When Dave Fleming was Executive Director of the major performing arts center in Austin TX, Larry Gatlin of The Gatlin Brothers became a friend. Gatlin was waxing philosophic one evening and delivered a phrase that now is prophetic: “You spend half your life trying to get out of town....and the other half fighting your way back.”
Fleming, who was hired as ED of The Grand in 1982, held that position for a decade. He left Wilmington for a bigger theatre and opportunity in New Brunswick NJ. Then on to Austin, Green Bay and the Berkshires as leader of performing arts venues.
Now Dave's Great Mandala brings him back to his hometown and back to The Grand as Development Director.
Though recently living in Massachusetts, Dave and high school sweetheart wife Cathy had kept in touch with Delaware events through the decades. He was aware of the financial stress of The Grand and reached out to friend and colleague ED Steve Bailey. Dave wanted to write a letter to the editor about the desperate need for performing arts in the community. During the conversation, Bailey asked what Dave was doing. “Well, I'm retired....and I am b-o-r-e-d.”
Bailey responded, “Come back to The Grand, man. We need you.”
Dave and I attended Brandywine High together in the '60's. In fact, we were in the first ever Brandywine High Alumni Theatre Association production of “Carnival”., in 1968. (It must be noted that dear sister Liz portrayed 'The Bearded Lady' of the circus, undeniably her most compelling stage role. While she had no speaking lines, Liz brought great pathos to her hirsute character. People talk about it even today.)
In the hippie '70's Dave and I worked together with Earth Shoes in Washington D.C. When I saw him last week at a Grand fund raiser, I exclaimed, 'What in the world are you doing here?”
The House of Medici, the imperious and iron fisted rulers of The Grand during the '90's were long gone. If tar and feathering were legal, their sycophantic Executive Director would have been escorted out of town in this fashion, with Aisle Say leading the charge.
Steve Bailey took over the reins in what Fleming has called “the toughest environment I have ever witnessed. Only now are we seeing the appearance of some light.”
Aisle Say was in attendance the night of the unveiling of the 2011 $10 million capital campaign. Philanthropist Tatiana Copeland announced that she and her husband would donate $1 million each. With others chipping in, that night concluded with 45% of the deal done.
One of Fleming's jobs will be to go after those smaller, annual donors; the ones that were ignored during the Medici era. He understands that The Grand must return to a broad base of support. I need to “make connections”, “bring people back in the fold”.
Regarding The Queen: “It is our greatest fear is that it will not be successful.” The two venues are sharing and comparing notes. With the massive amount of money being poured into The Queen and the hopes for linking Market Street from the Riverfront to Rodney Square, it's failure would be death knell for revitalization.
On the perception of downtown Wilmington, Dave had an interesting take. “Crime occurs when there are few people around. Frankly, the more people on the street, the less likelihood of crime. Therefore, if The Queen brings even more people to their box office, both our entities will prosper...as will our city. Then, that perception will dissipate.”
(Note: I was in a network meeting with Marty Hageman, CEO of Downtown Visions. He had statistics to substantiate that the Market Street hub is the safest place in the city.)
Says Fleming: “I care deeply about live theatre. I love my home town. I love re-connecting with old friends. I think I bring some talents to Steve and The Grand from my own professional experiences. My goal is to put The Grand on a sustainable path.”
Showing posts with label the queen theatrre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the queen theatrre. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
World Cafe Live will "Light Up The Queen"
Rob and Chris Buccini, Mayor Baker's best friends, have stated that the rehabilitation of The Queen Theatre at 5th & Market Street is their most important project ever. For two gentlemen who have radically transformed Wilmington's cityscape, who have multiple hotel properties in VA and MA and a presence in China, that's quite a quote.
In addition to what The Queen will offer to Delawareans, it's location is strategic as well – dead center in the middle of Market, linking the hub of the city to the Riverfront.
“Lighting up The Queen” is scheduled for April I. Having The Queen a satellite of Philly's popular World Cafe Live was crucial to the venture. Here's some background.
In 1998 music lover and lawyer Hal Real approached WXPN/88.5, U of Penn Radio Station. He was a huge fan of DJ David Dye's widely acclaimed World Cafe show, an eclectic blend of new music, live performances and interviews featuring local and national acts. The show was broadcast over 200 stations nationwide.
Real wanted to “radically change the landscape for contemporary artists and audiences”. His idea was to create World Cafe Live, a for profit venue for grownups that was the physical extension of the experience World Cafe listeners had in their homes.
Six years and $15 million later, World Cafe Live's concert and dining opened near the Penn campus. The radio station moved in the same building.
