THE IMPRESARIOS ON G STREET

DOUGLAS H. WHEELER

From humble beginnings, the seeds of a performing arts
renaissance were sown in Washington

In the 1960s, my six-year-old son thought his father’s job was to dress up in a costume (a tuxedo) several nights a week, go to someplace where there were concerts, and come home late with a wad of cash in his briefcase— along with lots of tickets that hadn’t been sold.

The reality of working at the Hayes Concert Bureau in the 1960s pretty much reflected the state of cultural life in our nation’s capital 40 years ago. I was hired in 1964 by impresario Patrick Hayes (CC 1959-98) to work in what he jokingly called “summer stock.” Thus, year-round, everyone on our staff of four would do everything: sell tickets; write press releases; pick up artists at the airport; tack up posters around town; answer the phone; and deal with stagehands, ushers, teamsters, and artists’ agents. Office hours were observed six days a week to accommodate the sale of tickets. The seventh day was usually spent at a Sunday afternoon performance. Learning to be an impresario was strictly on-the-job training and the job was exhilarating and all consuming.

People who lived here during that era think of the state of the arts as a defining characteristic of Washington, DC, which was referred to as a “sleepy southern town.” Arena Stage, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Society of Washington, the National Ballet, the Washington Theater Club, and Ford’s Theater, which opened for performances in January 1968, offered limited seasons. On many weekends, the choice for potential audience members was limited to events imported by the Hayes Concert Bureau and its successor, the Washington Performing Arts Society, and the National Theater.

For the most part, performing artists who lived in the area were forced to hold a second job to supplement meager incomes earned as musicians or actors. Theaters were in short supply and when the 3,300-seat Capitol Theater at 14th and F Streets was closed in 1963 to make way for a new office building, the city was left without a stage for major touring attractions like the Metropolitan Opera and ballet companies from around the world.

No event better demonstrated the plight of the arts than the May 1965 debut appearances of Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn with the Royal Ballet. Without the Capitol Theater, Patrick Hayes and New York impresario Sol Hurok turned in desperation to the Washington Coliseum, which can still be seen on the right as you depart for northern destinations by train from Union Station. Known mainly as a forum for ice hockey, the cavernous building was to become the only available venue for presentations such as the Leningrad Ballet, the Moiseyev Dance Company, and the Royal Ballet. On a makeshift stage built at one end of the arena, Nureyev and Fonteyn wove their magic to patrons sitting on folding chairs. In all likelihood, few in the audience had ever been to this depressed area of the city. On opening night, in stifling heat, I sat with Attorney General Robert Kennedy on the upper steps leading down into the arena. Thinking back, it is my guess that the planning for the new John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts received an unexpected boost that evening as Kennedy and other cabinet members experienced high art in a setting that was far from luxurious.

A BUSTLING DOWNTOWN

There was a certain threadbare charm to the Hayes office at the Campbell Music Company at 1108 G Street, where we planned the events of a season in a one-room, second-floor office with a picture window overlooking an airshaft. To reach the office, theatergoers passed through the room where Mr. Campbell displayed the Steinway pianos he sold to the public. On the first floor, the tiny box offices of the Hayes Bureau and the National Symphony faced the sheet music department. Campbell’s stood just five blocks from the White House, where, only a few years before, President Truman could be seen leaving for a daily stroll on downtown streets. The streets were filled with small stores and locally owned businesses: Garfinkel’s department store, where the tea room was still a fashionable meeting place; the Singer Sewing Machine store, where people lined up for 99-cent machines on George Washington’s birthday; M.S. Swing, where coffee was brewed daily for area distribution and the aroma filled the surrounding sidewalks; Raleighs and Lewis and Thomas Saltz, where generations of men bought their clothes; and Rich’s Shoe Store, family-owned and operated for decades.

The Hayes Concert Bureau seemed right at home in this small-town way of life. In fact, we affectionately referred to the ticket office as a “country store,” where we met and developed friendly relationships with the music and dance lovers of the city. My duties included selling tickets for 25 cents each to a line of customers stretching out the store and down the block for concerts presented by the Library of Congress. At least once a day, I collected the cash and checks from ticket sales and deposited the money next door at the bank. Our account was so depleted at times, that we made out multiple checks to vendors in hopes that one or two would be good the first time they were presented and the remainder, the second or third time around.

