The Baton Rouge River Center staff is attempting to turn the downtown concert-convention-expo center into a venue that big-name acts want to visit.
Former general manager Will Wilton resigned in the spring following a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Danielle Bauer, new marketing director for the River Center, said that with a new general manager, events manager, two new event coordinators and a new box office manager, River Center officials are working harder to book bigger events.
Bauer said the new general manager, Alan Freeman, is more active than Wilton and that he is focusing on bringing even more acts to Baton Rouge.
The Miss Teen USA Pageant and the Chris Shivers Invitational Rodeo are two events that already have come to the River Center.
Bauer said Freeman worked hard to get 311 and Jerry Seinfeld, two more headliners who are coming to Baton Rouge in the upcoming months.
“We’ve been a hell of a lot busier than we ever have been,” Bauer said.
Bauer said this transition has made work a lot smoother.
“Everyone who has left took the negative aspects with them,” Bauer said.
Bauer said Freeman has brought with him new systems and structure that make the management of the River Center much less troublesome.
“Pretty much everyone could see [the problems with management] before,” Bauer said. “The previous [general manager] just didn’t take action to correct the problems.”
Bauer said the clientele is much happier with the River Center, as well. He said the staff is much more accommodating.
Alan Jacoby, executive producer of the Chris Shivers Invitational Rodeo, said the staff at the River Center is both pleasant to work with and very finically fair. He also said the staff works hard to keep their promises and are great to deal with.
Jacoby has also had experience working with Freeman, who has managed the Compaq Center in Houston.
Jacoby said Freeman “runs a good ship.”
In fact, Jacoby said they would like to bring the rodeo back to Baton Rouge, but financial support from the city is one of the criteria that needs to be met to make that happen.
“We spent about $70,000 statewide on advertising,” Jacoby said. “We need some funding to help subsidize our marketing.”
Bauer said a lot of the dissatisfaction in the community with the River Center was over the acts, and the new management staff is already changing that.
In addition to booking, the facility itself is going to undergo a change.
Ray Cullen, assistant general manager, said the old Exhibition Hall is going to be renovated at the end of the year into a Grand Ballroom.
He said the ballroom will give the River Center a little more flexibility for balls, galas, dinners and other events.
Bauer said they are planning to expand and renovate the administration offices, and when the bowlers were here the outside of the convention center was given a “face-lift.”
Contact Zachary Broussard at [email protected]