World Cafe Live employs 80 people, mounts about 550 shows annually showcasing 1200 artists. Meanwhile, on the non-profit radio side, XPN has grown exponentially, employing 25 people, embracing 25,000 dues paying members and 300,000 loyal regional listeners. It gains adherents by the very physical presence of the venue.
The two partners are under the same roof sharing a common passion for music but they operate independently. XPN licenses the World Cafe Live name to Real Entertainment for an annual fee.
This unique and innovative for-profit/nonprofit partnership has been so successful it has been dubbed the model for future relationships between public broadcasters and private enterprise.
I am not sure who sought out whom for The Queen, but having World Cafe Live installed here creates instant market credibility with both XPN's member base and the international music community. Thousands of Delawareans listen to XPN daily.
With the licensing money from the Hal Real, XPN has been able to extend their brand. They can offer higher quality, bigger bands and more bands. Musicians play at World Cafe Live and are interviewed on the station. That's convenience. Additionally, XPN is adding new affiliates; Dallas, LA and Milwaukee just this year.
For the consumer, how two separate entities with two disparate missions work together is irrelevant. The fact is they do...quite successfully. The commonality of purpose is born in their passion for music. Together they have created this tres cool 'clubhouse' for the music, the arts and the general community.
The Non-COMM Convention, a major event for the music industry, will be hosted by The Queen this year. Real had attended the conference for a decade and then acquired the rights. It is now wholly owned by WXPN. The timing was perfect for this year. Wilmington will be host to many important personages in the industry and some major music names; an energizing send off for the facility.
The Buccini brothers hope that The Queen will be the rock thrown in the pond; that The Queen will become the center of Wilmington's creative universe and the ripple effect will be felt by us all.
For the acts this year visit Queen.worldcafelive.com/
In addition to what The Queen will offer to Delawareans, it's location is strategic as well – dead center in the middle of Market, linking the hub of the city to the Riverfront.
“Lighting up The Queen” is scheduled for April I. Having The Queen a satellite of Philly's popular World Cafe Live was crucial to the venture. Here's some background.
In 1998 music lover and lawyer Hal Real approached WXPN/88.5, U of Penn Radio Station. He was a huge fan of DJ David Dye's widely acclaimed World Cafe show, an eclectic blend of new music, live performances and interviews featuring local and national acts. The show was broadcast over 200 stations nationwide.
Real wanted to “radically change the landscape for contemporary artists and audiences”. His idea was to create World Cafe Live, a for profit venue for grownups that was the physical extension of the experience World Cafe listeners had in their homes.
Six years and $15 million later, World Cafe Live's concert and dining opened near the Penn campus. The radio station moved in the same building.
World Cafe Live employs 80 people, mounts about 550 shows annually showcasing 1200 artists. Meanwhile, on the non-profit radio side, XPN has grown exponentially, employing 25 people, embracing 25,000 dues paying members and 300,000 loyal regional listeners. It gains adherents by the very physical presence of the venue.
The two partners are under the same roof sharing a common passion for music but they operate independently. XPN licenses the World Cafe Live name to Real Entertainment for an annual fee.
This unique and innovative for-profit/nonprofit partnership has been so successful it has been dubbed the model for future relationships between public broadcasters and private enterprise.
I am not sure who sought out whom for The Queen, but having World Cafe Live installed here creates instant market credibility with both XPN's member base and the international music community. Thousands of Delawareans listen to XPN daily.
With the licensing money from the Hal Real, XPN has been able to extend their brand. They can offer higher quality, bigger bands and more bands. Musicians play at World Cafe Live and are interviewed on the station. That's convenience. Additionally, XPN is adding new affiliates; Dallas, LA and Milwaukee just this year.
For the consumer, how two separate entities with two disparate missions work together is irrelevant. The fact is they do...quite successfully. The commonality of purpose is born in their passion for music. Together they have created this tres cool 'clubhouse' for the music, the arts and the general community.
The Non-COMM Convention, a major event for the music industry, will be hosted by The Queen this year. Real had attended the conference for a decade and then acquired the rights. It is now wholly owned by WXPN. The timing was perfect for this year. Wilmington will be host to many important personages in the industry and some major music names; an energizing send off for the facility.
The Buccini brothers hope that The Queen will be the rock thrown in the pond; that The Queen will become the center of Wilmington's creative universe and the ripple effect will be felt by us all.
For the acts this year visit Queen.worldcafelive.com/
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Queen Theatre Groundbreaking
“A year from now, downtown Wilmington will be a different place.”
Bill Taylor, Light Up The Queen Foundation executive director ended our conversation last week on this confident note. A testimony to his vision or his hubris? Time will tell.