There was no formal training in those days for arts management, or what we used to call “the art of losing money intelligently.” One person who could attest to the paucity of well-trained managers was arts patron Gerson Nordlinger (CC ’78). Three times during the 1950s and 1960s, he was called on to provide interim management duties: twice at the National Symphony and once at the Opera Society.

One of my assignments for the Hayes Concert Bureau was to meet pianist Artur Rubinstein at the residence of Mrs. Virginia M. Bacon at 1801 F Street, NW, where he stayed when he performed in Washington. I escorted him to DAR Constitution Hall, located several blocks away, for a rehearsal of his annual recital. We walked and chatted as he puffed away on a sizeable stogie. On top of his mane of white hair was his signature fedora, which he tipped to every lady we passed. Years later, in 1976, he would return to the same hall at the age of 89 for his farewell Washington recital, this time organizing the entire concert from memory because of his failing eyesight. Always the idol of the ladies, he kissed one hand after another after the performance and declared that he didn’t feel his age.

ARTS ON A SHOESTRING

A visitor to Washington during the 1964 and 1965 seasons might have found the performing facilities lacking, but would have been treated to a wide range of Hayes Concert Bureau presentations, including: Igor Stravinsky, conducting his own work with orchestra; Marian Anderson in her farewell Washington appearance, remarkably, at DAR Constitution Hall, where, in 1939, she had been turned away from performing because of her race; Andres Segovia; Svlatoslav Richter; Rudolf Serkin; the Cleveland Orchestra; Maurice Chevalier; and a host of other renowned artists and ensembles, all presented without a dollar of charitable support.

Until 1964, contributions to most arts organizations were provided only by Washington’s wealthiest patrons. The job of running an arts organization thus required someone who was a promoter at heart with a tenacious commitment to developing the artistic life of the community. A handful of these imaginative and charismatic self-taught shepherds led the Washington arts community through those formative years, including Ralph Black at the National Ballet; Patrick Hayes; M. Robert Rogers at the National Symphony; Hobart Spaulding at the Opera Society of Washington; Tom and Zelda Fichandler at the Arena Stage; and Father Gilbert Hartke, who directed the theater department at Catholic University.

The decades of the 1950s and 1960s were a particularly difficult period for Washington arts institutions. Resources were limited and audiences were often reluctant to venture downtown, particularly after the riots of 1968, which followed Martin Luther King’s assassination. The seeds of prosperity, however, were planted during this time and the results would lead to a period of unparalleled growth of institutions and activity, which continues to this day. The Ford Foundation made its first foray into funding the arts with grants to regional theaters such as Arena Stage, and the first grants to strengthen the management of non-profit arts organizations through paid internships. Local foundations, led by the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation, quickly followed suit with grants to strengthen Washington arts groups, including one that helped establish in 1965 the successor to the Hayes Concert Bureau, i.e., the Washington Performing Arts Society.

Other developments in the Washington area supported the arts, either directly or indirectly. Ground was broken for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in December 1964. And the National Endowment for the Arts, established in 1965, began to make its first grants to Washington arts organizations. Plans began to take shape for a new metro system, which would make the downtown theater and concert venues more accessible.

Washington arts lovers have long enjoyed a rich variety of imported concerts.

Today, after some 35 years of growth, the Washington region is on the verge of joining cities like London, Paris, New York, and Vienna as a destination point to experience the greatest arts in the world. All of these culturally enriched cities are distinguished by the opportunities provided to artists and the value placed on their role in enhancing the quality of life. The artistic visions of the 1960s and later decades are bearing fruit all around the Washington metropolitan area. In the Maryland suburbs, for example, a new cultural center has opened at the University of Maryland, and funding is in place for a 2000-seat concert hall at the Strathmore Hall complex in Bethesda. In Northern Virginia, the Signature Theater in Arlington is emerging, and a new cultural center at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria has just opened.

