Situated on San Antonio, Texas, USA’s famed Riverwalk, the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts originally opened in 1926. Reimagined in 2013, the building retains much of its original architecture as part of 1,700-seat multipurpose venue, all under the watchful eye of Aaron Bayham, director of facility operations and the FM staff. At World Workplace 2024, the Tobin Center is a featured facility tour.
FMJ: Tell us about yourself and how you got into FM.
BAYHAM: I currently serve as the director of facility operations at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio, Texas, USA, where I have been for the past year and a half. My career in FM really started as a freshman in college, when I took a part-time job as a leasing agent at an apartment complex in my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. I continued to work part-time for property managers and found that I especially enjoyed managing commercial properties. After graduating from LSU with a degree in mass communication, I found a perfect position to bridge a media degree with property management experience: a stage manager at a local film and television studio, Celtic Studios. I stayed at Celtic for more than 13 years, working my way up from a stage manager to executive director, before making a career pivot to the performing arts at The Tobin Center in October 2022.
FMJ: What makes the Tobin Center and its challenges unique from an FM perspective?
BAYHAM: The Tobin Center began its life as the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium, which was constructed in 1926. It survived a riot in 1939 and a devastating fire in 1979 before being reimagined as The Tobin Center in the early 2010s (construction was completed in 2013). About 10 percent of the building’s original architecture remained in the redesign, including the iconic stone façade and rotundas with colored tile domes, as well as plaques and sculptures that were reintegrated into the “new” building. The rest was built as a new, state-of-the-art venue. So depending on what part of the building we’re dealing with, there could be 100-year-old infrastructure or 10-year-old infrastructure. There are limitations to what is possible, both due to restrictions by the city’s Historic Preservation Office when it comes to modifications, and the fact that buildings constructed in the 1920s did not face the same design demands as buildings do today, especially in the world of entertainment.
August 25th 1939 Riot Damaged Front Door
August 25th 1939 Riot Damaged Glass Door
Municipal Auditorium Fire January 6th 1979
Municipal Auditorium Interior after Fire January 6th 1979
Municipal Auditorium Tile Dome Restoration after Fire
Thankfully the new-build portion of the building is what we deal with most on a day-to-day basis, and was well-designed for the use. But even now at a little over 10 years old, we have started to deal with aging equipment, technologies and structures that require specialized repairs and capital projects, in addition to our regular preventive maintenance and cleaning programs.
Even so, the most unique feature of The Tobin (and most challenging from an FM perspective) is the floor of the HEB Performance Hall, which can be reconfigured in many different ways thanks to an individual-row lift system. Made up of motors, proprietary lifts, rows of seats that flip under and a computer system that works it all out, we can convert the main floor of the hall from a fully raked 700 fixed-seat theatrical configuration to a 5,500 square foot flat-floor ballroom or standing-room-only in about 30 minutes. This system gives us two venues in one, with many other configurations in-between (flexible orchestra pit configurations, cabaret-style seating, audience-level or stage-level flat floor, socially distanced seating during COVID-19). The floor system also includes specialized fire detection and suppression systems that were designed to be able to move up and down with each row.
Thankfully there aren’t many natural disasters to bother us in central Texas. The biggest factors for us are heat, flash floods and hail, and the occasional hard freeze. Obviously utility reliability is something we’re very concerned about in the summer or during a freeze in the winter. We have a backup emergency generator, but it’s really only for life-safety systems in the building — it won’t keep the chillers, cooling tower and air handlers running, so without power from our local utility, we can’t operate. Long, sustained freezes can also be difficult because we’re generally not built to withstand them, especially if utility power is lost or utility water lines break, but we make all the typical preparations we can.
FMJ: What is day-to-day life like at The Tobin?
BAYHAM: There are around 40 full-time employees at The Tobin, some that work in the main Tobin building and others that work in the administrative offices building. Just managing the facilities for our internal functions would be a task, but almost every day we have a show loading into the theater, and up to 2,000 patrons coming into the building for a show each night. There can be moments or days of calm between the storms, but generally it’s a coordinated circus of activity between many different teams: production, union crew, traveling show crew, building operations, janitorial staff, support vendors, etc. As soon as one show or event wraps and the building is clear of patrons, we’re turning it right back around for a show or event that loads in the next morning. Turn-arounds can be tight, so often we are a 24/7 operation.
Events can range from performances like musical acts, ballet, opera, Broadway shows, stage plays and comedians, to private events like corporate meetings, weddings, quinceaneras, galas and fundraisers. Each has their own unique wants, needs and challenges, which we must be prepared to meet and conform to. On top of that, we may have multiple events and/or performances happening on the same day or even at the same time. We must be able to adjust staffing and service levels based on the rollercoaster of activity from our slowest day to our busiest one. We are constantly looking ahead to what is coming down the road, planning tasks and schedules, and finding creative ways to get things done in the time we’re allotted around bookings. But no matter how much pre-planning we do, things will change “on the day” and we must be ready to adjust.