The Queen breaks ground on its $24 million renovation 10 a.m. Oct. 2, Aisle Say is the first to report. A spate of dignitaries with ceremonial hard hats and silver tipped shovels will be on display that day followed by what Taylor describes as “the biggest street party in the history of Wilmington.”
A great accomplishment, this fund raising, this corralling of public and private resources, this incorporation of Hal Real of Philly's World Cafe Live into the entertainment mix.
But it's not about the money, and the single biggest threat to its success has never been material.
It's always been that amorphous dreaded "perception" of downtown after dark -- the same problem that has hovered above Market Street for decades like the wispy apparitions from “Ghostbusters.”
Is Wilmington safe after 5 p.m.?
This is the fundamental issue that must be resolved to the public's satisfaction. Nothing else comes close. And perception, dear readers, is most difficult to quantify and reconcile. The question has haunted downtown since Rob and Chris Buccini were in lower school at Wilmington Friends and our riverfront was a desolate toxic graveyard of shipbuilding sites.
Steve Bailey, The Grand executive director, says the facts are clear: Wilmington is a much safer downtown than the majority of cities its size. Even so, people are fearful.
Thus, Taylor's adamant statement that substantive relief – think John Wayne as a calvary captain in “Fort Apache” – is over the horizon.
“We have made a major investment in safety and police protection,” he says. “There will be police patrolling on foot and bike. When The Queen opens, there will be security guards in and around the venue at all times. Our success is based on safety.”
Buccini Pollin Group has invested tens of millions of dollars in the city. They have staked their personal reputations on downtown's success.
For Rob Buccini, The Queen, at 5th & Market streets is the centerpiece of downtown, linking their Residences of Rodney Square apartments to Justison Landing and their high rise and low rise developments on the Riverfront. Even now, construction is in full swing to turn the Great Room of The Residences into a new restaurant, The Publick House. Across the street at the former WSFS headquarters, the BPGroup is deciding what to do with this property. Once proposed as a boutique hotel, those plans have been dropped.
The 18-month Queen construction project will eventually house a venue for 800 guests and a restaurant serving 200 -- not unlike the World Cafe Live in Philly. There will be private event spaces on the Market Street side and studios for a WXPN satellite radio station. Giving back with a plethora of education is in the mix as well.
For more information, visit LightUpTheQueen.org
Bill Taylor, Light Up The Queen Foundation executive director ended our conversation last week on this confident note. A testimony to his vision or his hubris? Time will tell.
The Queen breaks ground on its $24 million renovation 10 a.m. Oct. 2, Aisle Say is the first to report. A spate of dignitaries with ceremonial hard hats and silver tipped shovels will be on display that day followed by what Taylor describes as “the biggest street party in the history of Wilmington.”
A great accomplishment, this fund raising, this corralling of public and private resources, this incorporation of Hal Real of Philly's World Cafe Live into the entertainment mix.
But it's not about the money, and the single biggest threat to its success has never been material.
It's always been that amorphous dreaded "perception" of downtown after dark -- the same problem that has hovered above Market Street for decades like the wispy apparitions from “Ghostbusters.”
Is Wilmington safe after 5 p.m.?
This is the fundamental issue that must be resolved to the public's satisfaction. Nothing else comes close. And perception, dear readers, is most difficult to quantify and reconcile. The question has haunted downtown since Rob and Chris Buccini were in lower school at Wilmington Friends and our riverfront was a desolate toxic graveyard of shipbuilding sites.
Steve Bailey, The Grand executive director, says the facts are clear: Wilmington is a much safer downtown than the majority of cities its size. Even so, people are fearful.
Thus, Taylor's adamant statement that substantive relief – think John Wayne as a calvary captain in “Fort Apache” – is over the horizon.
“We have made a major investment in safety and police protection,” he says. “There will be police patrolling on foot and bike. When The Queen opens, there will be security guards in and around the venue at all times. Our success is based on safety.”
Buccini Pollin Group has invested tens of millions of dollars in the city. They have staked their personal reputations on downtown's success.
For Rob Buccini, The Queen, at 5th & Market streets is the centerpiece of downtown, linking their Residences of Rodney Square apartments to Justison Landing and their high rise and low rise developments on the Riverfront. Even now, construction is in full swing to turn the Great Room of The Residences into a new restaurant, The Publick House. Across the street at the former WSFS headquarters, the BPGroup is deciding what to do with this property. Once proposed as a boutique hotel, those plans have been dropped.
The 18-month Queen construction project will eventually house a venue for 800 guests and a restaurant serving 200 -- not unlike the World Cafe Live in Philly. There will be private event spaces on the Market Street side and studios for a WXPN satellite radio station. Giving back with a plethora of education is in the mix as well.
