Go, Look: Denver Comic Con Releases Preliminary 2013 Economic Information; Sides Re-Enter Mediation

It's here. Denver's show has increased in popularity the last couple of years. A co-founder, Charlie La Greca, who took a paid position with the show and then did not have that paid position continued and was then unable to come to a satisfactory new arrangement with the show, made an open complaint through a "Save Denver Comic Con" site implying that money was not being spent on the educational programs which is apparently the basis of the show's non-profit mission. This new chart follows assurances from the convention that this is not true. Like I said last week when the charges broke widely, this is one of those things where we'd eventually see if money was mis-spent badly -- because non-profits file reports -- but that broader charges of not doing enough or not doing things quickly or not doing things in some sort of intended spirit might never be resolved because there's no hard standard there. There's also the difficulty of reading a situation where increased success brings with it increased costs in addition to more revenue. You also get a strategic element, like the stuff where the con asserts that they are pursuing a strategy of investing in the long-range economic health of the show -- rather than, one supposes, furiously spending every dollar made on the educational mission aspect -- with the idea being you strengthen the show for the long haul and over that long-term better fulfill the mission than you could have by more aggressively spending on programs from the outset.

So, yeah. This is also one of those stories where people talk about how much they like the people on one side or another, which even if there is some sort of real dispute makes it sound like there's not. It's hard to track.

It's indicated here that the convention board and La Greca have entered back into mediation -- although I'm not sure what the mediation is for, really, although I guess it's presumed it's about La Greca's involvement with the show in some capacity. It could be limited to the charges floated. You can mediate just about anything. At any rate, for now I don't see even the barest sign that there's been gross negligence of the kind that would cast the entire future of the show into doubt, but that could always come out later. It takes time to establish programs, particularly if you're either creating your own structural framework for executing such things, but also when you're working with various existing groups and their own potentially conflicting or overlapping motivations. Still: it eventually comes out. If nothing else, cash reserves either become cash spent on something or cash continued to be held in reserve. No matter the personal outcome for everyone involved, that kind of scrutiny is now necessary with those charges having been made, and I hope the press continues to look in.
 
posted 4:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

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