A typical busy day will see our first operations staff in at 7 a.m., assisting with the load-in of a show and adjusting the floor in the HEB Performance Hall to whatever configuration is required, continuing clean-up from the night before while setting furniture for the events that evening (the show could include a VIP pre-party, a backstage meet-and-greet with a performer, a merch seller in the main lobby), dealing with any support vendors working on site and maintenance issues that arise. Toward the afternoon, we shift into event operations mode when we’ll set up tents at the main entrance along with metal detectors and bag check stations, prepare for patron arrival and secure the backstage areas. Our parking team handles valet and garage parking and even runs a golf cart from the garage to the Tobin to shuttle patrons to the event. Then we’re supervising our part-time event staff as we screen patrons on their way into the building, monitoring the facility and activities during the event to ensure the safety and security of patrons and performers, and making sure egress after the event goes smoothly. Once the building is clear, a team of operations and janitorial crew make a sweep of the venue to make sure it is set and presentable for anything happening the next morning. If we have a luncheon or large dinner event the next day, we may have crew here into the early morning hours flipping the performance hall floor from seated to flat-floor, then setting up tables and chairs so catering can place linens and table settings the next day.
FMJ: How much space do you manage and how is it used?
BAYHAM: The main Tobin Performing Arts Center building measures just over 175,000 square feet over seven floors and sits on a little under four acres. There are three separate performance spaces that make up the venue: the 1,738-seat H-E-B Performance Hall, the 300-seat black-box Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater, and Will’s Plaza which opens out to the San Antonio Riverwalk. In addition to those performance spaces, there are other breakout spaces like three lobbies, a Founder’s Lounge and two rotundas. These spaces can all be used individually, or activated together for larger events and performances. We also program free cultural, community and educational events and performances, and will offer sensory-friendly versions of select performances. The Tobin is home to five resident companies which program their performances year-round in the venue: Ballet San Antonio, Children’s Chorus of San Antonio, Classical Music Institute, Opera San Antonio and Youth Orchestra San Antonio.
In addition to the Performing Arts Center Building, we also manage a three-floor 23,000 square-foot historical administration building, a 5,600 square-foot annex building, a 40-stall surface parking lot and a six-story 560-stall parking garage with tenant space on the first floor.
In many ways, the office spaces and parking garage run themselves. They are on a routine with preventive maintenance, inspections and janitorial, so primarily we’re responding to issues as they arise or when there are moves, changes or special projects. But the Performing Arts Center is a different animal; because of the flexible nature of the building and its systems, there’s no one-size-fits-all template. Events can be similar, but no two are exactly the same. On top of the different floor configurations, the acoustics in the H-E-B Performance Hall can be tuned based on whether a performance is amplified or not, and for things like whether an orchestra is in the orchestra pit or on-stage. Of course, lighting is also an important element and can be configured in countless different ways to achieve the look of an event or performance. Even the lighting in common areas of the building can be set for a certain look or mood.
We want to be seen and recognized as a world-class venue, embracing its history while offering a state-of-the art experience for performers and patrons. So I’m especially aware of the areas that make that first impression: the exterior, entries, lobbies, restrooms. It’s easy to overlook the little things, but those little things can send a message that a facility is on the decline, or that management just doesn’t care. The biggest trick is keeping it spotless on a limited, non-profit budget!
FMJ: Tell us about your FM team.
BAYHAM: At The Tobin, FM is bundled under the operations department, which is responsible not only for maintenance of the physical facilities but also for day-to-day event operations (setups, tear-downs, ingress/egress, parking operations) as well as safety and security (event staff, security guards, police officers, patron screening, emergency response). This requires that we collaborate with every other department in the company including administration, programming, front-of-house, production, marketing, development and catering.
I’ve been lucky to have been able to build a small but mighty team that punches above our weight class. There are four full-time employees in the department: a director (myself), a manager and two coordinators. We have around 20 part-time event staff that work the events, a couple of services are outsourced to third-party operators, and of course there are a myriad of vendors that support the operation. Our janitorial services crew are especially important, since they are primarily responsible for the cleanliness of the facilities, but also provide labor for event setups and tear-downs.
FMJ: What are some challenges you face that are common across the FM industry?
BAYHAM: Inflation and increased operating costs are a problem everyone is facing, and it can be especially tough in the non-profit sector, in an industry that still hasn’t recovered post-COVID-19. Where many contract renewals might have been easy to sign off on in the past, we’re sometimes forced to seek out competitive bids or get creative on how to save without sacrificing our standards or the patron experience. Thankfully we have a very supportive board of directors and executive management team that supports our FM department and understands the outlay that is required to maintain a world-class venue.
While we try to plan and mitigate as much as possible, we’re still not immune to the facility-related headaches that other FMs face: those figurative (and sometimes literal) fires that pop up and need to be put out. Stray fire alarms, clogged toilets, leaks with unknown sources, a stuck elevator, HVAC issues, ants in an office. Add in the human element, with members of the public entering the building daily and being located in a busy downtown, and you never know what we might encounter on a given day: graffiti on walls, carvings in bathroom stalls, drink spills, missing fire extinguishers, cars running into things, skateboarders, loitering — the possibilities are endless!
Like many other FMs, we also struggle with workload and finding the coveted work-life balance when it can be a 24/7 operation and we’re always on call. It can be especially tough since Operations is often the catch-all department, meaning if a task doesn’t fit into another department, it falls into ours. Since we’ve built a strong team, I think we’ve done a good job of organizing schedules, balancing workload, finding time off despite how busy we might be, and cross-training so we can fill in when another team member is out.
FMJ: What do you like best about what you do?
BAYHAM: I love the variety of what we do: no two days are the same, and every event presents us with a little something different. I’m proud to be able to maintain a beautiful venue in a beautiful part of a thriving city, though sometimes I have to step back from all the day-to-day craziness to really appreciate it. Of course, the shows and performances can be exciting and nerve-racking, but I like to play a part in creating those experiences, and enjoy a little bit of controlled chaos (controlled being the operative word). And I love working with others who are also dedicated, excited and passionate about their work and the success of the organization, especially my operations team!