Profile: Young actor tries to fulfill dead mother’s wish

A SON’S QUEST, A MOTHER’S WISH
An actor leaves home to make his family’s dream a reality

It’s Thursday, and despite the heat, Broughton Street is teeming with people. Pedestrians move at their own rhythm, some ambling, others walking or scurrying. Whatever the pace, people move with a sense of purposefulness even under the harsh midday sun.

Amid this hot and bustling tableau is Anthony Paderewski, star of “Shear Madness,” the summer production of the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina on Hilton Head Island. He stands at the bar of B&D Burgers, where fetching waitresses give fleet-footed customers their orders.

Looking at him, you see a handsome young man waiting patiently for his lunch partner. His hair is freshly cut and stylishly gelled. His shirt is made of cool white linen. His green eyes are set off by his clear, tanned face.

But a closer look reveals a sign of the paradox of this young man’s life. In order to pursue the dream of being an actor, and to fulfill his dead mother’s wish that he follow that dream, he must leave his beloved hometown, a place that for him, despite the buzz of its tree-lined thoroughfare, holds no future.

“I would love to stay in Savannah,” Paderewski said. “But there’s nothing worse than not following your dream. I don’t want to regret anything”

The sign, floating above his head, simply reads, “To Go.”

AN ACTOR’S ADDICTION
As Paderewski came up through the ranks of Savannah’s theater scene, there was one thing his parents and teachers recognized above all else - a commitment to his craft and dogged determination to make something of it.

“I saw the ability to keep hammering away until he gets to where he needs to be,” said Michael Moynihan, who taught drama to Paderewski at Johnson High School. “I was always impressed by his hard work.”

He wasn’t always sold on acting, however. He was mostly a technician - of lighting, design and construction - in the slew of school and community theater productions he was involved in throughout adolescence. A lust for acting came only after graduating from high school and enrolling at Armstrong Atlantic State University.

“After that, acting became my dream,” Paderewski said. “I couldn’t think of anything else I could do.”

The play that turned it all around was “Beyond Therapy,” a comedy by Christopher Durang. Paderewski played a gay man whose lover tries to act straight by dating women. He discovered a commanding stage presence and a crucial sense of comic timing.

“I fell in love with the laughter,” Paderewski said. “It’s addicting to have that effect on people.”

From there, Paderewski took leading roles in a variety of plays, notably “Little Shop of Horrors” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

With “Streetcar,” Paderewski aimed to stretch beyond comedy’s goofs and gags.

“I wanted to cover the emotional spectrum of a character,” Paderewski said.

His portrayal of Stanley Kowalski, Tennessee Williams’ complex protagonist, impressed director Kirk White enough to invite Paderewski to audition for a spot on the cast of “Shear Madness.”

“Shear Madness” is a comic mystery in which the audience helps solve a murder. Its “choose-your-own-ending” concept has drawn some 6 million people over the years. Paderewski was offered the part of Detective Mikey Thomas, bumbling sidekick of the straight-faced cop played by White.

Opening night of “Shear Madness” on June 17 began a seven-week run that would launch Paderewski’s professional career on the biggest stage in the region. It was important for another reason. It was the birthday of his mother, Marilyn, who last year died of cancer.

OCEAN BOUND
Seated in a booth at B&D Burgers, Paderewski, now 28, orders a half-pound cheeseburger with french fries. As we talk about his past roles, the state of theater in Savannah and “Shear Madness,” he mentions casually his mother’s untimely death, adding that she wanted him to follow his dream of being an actor.

As he says this, his eyes blaze with a will so strong as to convince anyone, however cynical, to believe him when he says, “I’m going to be something and no one is going to stop me.”

Paderewski was very close to Marilyn, according to Allen Paderewski, his father. In life, she was her son’s driving force. In death, she became no less powerful. Perhaps, even more so.

“Her final words were to pursue your dream,” Allen said. “She always told him not to give up.”

To fulfill Marilyn’s dying wish, Paderewski must leave his family and friends.

“There is ‘Jukebox Journey,’ but that is not open to auditions and it is the same show,” Paderewski said, assessing job options. “There’s Community Theater, but that can’t pay the bills.”

Having to leave home is sad but part of an actor’s reality, says former teacher Moynihan.

“You must be realistic,” Moynihan said. “There are only two places in the country where someone can pursue acting. Even people acting in movies filmed in Georgia and South Carolina are cast out of New York and Los Angeles.”

Regional theaters such the Arts Center supply steady work, but Moynihan believes Paderewski’s ambition outstrips them.

“He’s got the work ethic, desire and looks to carry him wherever he needs to go,” Moynihan said.

Allen Paderewski agrees.

“He’s got the pizzazz, charisma, ability, the whole package,” Allen said, adding that he is “very proud.”

After “Shear Madness” closes on Aug. 6, Paderewski plans to sign with an agent in Charleston who will put together what is called a “demo reel,” or visual resume, and line up auditions for theatrical productions, movies, commercials and any project in which he can get paid to act.

“Wherever I need to go I will go,” Paderewski said. “You can’t be a big fish in a little pond. At some point, you have to go out into the ocean.”

Savannah Morning News
July 19, 2005

Telfair Museum: Museum aims to change its image

TELFAIR MUSEUM OF ART AIMS TO CHANGE ITS IMAGE
Stung by charges of elitism, it is undertaking programs that reach out to the community as a whole

Late last year, Mayor Otis Johnson and Savannah City Council did something that sent shock waves through the Telfair Museum of Art.

They decided against underwriting two of the museum’s community outreach programs, “Four Free Weeks” and “Family Sundays.”

Aldermen questioned whether the programs were a good use of taxpayer dollars. It was unclear to them if the programs were effective in reaching disadvantaged African-Americans, especially adolescents.

More than $61,000 was tabled pending further review.

The move signaled a vexing issue for the 120-year-old museum: how to combat a public image as an elitist institution - exclusive, high-brow, inaccessible, anti-democratic.

It’s an issue that plagues art museums across the country, said Barbara Archer, a former curator at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

Museums that do not acknowledge the problem and move to overcome a troubled public image can expect to continue alienating those who perceive them as elitist, she said.

“There are a handful of people who support museums in a serious way,” Archer said. “If they don’t fix the problem, then all those wonderful exhibits will never be enjoyed by most people.”

The Telfair’s problematic public image may come in part from its history.

Mary Telfair, who bequeathed the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences to establish a monument to Western art and culture, came from a powerful, privileged Southern family whose holdings made them one of the largest slave owners in Georgia.

Her family owned more than 600 slaves. For many, that fact alone makes her gift not a legacy to creativity, community involvement and civic responsibility, but a memorial to cultural separatism, white power and black disenfranchisement.

Recent developments have served to compound the problem.

The opening of the $24.5 million Jepson Center for the Arts in March and news of an endowment now exceeding $23 million have perhaps deepened the image of the South’s oldest art museum as the preserve of rich whites rather than poor and middle-class blacks.

RECOGNIZING THE PROBLEM
As the new president of the Telfair’s board of trustees, John G. Kennedy III has said his goal is to boost membership to 5,000.

So far, membership, spurred by the Jepson’s opening, has doubled since the beginning of the year to 3,600.But Kennedy, whose tenure began this spring with a search for a new executive director, is aiming higher.

He wants the Telfair to have the level of community ownership the public library system has. Tens of thousands of Chatham County residents have library cards, he said. With all the Telfair has to offer, including the new center for the arts, he sees no reason why it cannot successfully make the case that it exists to serve the community.

But to achieve this, he said, the Telfair’s image problem must be addressed.

“We need to market the museum to be viewed as inclusive, not exclusive,” Kennedy said. “The big push is to make the community aware of what we have to offer.”

That the leadership of the Telfair acknowledges the need to do more to convince people, especially the African-American community, of its openness and egalitarianism signals a change in policy, one likely to impact the museum’s search for a new director.

Diane Lesko announced in May she was resigning as executive director at the end of October. One of the “critical issues” the new director faces is the ability to “energetically engage in aggressive outreach” to city and county officials, schools, the Convention & Visitors Bureau and businesses and organizations around the city, according to a document compiled by the search committee called the “director’s description.”

Another key need, according to the document, is “the ability to energize a widely diverse community while building a positive image and lasting relationships with the TMA.” Moreover, it’s essential the new director be able to “work in politically sensitive situations.”

“This institution reflects the values of our time,” Kennedy said. “Just one look at the Jepson tells you it’s open and welcoming.”

FINDING SOLUTIONS
Part of the Telfair’s awareness-raising campaign was convincing City Council of its merits.

The museum paid out of pocket for the first two Family Sundays (there are four annually). But by summertime, when the third Sunday was scheduled, museum officials feared having to cancel the program for the first time in more than 20 years. The Telfair doesn’t make money during its free programs; in fact, it loses it, because tourists pay nothing as well.

Walter O. Evans, a member of the Telfair’s board of trustees and one of the most prominent collectors of African-American art in the country, lobbied hard to convince City Council that the museum’s prolific outreach programs and exhibits are indeed attracting diverse audiences.

City Manager Michael Brown corroborated the claim in a June report showing nearly 4,700 African-Americans - more than half of the total number of patrons - took part in “Four Free Weeks” in 2005. (3,438 were white; 252 were Asian or Hispanic.)

Without fanfare, City Council voted to reverse its earlier decision, restoring the money before a July 6 council session.

Harry DeLorme admits the Telfair is undergoing a transition of leadership as well as establishing a persona of egalitarianism.

But as the museum’s curator of education for the past 18 years, he insists the transition has been happening for a long time.

The Telfair reached about 6,000 schoolchildren last year and expects to bring even more in to the Jepson Center’s classes, workshops and seminars.

“We’ve always offered programs to provide greater access and opportunities for education,” he said.

Still, some changes are a direct result of City Council’s early skepticism.

In response to the city’s desire to see more programming for adolescents, Telfair curators are creating a Teen Advisory Council to help design educational programming and exhibits intended to appeal to teenagers.

The museum is poised to launch a quarterly film series for children that DeLorme said he hopes will gain enough traction to be presented on a monthly basis.

It has also streamlined its 2007 proposals for city funding to be more collaborative with other city-sponsored events, such as the Savannah Asian Festival and the Black Heritage Festival.

One indirect solution to the image problem is the formation of the Friends of African-American Arts, an auxiliary board to the Telfair’s board of trustees.

Chaired by Shonah Jefferson, a lawyer with Hunter Maclean, the group makes its official debut during the Oct. 11 opening of the Telfair’s retrospective on the work of Sam Gilliam, one of the country’s leading African-American artists.

“Our mission is to raise awareness of the importance of the Telfair to the African-American community and the importance of the African-American community to the Telfair,” Jefferson said.

“Given that Savannah has a more than 50 percent black majority, it’s important to know the Telfair is everyone’s museum.”

Savannah Morning News
September 4, 2006

Cover story: Outsourcing classical music in Savannah

THE BUSINESS OF (NOT HAVING) A SYMPHONY
Outsourcing classical music in the wake of a symphony’s demise

Sitting on a lawn chair, Michael Daly was among roughly 3,000 people at this year’s “Picnic in the Park.” The 39-year-old French hornist watched as audience members sang melodies to “Guys & Dolls,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “The Sound of Music” in the twilight of Forsyth Park.

When the music stopped, the crowd was on its feet. It was a heartening ovation that recalled a time when the Savannah Symphony Orchestra (SSO), of which Daly was a member, was the object of such affection.

“Classical music is alive and well in Savannah,” said the emcee.

Indeed, it may be. But not for people like Daly.

Even though there’s more classical music scheduled this season than at any other time since the SSO went bankrupt two and half years ago, Daly and his SSO colleagues are not playing most of it. As the city continues to lose its corps of professional musicians, a trend toward importing classical musicians is beginning to emerge.

Just as outsourcing changed the economic landscape of America by sending hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas, outsourcing could have a significant impact on the cultural landscape of Savannah by importing labor - orchestras, chamber groups and scores of freelancers - that could displace local musicians.

Daly was hired to play, but then mysteriously “unhired,” he said, replaced by a French hornist from Florida. In fact, most of the 45-member Picnic in the Park Orchestra were imported from Charleston, Hilton Head, Brunswick and Valdosta.

Outsourcing has always been around in one form or other. Outside musicians and ensembles have always played in Savannah and musicians here have and still do play in orchestras in surrounding cities.

But recently, a new kind of labor pattern has emerged.

In September, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra announced it would play three concerts at the Lucas Theatre starting on Sept. 25. The move sparked a wave of developments.

Four other orchestras from New York City, Atlanta, Charleston and Hilton Head Island followed in Jacksonville’s steps. This season and next, therefore, will be the first in 50 years that outside organizations have offered more orchestral music than any local organization.

The ramifications of outsourcing have yet to be fully understood, but one thing is for certain. Because this new trend is so cost-effective, it’s unlikely to stop. What’s more, if it continues to grow in popularity it could ultimately undermine the need for the city to have its own resident orchestra.

“It’s open season on Savannah,” said John Warren, former head of the local musician’s union.

“What do you expect?”
If the situation is as bad as that, Warren and other union leaders may have to take some of the blame.

In fall 2003, a group of patrons, led by former SSO board president Dorothy Courington, offered to underwrite a per-service orchestra with a standard pay-scale and a six-concert season. Warren refused the idea, however, citing that “per-service” meant working with no salary or benefits.

“It wasn’t the direction we wanted to go in,” Warren said.

After the meeting, the coalition split.

In one direction was Courington and John Steeves, who began importing classical musicians under the banner of the Savannah Concert Association. Steeves, president of the group, has expressed hope for a reorganized SSO, while Courington has said that since Warren and others opposed to the per-service idea have left town, now may be the time to try again.

“There was no cooperation at that time,” Courington said.

In the other direction was Helen Downing, a respected arts patron. She and others decided to continue pursuing a restored symphony.

In retrospect, it’s no surprise the union refused the per-service offer. Warren was holding out for the return of a full-time symphony. But a per-service group might have been enough to stymie interest in capitalizing on the absence of a local symphony, said Jacksonville Symphony’s executive director, Alan Hopper.

“If there were momentum to bring back the orchestra, we probably would not have come,” Hopper said.

Nevertheless, the Jacksonville Symphony’s presence may benefit local musicians by rekindling interest in the art form, said Julie Kirchhausen, spokesperson for the trade group American Symphony Orchestra League, located in New York City.

Having a resident orchestra and visiting orchestra, she said, need not be mutual exclusive notions.

“Ideally, there would be room for both,” Kirchhausen said.

Lorraine Jones, an SSO flutist, believes outsourcing negatively impacts her life, but concedes that the Jacksonville concerts may increase awareness.

“It makes the point that there is no orchestra here,” Jones said.

Ultimately, though, outsourcing boils down to job loss or job creation. The fact is there is some of both.

While some SSO musicians find work performing with the concert association and the Savannah Music Festival, others ironically find work playing in local concerts by the orchestras from Jacksonville, Charleston and Hilton Head Island.

As for job loss, said Terry Moore, SSO associate concertmaster and current union head, the reality is this: As the number of Savannah musicians dwindle, organizers may opt to bring full orchestras to town that do not need extra musicians.

Case in point is next year’s music festival, Moore said. In the past, it historically reserved jobs for SSO members. These days, however, there are fewer musicians left in town. It’s no wonder, Moore said, that the festival hired quality ensembles such as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and New York Collegium, both self-contained groups with no need for supplementation.

“It’s a loss for freelancers,” Moore said. “But what do you expect?”

So, when did outsourcing begin?
Outsourcing began in April 2003, when the SSO filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Afterwards, John Warren sent letters to the American Federation of Musicians in Charleston and Jacksonville urging them not to perform in Savannah while there was still a possibility of re-forming the SSO.

As leader of the local union, Warren feared concerts performed by groups other than the SSO would undermine efforts to revive the symphony. He also feared Savannahians wouldn’t care where music comes from, just as long as they could hear it.

At the same time, Thornton Clark, a former SSO board president, arranged for busloads of Savannahians, mostly residents of The Landings, to be driven to concerts in Jacksonville, Charleston and on Hilton Head Island.

The reason was “to provide some symphonic music … while we have no symphony of our own,” Clark said in a November 2004 e-mail.

In the same e-mail, Clark said he had dinner with the president of the Jacksonville Symphony. Clark said in an interview that subsequent discussions with the symphony’s executive director, Alan Hopper, centered on Savannah venues in which the group might perform.

“As a regional orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony is able to serve outlying communities,” Hopper said in a September press release announcing a trio of concerts at the Lucas. “Increasing numbers of Savannah residents have been traveling to Jacksonville, so we are very pleased to be welcomed into the community.”

Meanwhile, the Savannah Concert Association began to import musicians to perform at the Lucas Theatre. The most notable of these was Charles Wadsworth, founder of New York City’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and a director at Charleston’s Spoleto Festival USA. Wadsworth’s appearances filled “the gap in the cultural life of Savannah,” said John Steeves, president of the concert association.

While all this was going on, SSO players continued to leave town. Little by little they found jobs and lives elsewhere. Among them were Warren and his bassoonist wife, Laura Najarian. In July, they moved to Atlanta, where she got a job with that’s city orchestra.

Their departure left 19 of the SSO’s original 38 members in town.

Union officials in Jacksonville obliged Warren’s request as long as they could. But the more that Savannahians attended concerts there, the more management saw a business opportunity here. With no new local symphony on the horizon, Warren said, the union had “no moral problem” with management’s plans to play here.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to play for a new audience,” Hopper said in an interview.

 A culture of ownership
On Sept. 25, the Jacksonville Symphony concert was a sell-out, which suggested two things. One, orchestral music has lost none of its appeal. And two, Warren’s fears may have come true: People really don’t care who provides music, just as long as they can hear it.

But the larger issue of outsourcing boils down to one thing. It’s far cheaper than paying for orchestral music at home.

Just as paying workers in Malaysia to make T-shirts is cheaper than paying workers in America, it’s cheaper to import a dozen or so concerts than it is to fund, administrate, govern and market a hometown symphony.

How cheap? Try nothing more than the price of admission.

The Jacksonville Symphony pays all overhead costs. It even pays the Lucas a rental fee. In return, the Jacksonville Symphony gets tickets sales, expands its market and grows a potential audience.

How much does a resident orchestra cost? It can cost more than $3 million. That’s what taxpayers and private donors paid to run the SSO during its last season.

But what about quality? Don’t you get what you pay for?

Perhaps, but Moore said that the SSO and the Jacksonville Symphony are virtually the same. If you set them side-by-side, he said, it would be hard to tell the difference.

“It’s the result of not being able to afford our own symphony,” Thornton Clark said of outsourcing, adding that he hoped the SSO could be revived.

Given this new reality, what case can be made for a resident orchestra? How can advocates compete with cheap classical music?

The answer is to focus less on economics and more on people, Kirchhausen said.

Orchestras are civic institutions made up of people who provide cultural knowledge, teach private lessons and maintain an artistic presence in the community.

“While you can get good concerts from a visiting orchestra, most communities want more from their orchestras than just performances,” Kirchhausen said.

Ken Carter agrees.

“How much impact does the Jacksonville Symphony have after the concert is over?” Carter asked. “It has no impact.”

The difference between a visiting and resident orchestra, Carter said, is like the difference between renting and buying a house. When you rent, you get convenience and short-term cost-effectiveness, Carter said. But when you buy, you get an asset that increases in value and provides greater future returns.

“We have to ask ourselves do we want to rent or do we want to own classical music,” said Ken Carter, executive director of the Lucas Theatre.

Aiming for ownership, Carter led a coalition of supporters this summer to file for nonprofit status with the Internal Revenue Service under the name of “The Savannah Orchestra and Opera Company.” So far, no consensus has emerged from the group about how to restore a resident orchestra.

