For $34m, Citigroup gets naming rights to Wang Center

Looking to become a major player in the Boston market quickly, New York-based Citigroup has purchased the naming rights to the Wang Center for the Performing Arts for about $34 million.

The deal means the Tremont Street arts center, which operates the 3,600-seat Wang Theatre, the 1,600-seat Shubert Theatre, and an arts program for students, could be renamed as soon as next week. Citigroup will pay the Wang over 15 years, a dramatic infusion of money for the once-booming nonprofit arts presenter, which has struggled to balance its budget -- and fill seats -- in recent years.

While officials of the center wouldn't reveal the new name, workers last evening were putting up banners that read Citibank Center for the Performing Arts.

Citigroup's announcement occurs as the company opens its first two Citibank branches in Boston, with plans for 30 more within a year. It hopes to gain a toehold in a market dominated by Bank of America and Citizens Financial.

Rights to rename the Wang Center outpace arrangements at similar arts institutions in Miami, Raleigh, N.C., and Calgary, Alberta.

"That's a lot money," said Jeffrey Bakken , acting chief executive officer of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, which has collaborated with the Wang on past productions. "And I think it does portend the future. Companies that used to be big philanthropists are now giving largely for the marketing level. They're giving, but they expect something very tangible in return."

Maura Markus, president of Citibank North America, a division of the New York-based company, said Citigroup viewed the deal as a way to make an impact in Boston immediately.

"There are lots of banks up there and we're just starting on the retail side, so we're telling the community that we're serious, we're committed, and we want to be a part of the fabric of Boston," she said yesterday.

The Citigroup deal will inevitably lower the profile of the Wang family, which saw its name attached to the center in 1983 after a $4 million gift.

Still, the center's flagship hall, the Wang Theatre, will keep its name. Portraits of An Wang, the computer company magnate who died in 1990, and his wife, Lorraine , will remain on lobby walls.

The Wang gift helped keep alive what was then known as the Metropolitan Center, a grand downtown theater more than $4.5 million in debt because of the cost of a renovation project.

Lorraine Wang has approved the sale of naming rights, and will remain as the organization's honorary chairman, according to Josiah Spaulding Jr., the Wang's president and chief executive officer.

"What the Wangs did is save the day in 1983," Spaulding said yesterday. "Twenty-five years later, Citigroup is playing that role."

While earning money from naming rights has become standard practice for sports arenas, nonprofit arts institutions have only recently jumped into that market. A year ago, Citizens Financial, another bank, pulled out of a deal to put its name on Boston's renovated Opera House after Mayor Thomas M. Menino made it clear he did not like the idea. Clear Channel Entertainment restored and reopened the Opera House in 2004.

Today, Menino will join the Wang's leaders at a press conference to celebrate the Citigroup deal.

"I said to them, 'How can I be supportive of this when I was opposing the Citizens Opera House?' " Menino said yesterday. The answer: He was assured that the Wang and Shubert theaters would retain their names.

The Wang Center thrived through the 1990s, when shows such as "Riverdance," "Rent," and "Phantom of the Opera" helped it finish 1999 and 2000 with $2 million year-end operating surpluses. But the Wang has finished with a deficit every year since 2002 due in part to increased competition from the 2,600-seat Opera House, which since reopening has hosted the biggest and most lucrative touring Broadway shows, such as "The Lion King" and "Wicked."

With so few touring shows to book, the Wang invested with other regional theaters developing new projects, but those have had mixed results.

Over that time, the center's endowment has shrunk from $19.5 million to $11 million as the Wang has paid off existing loans, invested in shows, and closed its operating deficits. And in an effort to stay afloat, the Wang in 2003 made the controversial decision to replace Boston Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker" with the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular."

Wang leaders say the Citigroup announcement marks the first step in a dramatic new plan to rebuild the nonprofit institution, though Spaulding and others said it was too early to provide details. Echoing earlier explanations, they said the new vision would include partnerships with other arts organizations and nonprofit theaters here and across the country both to increase ticket sales and raise more money from corporate sponsors.

"In the 1990s, the Wang was probably known for blockbuster Broadway shows and the ballet," said Robert Sachs, the trustee who heads the organization's strategic planning committee. "Going forward, our idea is that it'll be a virtual performing arts center."

By that, he means co-producing more shows that appear in Boston and other cities, and taking its Commonwealth Shakespeare Company on the road. To that end, Sachs said the Wang has shelved plans to raise $75 million for a building expansion project.

J. William Poduska , chairman of the performing art center's board, said he hopes the deal with Citigroup leads to more sponsorships from the company. He also expects Citigroup will develop special ticket offers for its more than one million credit card holders in the Boston area.

"They looked around at all the things they could do to try to make their presence better felt," said Poduska. "I don't think we can get more of an endorsement for our new strategic plan than them buying into it."

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. He blogs at boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist.