debate, the privately run Overture Center Foundation ment staff celebrated crossing the fi nancial fi nish line with time to spare. To understand where Overture stands today and where it's head- ed, you have to sneak behind the curtain. More specifi cally, to the second fl oor, through a door marked "Administration," to an of- fi ce with a large orange sticker at the entrance that asks: "Where's the Action?" Th is is the offi ce of Janet Piraino, vice president for advancement ture's ownership at the end of 2010 from a city-run operation to a privately owned facility. It was a transition that meant Madison's performing arts mecca would have to fi nd new ways to fund its op- erations and maintain cash fl ow, which had nosedived from the $205 million donation that initially built the center into a $28 mil- lion defi cit. 38 BRAVA Magazine December 2012 at the Overture Center Foundation, and the person tasked with coordinating the initial fundraising goal. Her piercing blue eyes and fi rm handshake immediately convey that this is someone who can handle being in charge—an air of confi dence that will come in handy as Overture's fundraising efforts rev up again in the coming year. But the ease of her demeanor and quick laugh make it easy to understand why Sen. Russ Feingold once called her the "Velvet Hammer."