The group has, however, succeeded in buying the SSO’s music-sheet library, outbidding the Hilton Head Orchestra when the collection came up for auction in July.

Helen Downing was part of that bid. She said it lays the groundwork for rebuilding.

“I just think that a local resident orchestra adds to the lifestyle of the city,” said Downing, who is involved in the new nonprofit. “These are educated people who teach our children and play in our churches. We miss musicians living in this city.”

Even so, outsourcing is likely to continue. The Charleston Symphony has already booked a Christmas concert at the Johnny Mercer Theatre this year and the Hilton Head Orchestra will play twice during the concert association’s 2006-2007 season.

Savannah Morning News
November 6, 2005

1A: What is the true cost of building a cultural arts center?

HOW MUCH FOR A NEW CULTURAL ARTS CENTER?
City officials say the $13.4 million facility will be a bonus, but critics questions operating costs.

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of reports examining SPLOST and ESPLOST in advance of the vote on Sept. 19.

When it comes to the arts, there are six things Savannah needs, according to officials from the Leisure Services Bureau and the Department of Cultural Affairs.

And there are six ways a new “youth-focused” Cultural Arts Center, costing $13.4 million and exceeding 55,000 square feet, can address and fulfill each of those needs.

The six needs are:
more workshop space
more space in which artists of all disciplines and ages can work
more storage, meeting, rehearsal and production space
more film and video productions space
more venues in which youngsters can gather and socialize
the presence of a community theater

As for fulfilling those needs, officials say a new state-of-the-art facility would create a central point for cultural institutions, build on the city’s commitment to cultural education and establish opportunities for arts groups to share resources.

Moreover, such a facility would continue providing culture in the tourism industry and catalyzing urban revitalization and economic development along the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard business corridor, where the center will be located on a site to be announced later.

But most importantly, these officials say, the facility would provide a major safe haven for kids.

“The building will be a community service,” said Eileen Baker, director of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

How to pay for it?
Although many have argued in recent days for and against the SPLOST and ESPLOST proposals, little has been said about the realities city taxpayers must face if the penny sales tax is approved.

That is to say, how much will it cost to operate and maintain a “youth-focused” Cultural Arts Center every year once it opens.

Baker said the city has no business plan that outlines what the likely operating costs will be for the future building.

She said most expenses will be paid using city funds. Those would be supplemented by rental fees and other forms of revenue generated by the venue.

Joe Shearouse, director of Leisure Services, said an expense budget has not been drafted. He said he was not concerned about the absence of a business plan. He said taxpayers will end up paying for building the arts center and operating it.

Shearouse estimates the annual operating expenses (the cost of utilities, maintenance and upkeep) for the proposed cultural arts center will be comparable to the current arts center on Henry Street, a facility about a quarter of the size of the proposed project.

The yearly operating budget of that facility is nearly $260,000.

Shearouse said he expects expenses for the new center to be about $48,000 more than that.

That brings the final estimated tally, not including personnel, close to $307,000 annually.

He added the new building would be more energy-efficient than the old one, and that there might eventually be a slight increase in cost - but nothing significant.

The total budget, including personnel, would be upwards of $650,000 per year.

Why not talk more?
That little has been discussed by public officials about the eventual costs of this and other SPLOST initiatives is troubling, said Rogers Wade, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

He said even though SPLOST funds legally cannot be used for the cost of operations, public officials need to explain what’s going to happen in the future.

“When you ask the public for money, you need to be clear about what you’re asking for,” Wade said. “All the costs need to be explained. If there isn’t a complete picture, then that’s not being honest.”

Neither Baker nor Shearouse chose to comment on Wade’s remarks.

Carmen Cavezza, director of the Cunningham Center for Leadership Development at Columbus State University, said a major part of his late-1990s SPLOST campaign as Columbus city manager was openness and transparency.

He organized 36 hearings on SPLOST proposals and noted there was little controversy because of this approach. Citizens felt a sense of community buy-in, he said, during every stage of the process.

“That open dialogue made it successful,” he said.

Does it bring something new?
Laura Wheeler, a senior research associate at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, said arts centers can be a major contributor to the local economy, but questioned whether the new arts center will bring something new to the city.

If it just increases what is already happening (cultural outreach, economic impact) then what, she asked, is the benefit of spending millions to construct and eventually maintain a new building?

“You don’t get to count existing hotel rooms and existing tourist dollars,” Wheeler said.

Although she did not have a plan to estimate the material operating costs of the multi-million dollar arts center, Baker said it would indeed bring something new to the local economy.

But more important to Savannah are the intangible benefits.

Not only will it be a home to more than 20 itinerant arts organizations, but it also will revitalize the MLK corridor and be a foundation for building Savannah’s growing arts and cultural tourism industry.

It will also be a positive place for kids, she said.

“The number one complaint I hear is that there’s nothing for kids to do,” Baker said. “It’s important that youth be engaged in the arts. In that way, the center is valuable beyond the workshops and the productions.

“I see this as a growth opportunity The benefits outweigh the costs.”

By comparison: Other cultural venues in Georgia
City officials have cited the following four in-state cultural venues for comparison. Each of the following facilities offers a variety of arts activities and has varying degrees of workshop, storage and performance space.

Name, size, theater seats, estimated annual operating costs
Art Center in Carrollton 40,000 square feet 262 $217,000
Averitt Center for the Arts in Statesboro 15,000 square feet 362 $220,000
Creative Arts Guild in Dalton 20,000 square feet 300 $100,000
Lyndon House Arts Center in Athens 40,000 square feet N/A $264,000
Savannah’s proposed Cultural Arts Center 55,750 square feet 500 $307,000*

*This figure is based on an estimated increase of $48,000 in operating expenses. Currently, the operating expenses for the cultural arts center at the Henry Street facility are $259,300, not including salaries and personnel-related expenses.

Savannah Morning News
September 11, 2006

1A: The story behind Savannah’s newest public square

The Making of ‘Yamacraw Square’
Arts park traveled a 14-year road from idea to reality.

It’s where Gen. James E. Oglethorpe befriended Chief Tomochichi of the Yamacraw Indians.

It’s where Andrew Bryan built a church that in time would symbolize a slave’s right to religion and freedom.

And it’s where Brenda Johnson lived for 18 years, raising four sons, caring for neighbors and building lasting friendships.

The place is Yamacraw Village.

But the downtown neighborhood, bordered by Bay Street to the north and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the east, hasn’t always sounded so historic, inspiring or familial. In fact, when some people think of Yamacraw Village, Johnson said, they think of rampant crime, ubiquitous drug abuse and pernicious unemployment.

“Everyone has a dim view of Yamacraw Village,” Johnson said.

