As the year comes to a close, the Passion Play is already looking to next season and the future, however the past keeps creeping into the books.
The Passion Play is entering the second season since it went ahead with winding up its partnership with the Drumheller Ski Club. The partnership between the partners was beneficial to both organizations.
“We worked back and forth to help each other,” explained Passion Play founder LaVerne Erickson. “The ski hill could use the land for six months of the year and have access to the facilities, and the Passion Play would look after it for the other six months.”
“When we set up the deal nobody could foresee what would happen if one of the partners went under.”
Now that the Ski Hill is no longer operating, the Passion Play was able to acquire the land, but with the assets come some responsibilities. This includes the mortgage on the property, as well as more than $30,000 in utility bills.
“Everything was shut off. When we came and took over everything two years ago in the spring, we had no power. So we had to dip into our resources to get us back that amount,” said Erickson.
Under the previous agreement maintenance on the building was shared. Today the Passion Play has the sole responsibility to keep up the facility, and there was a lot of work to be done to get some of buildings up to usable condition.
All of this adds up to a serious burden for the cultural icon, and in fact, as the year comes to a close, the Passion Play finds themselves short.
The Passion Play has undertaken some practical steps to help meet the new challenge when they took over the property. They established a sustainability fund to underwrite its mortgages and development costs. This has allowed the organization to meet its payment and begin negotiating a mortgage consolidation, which in the long run, will save the Passion Play thousands of dollars.
The funds to meet these new obligations will have to come from a source beyond its current operating budget. Part of the plan to go forward includes adding more performances this year.
Part of this however will need to come directly from donor support, and Erickson feels there is good will towards the organization.
“The main challenge right now is there is just no money to carry on,” said Erickson.
Already he said Mark Notland at Sears, Steve Peterson at the Brick and Rose Porter at the Drumheller Health Food are willing to accept donations to help the Passion Play through to the season.
One event coming up that supports the Passion Play is the annual Memories Of Christmas concert on January 12.
