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$172M project for arts floated
New concept is for 3 theaters downtown, big annual fund drive
Joseph Spector
Staff writer
(February 3, 2006) — Monroe County officials and arts groups have been quietly discussing a massive plan to build three performing arts theaters in downtown Rochester and set up an umbrella group to help fund local arts organizations.
If the $172 million vision becomes reality, downtown Rochester could become a booming center for traveling Broadway-style shows, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and community theaters.
The theaters would be built in conjunction with Renaissance Square, a $230million downtown project now on the drawing board, which calls for a performing arts center, a bus terminal and a Monroe Community College campus.
At Renaissance Square, on East Main Street between Clinton Avenue and St. Paul Street, the performing arts center would have two theaters, one with about 2,800 seats for large traveling shows and one with about 250 seats for community theater groups, such as the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre.
The third theater, a medium-sized venue of about 1,500 seats, would be built several blocks east at East Main and Gibbs streets, across from the Eastman Theatre.
The idea is still preliminary, officials caution. And the huge price could be a major obstacle.
The new money would help with the cost of the Renaissance Square arts center, estimated between $90 million and $100 million, fund the mid-sized theater and pay for renovations at the Eastman and Geva theaters. So the total bill could exceed $300million; about $160million in government aid has already been arranged.
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks met last week with Rochester's state legislative delegation to suggest the idea. Organizers pitched seeking a whopping $92 million in state aid, according to lawmakers at the meeting.
The rest, about $80 million, would come from a broad fundraising drive, which would be one of the largest efforts in the area's history.
Umbrella group
As part of the private fund drive, lawmakers said, arts groups would establish an umbrella organization, like a United Way for the Arts, that would raise money annually to support the theaters and the arts. But Brooks has been tight-lipped about the proposal and wouldn't even confirm that it's being pitched. She and other leaders warned that there are many loose ideas being discussed to accommodate the city's array of arts groups, many of whom are in desperate need of new performance space.
"Nothing has been finalized," Brooks said. "We are not promoting one idea over the other. We are really quite honestly waiting for the delegation to guide us on what is feasible, what is realistic."
And that is now the unknown. State lawmakers said they only heard a presentation about the idea — with no documentation, no written proposals — so they have not reached consensus on whether to push Albany for what may be Rochester's largest aid request in recent memory.
'Skittish' community
Some officials questioned whether expanding the Renaissance Square project would be fiscally responsible at a time when local governments face big deficits, local taxes continue to rise and the economy is sputtering. And the community just watched the city rack up more than $40 million in debt in its failed effort to operate the high-speed ferry to Toronto.
That's why Brooks said she's not ready to go public with a proposal.
"We have a community that is very skittish right now about public projects in the wake of the fast ferry," Brooks said. "The danger of going out to the community before we have a well-formulated and consensus decision, you are going to have a lot of speculation about what is going to happen."
Some leaders questioned what a private fund drive would do to other nonprofit groups' fundraising.
"There may not be enough private dollars available in the community to support this project as well as our annual contributions to United Way and other nonprofit groups," said Assemblywoman Susan John, D-Rochester.
Other officials said Rochester should think big.
"If you are going to build a first-class project that could have the effect of transforming Rochester, then you have to be prepared to ask for the resources to make that happen," said Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, an architect of the idea and head of the Assembly's Committee on Tourism, Arts and Sports Development.
Decade of proposals
Arts groups in Rochester have spent more than a decade pitching proposals to build new performance halls — such as a roadhouse theater at the half-empty Midtown Plaza or in the struggling High Falls district. Each idea, though, has met funding and organizational setbacks, leaving highly regarded arts groups such as Garth Fagan Dance without permanent places to perform.
But when Brooks took office in 2004, she championed Renaissance Square to create synergy downtown and provide space for the arts, an indoor facility for bus riders and a new campus for MCC.
The project has drawn broad support as a way to rid the heart of downtown of blight and vacant buildings. Already about $160 million in county, state and federal money has been designated for the project, allowing the county to hire renowned architect Moshe Safdie and express optimism that construction could begin in 2007.
But the earmarked money would mainly cover the cost of the bus terminal and MCC, leaving the arts center largely unfunded. That's where the new fund would come in.
Initially, planners hoped to build three theaters — large, medium and small — at Renaissance Square. But Brooks said this week that there isn't enough space for three theaters on the one square block along East Main Street.
The county, which is spearheading the project, hired a private consulting firm to present options for the arts center. While county officials have not yet released the consultant's report, Brooks said the most obvious option may be to build only the large and small theaters.
But Morelle and arts officials have argued that the greatest need may be for a mid-sized theater, a place that could house Garth Fagan Dance, the RPO and other groups. The Rochester Broadway Theatre League has performances at the remodeled Auditorium Theatre, which has about 2,500 seats, and would move into the large theater.
So building Renaissance Square and not addressing the demand for a mid-sized theater could be short-sighted, Morelle said. In an April 2004 report, an arts committee recommended that Renaissance Square house three theaters or that the mid-sized theater be at Gibbs and Main.
Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester, who heads the city's Assembly delegation, said that "leadership should come from the locals" and that if Brooks wants $92 million in state aid, he'll fight to get it. Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, said he, too, would support it.
County officials have suggested that the $92 million could be secured over several years. But Assemblyman Joseph Errigo, R-Conesus, Livingston County, questioned whether such a large request could, or should, be met.
"Ideas are great. I could come up with ideas every day," he said. "But who is going to pay for it?"
Dream or reality?
The proposal is so new and so preliminary that many arts leaders either didn't feel comfortable talking about it or didn't know specifics.
Mayor Robert Duffy said he has received one briefing about Renaissance Square and hasn't been updated about the new idea. Still, he supports the project.
Sarah Lentini, president of the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester, declined to discuss details and referred calls to Mark Ballerstein, the county's point person on the project. He could not be reached.
Lentini and other arts leaders hosted a conference in December intended to link the 573 arts-related businesses that employ nearly 16,000 people in the Rochester region. One idea was to consider a united arts fund, which would raise money each year for arts groups. In Cincinnati, a fine arts fund brings in $11million yearly.
Some leaders said that if there were more modern, centrally located theaters, the city could better capitalize on its artistic resources. Some arts groups rent space all over the county. Arts groups say the new theaters would provide additional venues for performances, as well as offering modern amenities.
Mercury Opera Rochester, for example, presented Puccini's Madama Butterfly last weekend at the Eastman Theatre. It also has used Roberts Wesleyan College. If a mid-sized theater were built, the opera could move there.
"I need something downtown. That would be ideal," said Kris Kessler, the opera's director.
The Downstairs Cabaret Theatre, meanwhile, presents plays and musicals at three locations and has long sought a 250- to 300-seat theater. Now, said producing director Chris Kawolsky, troupes perform in better facilities on the road than at home.
"The more attention, the more facilities we get, the better the arts are going to be in Rochester. Something has to happen with Rochester, and what's a better idea than to redevelop downtown and make it an arts center?"
JSPECTOR@DemocratandChronicle.com
Includes reporting by staff writer Jeff Spevak.
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