Downtown, a new theater is being planned for Woolly Mammoth. And the drive is on to develop a national music museum with a 3,000- seat theater. The Cultural Development Corporation is being established to promote new space for theaters and residences for artists, and international recognition is growing for the Washington Ballet, Signature Theatre, Choral Arts Society, and other performing arts groups based in the Washington area. All of these exciting developments, and the continuing maturation of support from new Washington area corporations, are strong indications that in the next years Washington will continue to experience a renaissance in its cultural life. Artists from around the world will no doubt find new reasons to call the nation’s capital their home.

NEW CHALLENGES

There is ample reason to be optimistic about the future of the arts in the nation’s capital. Certainly, visitors and residents alike have increasing opportunities to enjoy music, ballet, opera, theater, and other performances in and around the city. At the same time, though, there are some rather daunting challenges.

First, an interesting paradox has emerged. During the formative years of the 1960s, while the arts scene reflected a story of struggling artists and institutions, the state of arts education was stronger than it has ever been since. Music and art were an important part of the school curriculum and most school systems employed supervisors for art and music who reported to the superintendent. Today, principals and teachers generally are not held accountable by school boards and superintendents for standards of arts education. All too often, schools must make the choice that one public high school principal was faced with last year in his annual budget—create two new janitorial positions to meet stricter new standards of building maintenance, or hire a music teacher.

Around the country, arts education in public schools is inadequate and undervalued. For the arts to flourish in American cities in the future, the children of today will have to receive the same grounding in music, dance, theater, and the visual arts that previous generations received. In the Washington area, the Washington Performing Arts Society currently sponsors free performances in over 300 local public and parochial schools, but the need for year-round arts education is great.

Second, there is a critical lack of space for new theaters, rehearsal studios, and affordable housing for artists. While the challenge is not insurmountable, it will take a heightened awareness of the economic impact of the arts by local elected officials to bring positive change in this area. Cities such as San Jose, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York have provided significant incentives to artists and arts organizations to live and work in their downtown areas, an increasingly effective strategy to reinvigorate these areas for residents and tourists. In the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, the city of Silver Spring and Arlington County have successfully wooed important artistic companies as part of their economic development strategies. The District of Columbia government lags behind in recognizing the arts as an important ingredient in economic development and quality of life.

Third, and perhaps most worrisome, the outcome of the recent debate on the future of the estate tax could have a profound effect on the ability of arts organizations to identify the resources needed to enrich their communities. As a country, we have created a model for the sustenance of non-profit institutions that has given us world prominence in the arts, education, medicine, and science. Historically, US tax laws encouraged charitable giving by providing tax incentives to individuals to redistribute their wealth to worthy causes. There is no government intervention needed, or government decision on how to reallocate these assets. Arts patrons simply had a strong incentive to give generously to their favorite arts groups. If the estate tax is ultimately eliminated, will future generations of the financially well-heeled be motivated to establish foundations to support the arts?

Estate tax laws helped spawn a new generation of national foundations, many of which have been strong supporters of the arts. The Doris Duke Foundation, the Park Foundation, and the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Foundation, for example, have made significant contributions to the artistic welfare of our community. Add to this the dramatic increase in Washington area foundations that have emerged and there is a compelling argument for the continuation of the laws that have helped shape charitable giving in our country. As non-profit leaders begin to contemplate a future with fewer incentives for charitable giving, new strategies are beginning to emerge. Recent efforts have focused on making a compelling case for the economic and social impact of the 17,000 area-wide non-profit organizations on the quality of life in the Washington area, and to recruiting a stronger pool of executives to lead our organizations. To address these issues collectively, the Non-Profit Roundtable of Greater Washington was formed in 2000 by a coalition of foundation executives and non-profit leaders.

As we look back to the formative years of the Washington, DC, arts community, we should celebrate the decisions made by the federal government and private foundations to encourage the creative process in our country. A motto for that time might be the one attributed to Miss Madeira of the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia, who urged her young students to “function in disaster and finish in style.” Arts groups may always operate on slim margins, and arts funding may always be in crisis mode. But this, perhaps, is the non-profit way of life. Despite these latest challenges, the enormous growth in the number of arts groups in and around Washington suggests a bright future, at least to one impresario who started out some time ago on G Street, Northwest.

Douglas H. Wheeler (CC ’00) has worked in the field of arts administration since 1964. Since 1982, he has been president of the Washington Performing Arts Society, one of the nation’s first non-profit, independent, arts-presenting organizations.

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