Almost Queen, a Queen tribute band, rocked the Mishler Theatre to its rafters July 16 to a near-sell out crowd, making up for a gig postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The diverse crowd included all ages, from teens to seniors, who took to their feet for the last 20 minutes, singing and clapping along through several encores of rock classics.

So far, that concert has been a high point since the theater reopened last year under crowd restrictions and pandemic precautions and then returned to full capacity later in 2021.

Back to regular operations, the Mishler’s future looks bright for the rest of 2022 and into early 2023 with an array of bookings ranging from concerts and ballet recitals to weddings, said Executive Director Kate Shaffer.

“The worst has been experienced,” Shaffer said. “We were dark for 18 months and now are in a recovery period and it’s going very well.”

The Blair County Arts Foundation, which operates the historic venue, received pandemic-related grants — $50,952 from the Paycheck Protection Program and an excess of $171,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Shuttered Venue Operators, Shaffer said.

Those funds, coupled with the generosity of its board members and other community members, helped the theater stay open throughout the pandemic, avoiding layoffs.

“We got through it. It was an extremely difficult time with so many unknowns,” Shaffer said, “but because of the grants and our board of directors leadership, we stayed the course and are looking forward to the future.”

The Blair County Arts Foundation employs three full-timers — the executive director, an office manager and a technical assistant — and three part-time housekeeping staff.

Joe Stevens III, president of the foundation’s board of directors, said the “board felt very strongly that we needed to keep them employed throughout the pandemic not only for continuity, but also to show our appreciation for their commitment over the years. Although we were able to access grants to help, it was primarily the generosity of several community-minded individuals that allowed us to come out of the pandemic with our team intact and ready to move forward.”

Both Stevens and Shaffer said area residents have embraced a return to live events.

“The community was ready to come back to the Mishler Theatre, as we have seen great crowd support, including sell outs,” Stevens said via an email.

The Mishler staff continue to offer masks to patrons who wish to wear them and maintain cleaning and sanitizing protocols, Shaffer said.

“People are very comfortable,” Shaffer said. “I see very few people with masks. If they have masks on, it’s my assumption they have an underlying condition and are being cautious. We have masks available but we’ve had no requests for them.”

Venue leased

by groups

The Blair County Arts Foundation is the owner/caretaker of the 835-seat theater built by Isaac Mishler in 1906. The foundation typically presents or hosts one show each year that is a combination fundraiser dinner and show and the Mishler staff undertakes a full marketing campaign for the event.

Other acts are brought to the Mishler by individuals and groups who lease the venue, such as national touring shows, music acts and comedians and local performance arts groups such as the Altoona Community Theatre, the Altoona Symphony Orchestra, ballet organizations and others.

It is the responsibility of those leasing the space to promote their own shows, Shaffer said, because the foundation doesn’t have the budget or staff to conduct marketing campaigns for every event at the Mishler.

It’s a promoter’s role to inform the public with a robust marketing campaign, Shaffer said.

The foundation executes a rental agreement for the venue and provides limited promotional support, such as email blasts and social media posts. But it’s the promoter’s role to take out paid advertising in newspapers, on billboards and radio, and contact media outlets with news releases and facilitate interviews with the stars. Promoters are given local advertising and news contact names, Shaffer said.

It’s a system that works. In her 30-plus years, Shaffer’s had only one show canceled — Almost Queen — and that was due to the worldwide pandemic.

Why five shows recently failed to attract a sufficient audience depends upon who is asked.

For Shaffer, it was the lack of full marketing campaigns by the promoter and subsequent low ticket sales. The promoter, Peter Giustra, owner of Autumn Entertainment, canceled the shows, she emphasized — not BCAF or the Mishler. But it’s a distinction the public doesn’t easily make.

The relationship between BCAF and Autumn Entertainment was a new one, Shaffer said, and Guistra’s two initial acts, Skid Row, a music concert on Feb. 26, and Leonid and Friends, a Chicago Tribute band, on June 9, were successful so more contracts were entered for future acts. But then on June 10, Guistra canceled a Pure Prairie League show set for June 19 and others followed.

Earlier this month, Giustra informed BCAF that he was closing his business.

When contacted by the Mirror, Giustra confirmed his business’s closure after 35 years in the entertainment industry. He blamed himself for the cancellations, saying he misjudged the area’s ability to support paid entertainment during the summer when so many free entertainment options exist added to the impact of rising gas and food prices. He praised Shaffer and the BCAF staff and said, “it was never my intention to do harm to anyone.”

BCAF stepped in to work directly with two acts, comedian Jon Lovitz and musicians Everclear, so those shows were held.

“If you book Billy Joel and Elton John and no one knows about it, no one will come,” Shaffer said. “If you get the word out, people will come.”

When BCAF decided to proceed with the Lovitz show, Shaffer contacted all area media outlets with one week to showtime and sold tickets.

“That tells you advertising works,” she said.

“We always strive to have new and exciting entertainment at the Mishler Theatre,” Stevens said. “To that end, we were working with a new promoter that was leasing the theater to bring in entertainment that the community would enjoy. We were disappointed that the promoter went out of business and was not able to fulfill their planned performances. However, we are fortunate to have many longtime relationships with organizations that keep the Mishler Theatre schedule full.”

Despite the recent setbacks, Shaffer remains optimistic about the future.

“Starting in September through July 15, we do not have an open weekend. The theater is rented every weekend,” she said. “We’re so proud of everything we do for the community and we sincerely hope they understand (the cancellations) were beyond our control.”