Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 23
Rich Lannan Yes Chair | have a question if it is ok. | received an e-mail just as the meeting started from a
Nashua resident that was planning on speaking. It’s short if it is OK to read his e-mail into the meeting
minutes.
Chairman Dowd
Sure, you want to give his name and address.
Rich Lannan Sure | will do that, that’s how he started it, so he made it very clear, he may have e-mailed it
to the Board of Aldermen because it does say:
“Dear Board of Aldermen, my name is Philip Scontsas. | live at 14 Ashland Street Nashua and operate
Scontsas Fine Jewelry and Home Décor located at 169 to 173 Main Street in Nashua, established in 1912.
| am writing this letter regarding your vote for the additional funding and support of this very important
project for this City. As | have stated before, the Performing Arts Center will not only help rejuvenate and
maintain the vitality of our main corridor, it will help our City as a whole. Careful planning and the
successful fundraising efforts are proof that this project is well on its way to being the success we all know
it will be. Through the years, numerous consultants have come up with master plans for the City of
Nashua, each and every one of them a performing arts center has been strongly recommended as a key
component. We are at the cusp and with your vote, you will allow this to happen; be the Founding Fathers
who made the project a reality. Nashua and the citizens for generations to come will thank you. Thank you
for your time. Sincerely, Philip Scontsas.”
Thank you.
Chairman Dowd
Ok thank you. Judy Carlson, | see your hand up, your real hand.
Judy Carlson Oh | forgot, yeah | was supposed to do my other hand.
Chairman Dowd
Yeah I’m looking at the list for other names, but go ahead.
Ms. Carlson Yeah sorry about that. My name is Judith Carlson and | live at 15 Manchester Street. I’ve
been a resident of Nashua since 1973. | raised my daughter here and I’ve been very active in the arts for
the last 10 years after retiring from working for a large computer company in advertising and public
relations. What I'd like to say is | am on the Arts Commission and last year and the year before, in
preparation for the Performing Arts Center and had some baseline data, we worked along with some of the
other arts associations in the City to do an economic impact study in the America for the Arts both Mike
and Kate have mentioned, Americans for the Arts. They do all sorts of data on it and every five years do a
survey of the economic impact of the cities that participate. And Nashua has never participated in the past.
We got the results back and Nashua’s economic impact of total expenditures both by the non-profit arts
organizations and its audiences in Nashua came in at just a little over $11,000,000.00, 11,000,299.00.
Now compare that to Concord where they have both the Capitol Center for the Arts and the Red River
Theater, they came in at $31,185,366.00. You can see Portsmouth also has a lot of people who come
there because of tourism, they came in at $58,041,659.00. They also have two Performing Arts Centers
there.
So it is really quite evident by data that a performing arts center does make a huge economic impact on the
communities where they exist. I’d also like to just read a couple other statistics from American for the Arts
on the surveys they do. 87% of Americans believe the arts and culture are important to the quality of life.
82% of Americans believe the arts and culture are important to local businesses and the economy. 73%