That may soon change.

After a 14-year, communitywide effort, Yamacraw Village will be the site of the first square ever dedicated to the trials and triumphs of Savannah’s Native- and African-American past.

Called the Yamacraw Public Art Park, the square will open after a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday. Across the street from historic First Bryan Baptist Church, whose congregation was founded in 1788, the square uses art and history to represent pride of place, cultural heritage and community spirit.

“This park will take the focus off crime and show everyone we are not what they think we are,” Johnson, a member of the Yamacraw Public Art Project Committee, the group responsible for completing the square, said.

“We have kids who do well in school, who are good athletes and who have dreams. We’re no different from anyone else, but no one has seen that.”

A ‘community’ square
Proponents say the new square will be more than a symbolic gesture: It will draw visitors from the greater community and consequently revitalize the public housing community.

“Now we have a square where people can sit and rest just like in Franklin Square,” said the Rev. Edward L. Ellis Jr., pastor of First Bryan. “We expect more tourism with a square that lends itself to community activities, weddings and outdoor concerts.”

“It will be a draw for Chatham County and beyond.”

But that will only happen if people know about it, said Jerome Meadows, the artist hired 12 years ago to conceive, design and create the square.

As it is, Yamacraw Village is separated from the rest of the city, Meadows said. Only with proper marketing will the square stake a claim in the public’s imagination.

“That push has to come from those invested in the community,” Meadows said. “If tour buses stop and see the site, that would bring a level of interest that shows this community is part of the city, not abandoned by it.”

A dream of reconnecting Savannah
The idea for a new square came to the fore in 1992 during a two-year workshop run by Leadership Savannah, a training program affiliated with the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce.

Class members were asked to think about something that would benefit the city, recalled founding member Terry Pindar.

Their idea: a public art project in an area needing the beautifying power of art.

A downtown neighborhood as historically significant as any quarter of the Historic District, Yamacraw Village was the perfect candidate for a beautification project, in particular the empty lot across from the First Bryan Baptist Church.

The idea was universally praised, said Tania Sammons, curator of the Owens-Thomas House and project committee member, in large part because of the overarching principle of community involvement.

The Leadership Savannah class, in seeking an artist for the project, invited a group of Yamacraw residents, church members, artists and educators, as well as representatives of the Housing Authority of Savannah, the federal agency that owned the lot, to lead the search.

“Rich and poor people, people of all faiths, people of different economic and educational backgrounds came together and made this happen,” Sammons said. “For a city like Savannah, where communities are still in some cases segregated, to push this through is incredible.”

Renamed the Yamacraw Public Art Project Committee, the group chose Meadows, a nationally recognized artist whose portfolio includes three Martin Luther King Jr. memorials and scores of inner-city installations around the country.

Meadows saw it as an opportunity to work within the community to see what residents wanted in their art. It was also a chance for his art to have an end beyond that of beauty by “bringing the community’s substance into visualized form.”

Sandy Glicken, a Housing Authority spokesperson, characterized the project this way: “Creating an art park similar to squares already connecting Savannah would help reconnect Yamacraw to the rest of Savannah.”

Meadows envisioned a park with a plaza; three bronze statues in the shape of dancing children; walls containing photo-etched panels depicting key moments in Yamacraw’s past; indigenous plants; and poles for banners announcing community and cultural events.

With plans accepted and a fund-raising campaign led by Arnold Tenenbaum, Meadows, flush with enthusiasm and inspiration, figured the whole thing would take a year.

That was in 1994.

A slow but happy ending
Why did finishing the park take so long?

The reasons, according to those interviewed for this story, are myriad, complex and sometimes unclear.

In reconstructing the chronology of the square, no one person had comprehensive knowledge of how and when events took place. Sammons, who has been in charge of the committee’s public relations since 2001, said: “It’s been so long, you just forget.”

Robert Bess, chairman of the project committee, said the group was ad hoc. The more time passed without the start of construction, Bess said, the more members felt discouraged, lost interest and departed. Only two original members, Bess and Scott Center, remained.

Bess said fund-raising was the principal delay.

Meadows characterized it as frustratingly sluggish and surprising. When he signed up for the project, Meadows said, many of Savannah’s “power players” were in line, making it seem like a done deal. But over time, it became clear to him that rhetoric was not going to translate into action.

“It was a case study in a worst-case scenario that fortunately had a happy ending,” he said.

If anything stymied fund-raising, Center said, it was the nature of the project: a grass-roots effort requiring piecemeal donations from those who live or have affiliations there.

“If we focused on high-income neighborhoods, it would have been quicker, but then it wouldn’t have been the same project,” Center said.

Tenenbaum and others early on used their reputations as civic leaders, Center said, to encourage contributions from banks and foundations, which spurred the city, county and state to contribute, which in turn inspired individuals, no matter how humbly, to give.

“Some people gave as little as a dollar,” Center said. “Does that mean it takes longer? Absolutely.”

In the end, it took more than $337,000 to build the square, Bess said, the majority of which came from governmental sources - the city, county, state and Housing Authority. All money, except nearly $70,000 in Special Local Option Sales Tax allocated in 2003, was managed by the nonprofit Savannah Community Foundation.

“It was a public-private partnership in a chicken-and-egg situation,” Tenenbaum said. “The chicken was private money that led to a series of other contributions.”

A lesson to be learned
In 2001, soon after construction began, Meadows discovered something: Contractors had botched the concrete plaza, the project’s centerpiece.

Instead of rainwater draining from the area around the cobblestone walls, it was pooled exactly where viewers of the photo-etched panels would stand.

“It undermined the integrity and effectiveness of the plaza,” said Meadows, who discovered the flaw. “The question became, ‘What do we do?’”

That question paralyzed the committee for a long time, Meadows said: Do we hold the contractor accountable, repair the concrete, replace it or do nothing?

Meadows demanded the concrete be replaced despite cost overruns. The question then became who would do the job and who would pay for it.

“We had to find a contractor who could replace the foundation without cracking the walls,” Bess said.

Enter Billy Jones.

“I became the general contractor,” he said..

Jones is the director of the city’s Department of Facilities and Maintenance. On Sept. 6, 2000, the square was given to the city by the federal Housing Authority of Savannah, because the city’s Park and Tree Department would be the logical choice for maintaining it.

City Manager Michael Brown told Jones to finish the project because it was in the city’s best interest and because it was clear progress had stalled.

“It’s a citizen project, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need help,” Brown said. “It sat there for some time. When people get in touch with us, I try to do what I can.”

Brown could not recall who contacted him, but Sammons said she had a meeting with Chris Morrill, an assistant city manager, soon after joining the committee in 2001. Morrill said he then relayed Sammons’ concerns to Brown, who directed Jones to step in.

