Is there possibly a better way? The Woodruff vs. CAPA

The elephant in the room....
The Woodruff Arts Center

It appears to this writer that many of the problems inherent in the Atlanta Symphony's current woes are due to its "relationship" to the Woodruff Arts Center, which contains the High Museum of Art, the Alliance Theater, the Symphony Hall, and other smaller entities.  The "campus" of the Woodruff embodies a large footprint costing hundreds of millions of dollars (the most recent addition to the High cost $124 million).  The corporation, embodying several arts organizations, has been called "unprecedented in this country."  And yet, the orchestra seems saddled with a smaller (1,700 seat) facility with questionable acoustics.  Plans for a new $300 million hall have been shelved due to the organization's obvious financial difficulties.

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My work as Chair of the Arts and Lecture Series at Loras College in Dubuque took me to the Midwest Arts Conference on a yearly basis.  These are conclaves of artists and their management, each making a pitch to hundreds of arts presenters from this part of the country.  My travels took me to Cleveland (more exciting than I'd imagined), St. Paul, Kansas City, Austin, and, the biggest surprise, Columbus, Ohio.  Of course, I could opine about the fabulous cuisine I enjoyed: a great Spanish restaurant in Cleveland, French in St. Paul, Kansas City barbecue, and real Mexican in Austin, my focus is more on the thriving arts community that I discovered in Columbus, of all places.

Quite honestly I was not looking forward to that trip to Columbus.  To me, that city seemed like a larger version of our own Des Moines of 15 years or so ago.  Similar demographic, similar employment base (insurance), state government, etc.  I was in for an eye-opening experience.

Columbus's amazing Ohio Theater
From the "nosebleed seats," I heard Yo-Yo play Elgar

In 1969, community leaders formed the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts.  The initial goal of the organization was to save the historic Ohio Theater from the wrecking ball.  Designed in what was then the popular Spanish Baroque style, the Ohio was built by the Loew's theater chain, its 3,000 seat house opening in March 1928.   Closing in 1969, a development group had purchased the Ohio, with plans to rip it down and replace it with an office tower.  Thankfully, CAPA was formed and stepped in to save this palace, located directly across the street from the state capitol building.

The Palace; that ain't bad either...

CAPA has grown monumentally to become among the leading non-profit arts organizations in the country.  In the early 1990s, it assumed control of the Ohio's "companion" theater, the less opulent but still striking Palace, a mere two blocks away.  1998 saw the acquisition and restoration of the 1890s Southern Theater.  Since that time, CAPA has expanded beyond Columbus but still remained close to its roots; the organization was responsible for the nearly $14 million renovation of the Lincoln Theater, another of Columbus's former movie houses, this one an Egyptian Revival theater originally constructed to serve the needs of the city's growing African-American population.

The Southern.  Ohio's oldest extant theater.

CAPA should be a model for arts organizations around the country.  Instead of building new, it has saved the city's historic venues and preserved the cultural heritage of Columbus.  I am reminded of the small plaque in a park in Waterloo, IA noting the site of the "former Paramount Theater," this in a city devoid of any of these kinds of structures.  Cedar Rapids maintains its own Paramount, as well as the smaller Iowa Theater, while Davenport has its renovated Adler (to me, a snoozer) and the Capitol, now owned by a local community college with no apparent immediate plans for a glorious venue.

The Lincoln.  What city of similar size can boast
such a collection of stunning (and original) performance venues?

But there is another side to CAPA's role in the Columbus arts scene.  In 2010, the Columbus Symphony, long beleaguered by financial problems (resulting in the cancellation of part of the 2008 season), turned to CAPA for management assistance.  The office staff at the CSO had shrunk to the point where it could not oversee the tasks of marketing, development, ticket sales, etc.  So far, the arrangement seems to be working well (at least all is now quiet in Columbus).  Since that time, CAPA has assumed "back office" control or outright management of five other cultural organizations.  While some may be skeptical about this kind of outsourcing, CAPA has the staff and has slowly but surely developed the expertise to market not only its venues, but the organizations using them.  Seems to me to be a win-win.

Are you listening, Atlanta?