UPDATE: Samantha Holsten, Public Information Officer for City of Orlando, has since informed us that “Negotiations [with Mad Cow] are ongoing at this time.”
Mad Cow Theatre (Facebook | Website), which was served Termination of Lease paperwork in early November, was just told it couldn’t get any more money from the County unless they could prove they were in better financial shape.
Mad Cow was informed on October 20th that they were in breach of an agreement for their downtown theater space due to an outstanding debit in the amount of $121,742.40 and were ordered to vacate the premises immediately, but around the same time Mad Cow was informed of the lease termination, they were also approved for Tourist Development Tax dollars from Orange County and were set to receive $77,000 for Fiscal Year 2022.
Orange County Arts and Cultural Affairs has since determined that the theater company will need to jump through a new set of financial hoops in order to receive any more public funds.
The first condition that was set by the county is that Mad Cow must certify through an independent accountant that it is up-to-date with payments on all of its financial commitments and send updated certifications with its interim and final payment reports before receiving additional payments from Orange County. The second is that it must submit a documented plan as to how it will address its long-term debt, and the third is that it must submit its annual audit management letters and organizational responses from the past three years.
Mad Cow has yet to make a public statement concerning the City’s termination of its lease and it appears as if they are still carrying out their holiday programming as scheduled, at least through the end of the month. We’ve reached out to the City of Orlando for an update on the situation.