“Getting the city involved was crucial,” Sammons said. “We didn’t have the organization to get it done. The committee was loosely held together. The city was a natural place to look for help.”

Meadows credits Sammons and Kristin Russell with revitalizing a stagnating committee. Russell, who claims to have done virtually nothing, staged an awareness campaign for the park at her business, The Sentient Bean. Sammons and Bess credit former Mayor Floyd Adams Jr. and County Commissioner Priscilla Thomas for keeping the project fresh in the minds of city and county officials.

But in terms of managing and finalizing the project, Meadows said: “The city took over.”

The city fronted the $19,746.25 needed to repair the plaza, Jones said. Once he decided to replace the botched concrete, his team was able to move swiftly.

Work ended last fall and came in under budget. Nearly $70,000 of the SPLOST funds finished the project. Jones’ final tally came to $60,193.28, he said, which will be reimbursed by SPLOST funds after the square opens.

Jones said all parties played an equal role. He handled the construction, the Mayor and City Aldermen loaned the money and the committee provided vision.

But, Jones said: “We don’t need to do another project this way again. People lost interest after working on it for so long. Otherwise, it’s a great asset to the community.”

A future to be gained
Rebecca Gaston-Dawson grew up in Yamacraw.

Rather than crime, drugs and unemployment, she remembers a whole village taking responsibility for a single child.

“There was no such thing as Neighborhood Watch,” Dawson said. “We didn’t lock our doors. It was one big family.”

Dawson joined the Yamacraw Public Art Project Committee in 2003 because of her strong attachments to the neighborhood. She sees the square as an important symbol of the strength and character of the people who live there.

Yamacraw will materially gain from the square only by sending the signal that “it has something in common with the rest of the city,” Meadows said.

To achieve that, the square must be marketed, Meadows said.

But who will take on that responsibility?

Dawson said the committee has no marketing plan, but this week began discussing the possibility of “putting it in the hands of the Cultural Affairs Commission to keep it alive.”

Eileen Baker, director of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department, said the commission would not promote the square but would consider proposals from any organization hosting arts and cultural events there.

“We want arts used in revitalizing communities,” Baker said. “But someone has to make the proposal.”

The committee has begun talking about establishing a nonprofit to market the square, Sammons said. Meanwhile, members have asked tour companies to add it to their itineraries. So far, she said, no one has responded.

Sammons also said she contacted the Savannah Area Convention & Visitors Bureau to request the square be added to its “First in Heritage” brochure, which guides tourists among the city’s sites in African-American history.

Anthony Schopp, president of the CVB, said the square will be one of the many destinations it promotes in the tourism industry. But the CVB’s role is limited to marketing material that is provided to it.

“Creating that information will be somebody else’s role,” Schopp said. “We don’t create marketing pieces.”

The Rev. Ellis said the church would take on that role. He plans to call tour companies that already feature First Bryan on their tours and make them aware of Yamacraw’s new square.

But when asked which companies featured First Bryan, only one came to mind: the Beach Institute’s Negro Heritage Trail Tour, Ellis said. Calls to prominent bus tours in town reveal only one, Grayline Trolley Tours, that features First Bryan on its route.

“Yamacraw is outside the beaten path,” said Charlie Brazil, manager of Oglethorpe Tours of Savannah.

Ellis said he assumes the city will take the majority of the responsibility for marketing. But Jay Self, director of the city’s Office of Tourism and Film Services, said that’s unlikely, because that’s not within the purview of city departments.

The question, Self said, is who will take responsibility once the square is opened?

“Any project that doesn’t have an owner is bound to fall into trouble,” Self said. “I would encourage anyone not to walk away and hope things will be OK. They should stay together for a while and get (a marketing plan) going.”

Self added that promotion can be done cheaply and that his office is available to any organization looking for marketing assistance.

Ellis said the city’s help may once again be necessary.

“The worst thing that could happen is to have all this work and not follow it up with tours. This is the opportunity to have our history told in a way that lets the truth come out.”

Savannah Morning News
May 11, 2006

Telfair Museum: Jepson opens

A VISION OF WHAT’S TO COME
Jepson Center for the Arts establishes key role of the arts in city’s future

After six years of construction, battles over architectural design, scheduling setbacks and a great deal of fevered anticipation, the $24.5 million Jepson Center for the Arts will open Friday.

Designed by Moshe Safdie, one of the world’s elite architects, the center is the largest instance of arts philanthropy in the city’s history and a sign of the larger role the arts will have in our future.

“The city’s future is tied to the arts,” said Robert S. Jepson Jr., the building’s namesake. “It was important to see this project through.”

‘The vision of what’s possible’
The idea for a new building began in the 1980s when it became clear the Telfair’s future depended on expansion.

Its collection of contemporary art was growing and soon outpaced the museum’s storage capacity. Major traveling exhibits bypassed the Telfair Academy because gallery space was inadequate.

“As beautiful as the Telfair is, the building was getting out of date,” Jepson said.

More to the point, the arts are an integral part of the city’s future, he said. An expanded Telfair means greater opportunities for children to learn about art; for students at the Savannah College of Art and Design to put their skills to work; and for tourists to enjoy more diverse cultural experiences, Jepson said.

“We needed to provide ourselves and our tourists a place where they can see art from all ages,” Jepson said.

What no one expected was a museum as big and bold as this, said John E. Cay III, president of the Telfair’s board of trustees. “It became a vision of supreme quality.”

The original plan, announced in 1998, called for a 45,000-square-foot annex. It would cost $15 million, raised from a capital campaign headed by Cay, Jepson and longtime Telfair supporter Arnold M. Tenenbaum. It would feature rooms for traveling exhibits, additional storage space and educational galleries.

Fourteen “starchitects,” including I.M. Pei and James Stewart Polshek, bid for the job. The campaign committee, led by Frida Moore and the late John V. Luck, unanimously picked Safdie.

Safdie was renowned for creating innovative architecture in historic cities. He created the Hilton Hotel in Jerusalem; the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

His design was unlike anything anyone had seen before, Diane Lesko, the Telfair’s executive director, said. It called for hung-glass ceilings, cantilevered walls, a stone exterior and natural light spilling over much of the interior.

The entire north face would be made of glass, allowing it to “embrace” nearby Telfair Square and entice passers-by through the entrance, across the atrium, up the grand staircase and into the galleries.

It was large. It would occupy 64,000 square feet between York Street and Oglethorpe Avenue and boast five galleries, two outdoor sculpture terraces, educational studios, a café and a museum store, plus a 220-seat auditorium.

In all, the center would add 66 percent more space to the Telfair Museum of Art, which includes the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Owens-Thomas House.

