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Photo By Richard McMullin
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Attractions on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts: the
Clef Club of Jazz
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CityBeat's suggestion that Cincinnati can put together downtown "corridors of culture" is not a new or unique idea. Last summer, after attending a theater critics conference in Philadelphia, I wrote about that city's Broad Street, a performing arts district with a distinct streetscape that's officially dubbed "Avenue of the Arts."
Recently I talked with Ellen Solms, executive director of Avenue of the Arts Inc. (AAI), about what it took to make it happen.
"It's not a new idea," Solms says. "Cities have been using cultural development for quite awhile and very successfully." She mentions Pittsburgh and Cleveland and talks about New York City's Lincoln Center, "the premiere example. It's hard to imagine New York's Upper West Side without this anchor and stimulant over the past 30 years."
Philadelphia began to think about its own avenue of the arts in the early 1980s. "But it really took the vision and advocacy of our last mayor, Ed Rendell, to make it a reality," Solms says.
When Rendell first ran for office in 1991, his campaign surveyed voters about their interest in three activities or projects often used to spur economic development: sports stadiums, casinos and the arts. The first two were given a significant thumbs down, by almost 2-1 margins. Surprisingly, the arts were favored by roughly 3-1. The candidate saw a clear direction.
When he became mayor, Rendell built on a decade's worth of planning already in place, funded by the William Penn Foundation. He took it from there, developing a strategy to use the arts to upgrade Philadelphia's tourism and hospitality industry as a way to replace lost tax revenue and build a new industry. "The Avenue of the Arts," Solms says, "was the 'product' we needed to attract more people here."
Rendell lobbied Pennsylvania's governor and state legislature to get capital funding for several projects, an early transfusion of nearly $70 million for an array of projects. "That really made a difference," Solms says. "Suddenly there were dollars committed."
AAI was established in 1993 to provide oversight and guidance for the entire project, Solms says. "Broad Street had always been an important destination for cultural consumers," she points out, citing the Academy of Music, the 1855 home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Merriam Theatre, built as The Shubert in 1918, where musicals by the Gershwins were produced and Al Jolsen regularly performed.
"In the beginning," Solms recalls, "it was sort of lassoing projects that were already under way, like the Wilma Theater ... which is really built inside a parking (garage) that was being constructed as part of a hotel."
The 300-seat Wilma, the first new theater built in central Philadelphia since 1928, has convenient parking shared with the Doubletree Hotel.
More than $20 million from the William Penn Foundation made a big difference, supporting planning efforts and getting several early projects off the ground. "They funded the initial design for the streetscape, which was the first construction project to get under way," Solms says. "It suddenly made this vision, this decision, more concrete."
The foundation completely funded two small projects to convert existing facilities into the Clef Club and the Arts Bank, in addition to enabling the initial studies for the Philadelphia High School of Creative and Performing Arts.
But the real key was Rendell's role. He was a champion who kept his eye on the ball.
"The leadership," Solms maintains, "doesn't have to necessarily come from the political arena, but having a leader who's willing to stand up and be identified with the cause, who's willing and able to be in the spotlight, who can bring people together, is absolutely essential, because these are very complicated projects. It's a long time between the vision and the reality, and you need someone who can capture people's imagination and believe in the vision before the sticks and bricks have arrived."
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Photo By Richard McMullin
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Attractions on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts:
Philadelphia Arts Bank
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Although Rendell was term-limited out of office a year ago, his vision lives on, sustained by his successor, a former city council president. Today, according to Solms, the "sticks and bricks" are really arriving. Now the Avenue of the Arts stretches for 30 blocks -- from Temple University on the north to sports complexes on the south. The greatest density of facilities is found in a 10-block stretch south of Philadelphia's City Hall.
