KY city bought its historic theater. Now the board that ran it is out of a job
A historic, downtown Ashland theater will be under new management in 2026 after the city commission approved a contract this month ousting the nonprofit board that oversaw the venue for more than 50 years and replacing it with an Iowa-based, for-profit company.
Operations at the 1,400-seat Paramount Arts Center in Ashland will shift to national entertainment venue management firm VenuWorks Inc., a move that could jeopardize small-events programming as the out-of-town company seeks to turn a profit with big-ticket shows, critics of the deal allege.
The 94-year-old Paramount has struggled financially since the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the live-entertainment industry. The Ashland Board of Commissioners swooped in last year and bought the property for $3 million over early objections from members of the arts center board, who said they wanted first right of refusal should they raise the funds to buy it back
Now, the center’s management shakeup threatens to exacerbate the growing divide between city leaders and the Paramount’s nonprofit board over the landmark’s future and historic mission in Ashland.
“When the city of Ashland said that they saved the Paramount, they saved the building, but they’ve got to save what happens in the building, because that’s what is important to this community,” executive director Holly Canfield said.
Theater operating in the red for years
VenuWorks, in partnership with a Lexington public-private partnership firm overseeing construction of the new Ashland convention center next door, secured a six-month, $322,500 start-up grant from the Ashland city commission to help stimulate the Paramount’s revenues.
The arts center board has been struggling to keep afloat for some time, Canfield told the Herald-Leader. Revenue outpaced expenses only twice in the last 10 years, according to Form 990 data the arts center board filed with Internal Revenue Service.
The board’s treasurer told the local newspaper last year that tax filings take into account non-cash expenses, making the center’s financial position look worse than it really is.
Paramount’s nonprofit board, officially known as PAC Inc., puts on the annual 10-day Festival of Trees and Trains that brings in visitors from across Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky to help support the theaters. Revenue has been down, and the center has struggled to find a post-pandemic model that works, according to Ashland Mayor Chuck D. Charles.
But that only tells half the story, Canfield said. The Paramount receives no financial support from the city, despite numerous requests from PAC Inc. to develop a long-term funding partnership. That’s unusual in an industry used to operating in the red and making up its financial position with help from allocated tax revenue, she said.
The majority of U.S. local arts agencies, like performing arts centers, combine earned or contributed income with local government revenue, according to 2020 research by Grantmakers in the Arts, a national association for public and private arts and culture funders.
“So, could PAC Inc., the nonprofit that currently manages the Paramount, have survived with that support? Absolutely, there’s no doubt about it,” Canfield said, “but here we are.”
City officials said they were only aware of two city grant requests from PAC Inc. dated 2019 and 2020 for $25,000 each.
“Now you’ve got, I would say, a smaller operation that you have to fund, if you’re the nonprofit, which would be the community program that you want to run, because you’re not also having to run the facility,” city attorney Andrew Wheeler said. “That was the idea” behind the city’s purchase and change in management.
Big changes for small staff
Ashland city officials, VenuWorks and PAC Inc. negotiated funding arrangements that would have contributed at least some ticket revenue to the nonprofit, according to a former member of the PAC Inc. board.
Shortly before the Ashland Board of Commissioners voted on the contract Dec. 11, Canfield said she learned the city and VenuWorks had agreed to eliminate those contributions. Instead, she said, the nonprofit board will be forced to rent the facility at a discount to put on local children’s performances or plays and musicals by the Paramount Players, an award-winning theater troupe under the board’s direction.
“You’re taking a nonprofit that’s already struggling, and you’re putting more barriers in front of them,” Canfield said. “I can promise you that, right now, a group of very, very sad Paramount staff board members are sitting around trying to figure out what programs we are going to have to cut offering our community, because, even with the opportunity to fundraise and write grants, it’s not enough. It’s not enough.”
Paramount employees will undergo a two-month evaluation period before VenuWorks assumes full control of staffing and daily operations at the playhouse. That includes five full-time employees and one part-time box-office staffer.
Two of the full-time employees include the center’s artistic and educational directors, but their positions would be eliminated under the city’s new contract, Canfield said. If they are retained by VenuWorks, their roles would be operational, such as food and beverage manager or maintenance employee.
Canfield’s own position is also set to be eliminated Thursday, Jan. 1, and she said she does not yet know what is next for her career.
The contract stipulates community theater and arts for youth and adults has to continue under VenuWorks management, said H.R. Cook, the company’s regional vice president for eastern U.S. facilities. It stipulates numbers for major stage performances, community theater performances, summer camps and more, he added.
“We’re not looking to change anything regarding community programming,” he said. “What we’re coming in to do is make the building more efficient and to generate other programming that will generate a profit that can help support some of the community stuff.”
The PAC board also gets a seat at the table in the form of an advisory board, but Canfield said it is uncertain how influential the nonprofit will be.
A new vision for historic theater
VenuWorks is an employee-owned company headquartered in Ames, Iowa. It does not directly hold the contract with the city of Ashland but is working in concert with AP3, also known as Pillar, a small business in Lexington founded last year partly to help facilitate the $35 million convention center Ashland is building with the help of a $25 million general fund grant from the state last year.
AP3’s involvement with the Paramount first began last year when the company landed on the vacant parking lot next door as the ideal location to build the city’s new convention center. AP3 brought VenuWorks to Ashland to evaluate that site, and the conversation naturally evolved to include the Paramount.
It was never the company or city’s intent to buy out the board simply to hand control over to the out-of-state firm, AP3 co-founder Sam Howard said at a city commission work session earlier this year.
“I’ve heard a lot of comments about how out-of-towners are coming in and taking over,” Howard said. “Well, folks, I’m from Lewis County. I have several employees over different companies that live here, and many of them was at the Festival of Trees and Trains.”
Mayor Charles told the Herald-Leader the city has always made a distinction between the Paramount and convention center, but it did make sense for the two facilities to be operated by the same entity.
There are numerous nonprofits that enrich the community without the city’s direct involvement, Charles said. The PAC board has an opportunity to do that in partnership with the city, the Paramount’s owner, and VenuWorks, its management firm.
“The Paramount is a jewel of the city,” Charles said. “It’s the center point for a lot of the things that happen in the arts, in music, in dance. It’s that central, cultural part of the fabric of Ashland.”
Now, it’s up to the PAC board to redefine itself outside its former roles as owner of the Paramount and its primary free-to-use tenant, Cook said.
“When we’ve talked to them, we want to support their programming, but they have to determine what that programming is and what their role is going forward,” he said. “They have to define their new mission.”
This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