“The city is what we make it,” Jepson said. “No one is going to make it more beautiful than the people who live and work here.”

Cay credits Jepson for having the vision to lead the fund-raising campaign with a seven-figure contribution. His commitment, Cay said, combined with Safdie’s unique design, inspired donors to pledge nearly $23 million. The remaining $2 million came from taxpayers. Another $15 million has been raised, Cay said, from private sources for an endowment, which he expects to double within a year.

The fund-raising effort is the largest for an arts institution in Savannah’s history.

“(Jepson) knew the way to excite people is to dream of something big and bold and ambitious,” Cay said. “They believed in the vision of what’s possible.”

Differing rhythms
Not everyone shared that vision.

The Historic Savannah Foundation and some on the Historic Review Board worried Safdie’s plans might violate the “Chadbourne guidelines,” a set of zoning ordinances adopted in 1997 to protect the city’s architectural character.

The review board uses the guidelines to approve restoration projects and new construction sites in the Historic District. The ordinances specify, among other things, building height, location of entrances and number and size of windows and doors.

From the start, the Telfair’s proposal would be a test of the guidelines and would determine the shape of development in the Historic District for years to come.

If the review board rejected the proposal, it would mean a victory for traditionalists who wanted to preserve the original intent of Gen. James E. Oglethorpe’s urban design.

If the board approved it, modernists who wanted to see architecture evolve with the times could claim victory.

John Duncan, a former history professor at Armstrong Atlantic State University, feared a domino effect: Let one architect challenge the spirit of the Chadbourne guidelines, he said, then every developer in the city will have grounds to do so.

“It’s like pulling a thread from a piece of cloth,” Duncan told the Morning News in 1999. “Eventually the whole fabric disintegrates.”

This clash of ideologies played out in the details.

Critics felt a totally transparent facade was out of sync with the “rhythm” of alternating windows and solid panels that mark the Historic District. They also suspected the planned two-story bridge spanning the north and south buildings would be out of place.

The late Mills B. Lane, a review board member and author of the 10-volume “Architecture of the Old South,” called the proposal an “unforgivable deviation.”

“The Telfair will be the loser if it builds a new museum that is detested because it violates the town plan,” Lane told the Morning News.

John T. Neises, a Telfair trustee, said the case for the new building was made on the grounds museums were exempted from the Chadbourne guidelines. Beyond that, modern art requires a modern building.

“We needed a new place for new art,” Neises said.

Mark McDonald, director of the Historic Savannah Foundation, said at the time the facade “fails to define an edge and fails to respect the rhythm which has been set by hundreds of years of building tradition.”

Proponents argued Safdie’s facade did respect that tradition by reflecting and internalizing it.

“We weren’t just throwing this modern building in front of them and demanding they pass it,” Lesko said. “We wanted a building that was as important to our time as 19th century buildings are to theirs.”

‘Worth waiting for’
Two years passed before Safdie compromised, turning his original two-story bridge into two narrow ones and adding mass to the glass façade by installing stone columns.

With these modifications, McDonald said, the Historic Savannah Foundation embraced the Telfair’s proposal. In July 2000, with new members and pressure from then-Mayor Floyd Adams Jr. and City Council, the review board approved the plan on a 5-3 vote.

Construction began after the Telfair annex was renamed the Jepson Center for the Arts during a 2001 groundbreaking ceremony.

Officials expected build-time to be two years, but a series of setbacks pushed the opening back more than five.

The last setback occurred in June when officials announced the cancellation of an opening set for Oct. 14, 2005. Faulty construction materials, among other things, were behind the postponement.

Ed Able of the American Association of Museums said setbacks are common because architects demand novel and highly technical requirements.

“It’s not unusual to miss even four opening dates,” Able told the Morning News in October. “It’s nearly impossible to build on time.”

Jepson said inexperience on the part of everyone involved in building a structure of this complexity explained some of the setbacks.

Facilities Manager Don Rogers agreed.

A 40-year construction industry veteran, he said he’d never worked on a building as complex as the Jepson.

“The angles and curves make it difficult to get things lined up,” Rogers said.

“But good things are worth waiting for.”

Fitting the past with the present
Defenders of Oglethorpe’s plan might be surprised to know Safdie believes the traditionalists were right to be cautious.

“New buildings can be problematic,” the architect said recently from his office in Somerville, Mass.

He said his design works in Savannah because he sought a common denominator between the old and new. That denominator took the shape of a giant facade made nearly transparent. It had the effect of removing the barrier between the building’s interior and exterior.

This transparency acts like an interface, embracing York Street and Telfair Square, and figuratively dovetailing Savannah’s 18th century past with its 21st century present, said J. Paul Hansen, the architect of record.

Contemporary museums should reach out to the space around them, Safdie said. Unlike the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., which is completely walled off from the rest of the Mall, the Jepson is “extroverted.”

Its glass facade, towering inner wall and grand staircase give you the feeling of honesty and openness and of being inside the museum even before you get there, he said.

Said Jepson: “When the city walks into the building, it will see how much it highlights Savannah while being contemporary. By day, it brings the outside in. By night, its brings the inside out.”

Safdie believes adding mass to the total-glass façade makes the current Jepson a different building from the one he originally designed.

The compromise allowed for a larger point to be made, Hansen and many others said: It’s possible to construct a building in Savannah that remembers the past as it looks to the future.

“The Telfair showed that you can build a dynamic building that meets the guidelines,” said McDonald of the Historic Savannah Foundation. “We need architecture of the now as well as architecture of the past.”

McDonald said no one has matched the Jepson’s expense and magnitude, but cited four projects under way that match its modern style, including Dan E. Snyder’s plan for an empty lot on the corner of Jones and Habersham streets and SCAD’s addition to St. Andrew’s Independent Episcopal Church on Montgomery Street.

Like Hansen, Jay Self, director of the city’s Department of Film Services and Tourism office, believes the Jepson is an impressive step toward establishing Savannah as the cultural center of our region.

“All great cities need a great museum,” he said.

Duncan said he still believes the Jepson doesn’t belong, but looks forward to the opening.

“Walking down that grand staircase must be something else,” he said.

As for Safdie, he’s satisfied in having demonstrated contemporary architecture can live in harmony with 18th and 19th century traditions.

“Everyone thought they would be incompatible,” Safdie said. “Now that it is nearly completed, there is no question that it fits.”

Creativity and economics
When Jepson was 10, he visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, where he grew up. There, he experienced the power of art to transform when he saw a knight, beautifully adorned with armor, on horseback

“It took my breath away,” Jepson recalled. “Seeing that knight was the spark that lit a fire under me for the arts. I hope kids will walk into the new building and have the same kind of experience I did.”

