Board members were torn on several issues, specifically the direction of the music hall, its management and programming. Push came to shove at last Thursday's board meeting, the final one of the facility's fiscal year. Bridget Ball Shaw, John Tomassi, Gregory Serio and Mark Pierre decided to leave the board, along with board president Ted Potrikus. Another board member, James Barriere, had planned to resign, but changed his mind after a bit of soul-searching. Barriere concedes Troy Music Hall has been eclipsed by places like Revoloution Hall and WAMC's Linda Norris Auditorium. Ted Potrikus says discussions had been conducted over the last year and a half on how to "put the buzz back in the hall," he urged board members to consider putting local musician Michael Eck in charge of programming, with an eye toward increasing the Hall's audience Eck has arranged concerts for the Steamer No. 10 Theater in Albany and hosted WAMC's live-music show "Performance Place" for a year. He is also a freelance arts contributor to the Times Union.

Board members actions seemed to suggest they were torn over changing the role played by current Executive Director Laura Kratt... Potrikus says the idea of bringing Eck was met with resistance, and that air of dissension resulted in five board members opting to resign. Asked if it wouldn't make sense to augment Kratt's position by bringing Michael Eck on board as Director of Programming... Jim Barriere replied that he is not convinced that current executive director Laura Kratt can't deliver.

Michael Eck says he intended to maintain many of the Hall's traditions and envisioned ways of exploting the theater's reputation as a beautiful hall for acoustic music. Laura Kratt is reportedly out of the area. Attempts to contact her through social networking sites she appears on were unsuccessful.

Troy Music Hall

Michael Eck website