For more information, visit LightUpTheQueen.org
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The State of Wilmington Delaware May 09
Last week's State of Wilmington 2009 seemed more like a motivational seminar to convince ourselves that we are a World Class city than a budget address.
The event opened with a video retrospective of the last 15 years, then Mayor James Baker and Gov. Jack Markell addressed the 200 mostly business and arts people in attendance.
“States must balance our budgets. We can't print money like Washington,” said Markell. In the midst of the state's economic crisis, he asked for all to work together. And, he had some interesting stats regarding the arts:
* Each $1 state donation to the arts creates $7 in economic activity
* The arts bring $142 million annually to our economy, creating $10 million revenue to the state
Hal Real, founder and president of Philly's World Cafe Live also spoke enthusiastically about Wilmington's Queen Theatre renovation as a World Cafe satellite.
As a native Wilmingtonian, Aisle Say remembers the popcorn machines and the creaky floors of the Dry Goods, motion pictures at The Queen and The Warner, crullers at Federal Bakery and the A & P Market where my mother shopped. My father took me to the ribbon cutting of I-95 and I saw JFK two weeks before the assassination.
Yet for decades, downtown after 5 p.m. has been the urban equivalent of Antarctica.
I asked myself where will the people come from to frequent the revitalized Queen? Real may have suggested the beginning of an answer when he quoted these figures to buttress his case for choosing Wilmington:
* Wilmington is within a 90-minute radius of the nation's greatest population concentration
* World Cafe's radio station, XPN, is the nation's most popular syndicated pop-rock-contemporary show. One would imagine the station will be touting Wilmington heavily.
* World Cafe Live lives off emerging acts -- read: “cheap to book.”
The Philly venue is incredibly profitable and has many community outreach services. Work on the Wilmington extension will begin in 90 days and is estimated to take 20 months to complete.
Other economic tidbits
Christiana Care Vice President of Communications Michelle Schiavone presented an impressive video on the $205 million dollar expansion of Wilmington Hospital. Upon completion, it will be three times the space of the existing hospital, add a new nine-story tower, 13 operating rooms and add 600 new jobs. Completion date is 2012.
Still no concrete word on a hotel to accommodate Chase Center conferees.
A representative from the Riverfront Development Corporation responded to an inquiry regarding an exit from I-95 northbound. It's not going to happen. More likely is an eventual bridge over the Christina River connecting to I-495.
The event opened with a video retrospective of the last 15 years, then Mayor James Baker and Gov. Jack Markell addressed the 200 mostly business and arts people in attendance.
“States must balance our budgets. We can't print money like Washington,” said Markell. In the midst of the state's economic crisis, he asked for all to work together. And, he had some interesting stats regarding the arts:
* Each $1 state donation to the arts creates $7 in economic activity
* The arts bring $142 million annually to our economy, creating $10 million revenue to the state
Hal Real, founder and president of Philly's World Cafe Live also spoke enthusiastically about Wilmington's Queen Theatre renovation as a World Cafe satellite.
As a native Wilmingtonian, Aisle Say remembers the popcorn machines and the creaky floors of the Dry Goods, motion pictures at The Queen and The Warner, crullers at Federal Bakery and the A & P Market where my mother shopped. My father took me to the ribbon cutting of I-95 and I saw JFK two weeks before the assassination.
Yet for decades, downtown after 5 p.m. has been the urban equivalent of Antarctica.
I asked myself where will the people come from to frequent the revitalized Queen? Real may have suggested the beginning of an answer when he quoted these figures to buttress his case for choosing Wilmington:
* Wilmington is within a 90-minute radius of the nation's greatest population concentration
* World Cafe's radio station, XPN, is the nation's most popular syndicated pop-rock-contemporary show. One would imagine the station will be touting Wilmington heavily.
* World Cafe Live lives off emerging acts -- read: “cheap to book.”
The Philly venue is incredibly profitable and has many community outreach services. Work on the Wilmington extension will begin in 90 days and is estimated to take 20 months to complete.
Other economic tidbits
Christiana Care Vice President of Communications Michelle Schiavone presented an impressive video on the $205 million dollar expansion of Wilmington Hospital. Upon completion, it will be three times the space of the existing hospital, add a new nine-story tower, 13 operating rooms and add 600 new jobs. Completion date is 2012.
Still no concrete word on a hotel to accommodate Chase Center conferees.
A representative from the Riverfront Development Corporation responded to an inquiry regarding an exit from I-95 northbound. It's not going to happen. More likely is an eventual bridge over the Christina River connecting to I-495.
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