“Terrific” Ahn Trio live shortened performance draws audience of only 19; absence of local advertising continues to haunt Verde Campus special events; M-137 poor music venue
The Ahn Trio performed live in at a shortened classical music concert on the Verde Campus in room M-137 Friday evening (tickets $15 & $20). The tiny audience thoroughly enjoyed the concert, which was lively and “fun.” They were invited to attend the full concert in Prescott scheduled for Saturday.
This was the fourth college cultural event held in the last two months where there was little or no adequate notice about it. The result has been a turnout of an audience of 2, 2, 7 and now 19 respectively for the four shows.
The drawbacks to how the College is trying to provide these events to the community is obvious. The setting for them is dreadful. There is, for example, neither a stage nor tiered seating. This makes it impossible for most of an audience to see the performers. If there had been a large turnout for the Ahn concert, the view of the players would have been blocked by persons sitting in front of them.
Ahn Trio
Acoustics are poor as the music must be amplified. M—137 is clearly not suitable for serious indoor concerts.
On the Prescott side of the mountain, the College prints, distributes, and mails a 20 page 4-color professionally designed booklet that contains the entire 2014-15 concert season. This information goes out well before the season begins. No similar effort is made in the Verde Valley. The Verde events are held with minimal notice and appear to be selected on an ad hoc basis.
Millions of dollars have been spent on the College theatre on the Prescott campus, which now rivals a New York theatre. Recently, the seating was replaced and the inside renovated at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve site lines. The total renovation cost to the Prescott dinner theatre is at least $5 million dollars. There is nothing remotely like the Prescott theatre on the Verde campus and no effort is being made by the College to provide one for the Verde Valley.
All in all, the College is presenting a series of cultural programs on an ad hoc basis in a setting that discourages most residents from attending; even if they knew about them.
The $5 million dollar request is in part the culmination of a specific effort on the Prescott campus to develop music courses while ignoring music development in the Verde Valley. For example, by the fall of 2014 the Community College listed 87 separate courses of music instruction and 16 areas of music concentration that students might consider. However, of the 87 courses, 85 are taught only on the Prescott campus; two music courses existed at the Sedona Center for Arts and Technology campus. None appear online.
The Blog has gathered together in one pdf file a history of College Master plans and documents created by others related to the College. The material goes from 1994 to 2013. and others since 1994. There is an emphasis on the plans and visions for the future of the Verde Valley. You can access the actual plans, visions and projects as they were actually written and presented by clicking here. 
The opportunity for high school students in the County to take classes at the Yavapai Community College Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) differ greatly. Whether you can attend turns on which side of Mingus Mountain you live on.
Unfortunately, the audience numbered only about two dozen, which didn’t quite equal the sum of the membership of the two choral groups. The reasons for the disappointing turn-out are fairly obvious. First, the concert was not widely advertised—few who did not pick up a flyer on the Verde campus were aware of it. Second, the concert was not a part of an announced fall program, which would have allowed persons to plan their schedules in advance so they could attend the event. The concert announcement also sort of “just appeared” only a week or ten days before it was to be held.
As you know, if you are a regular reader of this Blog, Yavapai Community College offers Career and Technical Education training at CTEC, a state-of-the-art facility. It houses courses designed to confer certificates and AAS degrees in 12 different job-training areas. One of the newest tech ed offerings is the lineworkers program.
Yavapai Community College says you can still sign up for some “late start” classes. Classes range from career skills building to health, fitness and recreation. For example, there are courses on learning internet essentials and business communication as well as pilates, mindfulness meditation and cross-training.