With public and private support today totaling more than $650 million, Philadelphia has created nearly 20 theaters and performance facilities. Here's a sampling of what now can be found along the city's Avenue of the Arts:
The Academy of Music. Built in 1855, this historic building is the oldest grand opera house in the U.S. A year from now the Philadelphia Orchestra will move to the Regional Performing Arts Center, and the Academy will be home to performances of opera, ballet and touring Broadway shows. (1999 renovations: $25 million)
Pennsylvania Regional Performing Arts Center. The orchestra's new home will have a 2,500-seat concert hall and a 650-seat adaptable recital hall. The facility is anticipated to be a regional draw, so the state has pumped a lot of funding into making it a showcase. (Due in 2001: $245 million)
The Wilma Theatre. A 300-seat theater where contemporary plays from around the world are presented. (Completed in 1996: $10 million)
University of the Arts. They say "UArts" is the only university in the nation devoted exclusively to education in design and the visual and performing arts. More than 3,000 full- and part-time students study and perform in an array of buildings for classrooms, lecture halls, dance studios, galleries and performance spaces.
Merriam Theater. The former Shubert Theater, which seats 1,688, was acquired by the University of the Arts in 1972.
Philadelphia Arts Bank. Another UArts facility -- it's in a renovated bank building -- it has a 230-seat theater in addition to office space for various performing arts organizations. (1994: $3.9 million)
Clef Club of Jazz and the Performing Arts. The renovated building includes a 250-seat cabaret-style theater in addition to retail space, classrooms, practice facilities and space for archival materials. (1995: $3 million)
The Brandywine Workshop. The well-established visual arts institution, focused on printmaking, has a 30,000-square foot print shop and visual technologies center in addition to exhibition space. (1993: $2 million)
Philadelphia High School for Creative and Perform-ing Arts. The historic Ridgeway Library, which had sadly deteriorated, was renovated into a magnet school where more than 600 students get college prep classes plus training in the arts. The old building was augmented with a four-story addition. (1997: $31 million)
The Prince Music Theatre. Once a movie palace just off the Avenue, the theater, named for Philadelphia native and Broadway producer Harold Prince, is now a spectacular 450-seat theater regularly presenting musicals. (1999: $11 million)
Freedom Theatre. On Broad Street north of City Hall is the state's oldest African-American theater in a renovated Italianate mansion. A new theater seating 299 is nearly complete. (2000: $10 million)
Getting so many existing and distinct entities to work together was no small task, according to Solms. "Collaboration doesn't come easily to arts organizations," she says. "Arts groups themselves are competitive in terms of funding. In the beginning, there was a great deal of distrust in the cultural community that the emphasis on this project would somehow draw money away from the needy arts organizations, both large and small. So there was a fair amount of skepticism, especially in the media, about what this really means -- which by and large has disappeared.
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Photo By Richard McMullin
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Attractions on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts: the
Wilma Theater
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"People now realize how training a spotlight on the Avenue of the Arts is a way of really upgrading the cultural community and its image, as a whole, really making it attractive. In the long run, it makes it easier for people to raise money."
One has to be cautions when drawing comparisons between Cincinnati and Philadelphia, which is three times larger. Our 1.9 million person metropolitan area ranks 23rd in America, while Philadelphia is sixth with 5.9 million people. Hence, Philadelphia has the potential for three times as many arts consumers. The city is also an easy drive from other major East Coast population centers.
But Philadelphia's success isn't merely a product of population. Attitude and leadership made the biggest difference in getting things done.
"Once our office was established, we made marketing a top priority," says Solms. "Now the concept of the Avenue of the Arts is widely accepted with the public, with the business community, with the government community and with the media. No one thinks this is a bad idea."
They make the point repeatedly that the economic impact of the Avenue enhances the city and the region as a whole, not just on the cultural organizations that have landed there. "That's because it's so easy for nay-sayers to ask, 'Why are we investing this money in a project that only serves people who can afford to go the opera and the ballet?' " Solms says.
AAI estimates the annual economic impact of the Avenue to be $157 million from 1.1 million visitors who attend performances or functions at cultural facilities there. Almost three-quarters of those are presented by resident cultural organizations.
The Avenue now is attracting hotels and retail that want to be in this lively environment: a new Ritz-Carlton Hotel, a Tower Records store that's open until midnight every day, a Banana Republic store. The area also is becoming a desirable address for a distinct residential community.
"All of this came," says Solms, "as a result of what's happening on the Avenue."
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "Change is great. You go first." Philadelphia has shown us the way. Now it's our turn. ©