Asked why he played a significant part in raising funds for an arts institution, Jepson’s response was simple, intimate and straightforward: “The future and love,” he said.

Many believe the next step for the city lies in convincing knowledge-based industries - software developers and marketing firms - to relocate to the Coastal Empire. Studied at length in Richard Florida’s “The Rise of the Creative Class,” these groups are affluent, highly educated and deeply interested in the arts.

Chris Miller, executive director of the Creative Coast Initiative, believes such companies look for big-city culture, but not big-city problems.

The Jepson will give them another reason to move here.

“It’s going to have nothing but a positive effect,” Miller said.

Rick Winger agrees.

As president of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, Winger said that among the city’s attributes quality of life is becoming an increasingly important bargaining tool. Now, along with great weather, Winger said, Savannah will have one more reason to attract a creative class.

“We’re competing against cities such as Charleston and Jacksonville,” Winger said. “This is a serious bragging right. “

Savannah is already making about a billion dollars in direct spending from tourists every year, according to the Savannah Convention and Visitors Bureau. With the opening of the Jepson, expect even more, said Anthony Schopp, president of the SCVB.

And more tourism means more local jobs and more work for those who already have them, Schopp said. On average, he said, a full-time job is created every time tourists spend $71,500.

Increased tourist spending, moreover, increases the average compensation of existing workers.

“It’s a win-win-win situation,” Schopp said.

Speaking and spreading the “universal language”
Robert Rauschenberg will be the featured artist of the Jepson’s inaugural exhibit, as will other artists championed by the late Kirk Varnedoe, a Savannah native and a renowned director at the Museum of Modern Art.

Varnedoe’s favorite artists include Jasper Johns, Chuck Close, Kiki Smith, Richard Serra, Richard Avedon, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons and Ellsworth Kelly, among others . Their contributions will make up the Varnedoe Collection. A gallery will also be named in Varnedoe’s memory.

“These names are so well known in the art world,” said Diane Lesko, executive director of the Telfair Museum of Art. “The collection is a boon to the museum and to the whole area.”

The second floor of the south building is devoted to educating thousands of schoolchildren every year in teaching studios and a hands-on gallery designed to inspire children’s imaginations.

Jim Battin, a Telfair spokesman , said the children’s gallery is also popular with adults. Howard J. Morrison Jr. , a benefactor of the center’s educational department, said access to the arts gives children of all backgrounds a chance to lead more enriched lives.

“Now inner-city black youth will have the same opportunities as students at the Country Day School,” Morrison said. “Art has the ability to bring people together because it highlights their commonality. It’s the universal language of mankind.”

Savannah Morning News
March 5, 2006

Telfair Museum: Bad glass stymies Jepson construction

Jepson Center opening delayed until next year
Faulty construction materials, lack of foresight blamed for the latest delay in the Jepson Center for the Arts

The opening of Savannah’s largest public arts facility will not be as scheduled - again.

Telfair Museum of Art officials announced Monday the postponement of the opening of the Jepson Center for the Arts, the multimillion-dollar expansion of the Telfair that was scheduled for Oct. 14.

Telfair officials do not know how long the delay will last, but hope to open the center in January. The three-month extension adds more time to a construction project that has already lasted four years at the cost of $24.5 million, part of which was funded by taxpayers.

The opening has been delayed in part by faulty construction materials.

Setbacks have plagued the arts center since the beginning. The original construction timeline was two years, starting in 2001. Later, the center’s opening was anticipated for 2004, then early 2005, then late 2005.

Part of the problem, according to one official, is flawed glass. The design of the Jepson Center calls for huge glass plates to be installed in its ceiling. Each of these is coated with a protective film that is supposed to filter harmful ultraviolet rays. The problem is that the film is bubbling, said Diane Lesko, the executive director of the Telfair Museum of Art.

“It’s unacceptable,” Lesko said.

The glass plates must be taken down, returned to the manufacturer and tested for defects, Lesko said. The problem may lie with the maker of the glass plates or it may lie with the maker of the protective ultraviolet coating.

“We don’t know,” Lesko said. “We feel terrible that this has happened.”

Lesko said there were other problems, but declined to discuss them, adding only that the delay does not add to the Jepson Center’s price tag.

Flawed panes of glass are only part of the problem, says Paul Hansen of Hansen Architects, the local firm overseeing the project.

Bad glass can be easily replaced, he said.

The real problem is lack of foresight. The complexity of the building’s design and the uniqueness of its materials - a combination of stone, steel and glass - are taking longer to assemble than anyone initially predicted.

John Hughes of Hansen Architects said the problems lie in overall project planning.

“The big issue is getting all parties involved on the same page and meeting the same goal,” Hughes said.

Hansen noted that his firm advised Telfair officials to wait until the middle of 2005 to announce the opening. But the need to secure art exhibitions, Hansen said, forced the museum to make the premature announcement.

Jim Battin, the Telfair’s director of development and marketing, could not be reached to comment on Hansen’s statement, but said earlier Tuesday that it would be a mistake to make too much out of this delay.

“This museum is no later or more expensive than any other of its size and type,” Battin said. “It amounts to a three-month delay at the end of a major project.”

Battin then added, “We don’t consider this a big deal.”

Nevertheless, it will affect thousands of patrons and visitors. Because of the delay, the entire calendar of events scheduled for the Jepson Center will have to be changed, according to Telfair’s curator of fine arts and exhibitions, Holly McCullough.

“Everything will have to shift,” McCullough said. “But we do expect to maintain all of our shows. Instead of being on display for six months, they will be on display for approximately 12 weeks.”

Savannah Morning News
June 14, 2005

Telfair Museum: Jepson opening delayed again

‘It’s not possible for there to be a delay’
Telfair officials are certain the new Jepson Center will open as scheduled, despite a history of missed deadlines.

Telfair officials believe the fifth time may be the charm.

The Telfair Museum of Art announced last week that the new Jepson Center for the Arts will be completed and ready for the public on March 10.

But given its history of setbacks, an on-time opening of the $24.5 million state-of-the-art institution seems uncertain.

Telfair officials have said publicly the center would open during four different time frames - 2003, 2004, early 2005 and late 2005. Each has come and gone without an open Jepson, a facility Telfair officials said will drive downtown’s “cultural and economic engine” and “raise Savannah’s profile in the art world.”

This time, however, officials are confident about opening in March, so much so they are gearing up for a $100,000 media campaign in February.

“It’s not possible for there to be a delay,” said Jim Battin, the Telfair’s director of development and marketing. “I can’t envision that we would not open.”

To prove it, the Telfair gave a brief tour to the Morning News on Monday to demonstrate how far the buildings have come since construction began four years ago.

Indeed, much of the South Building, as it is called, is completed. Staff members now occupy offices there. Art from the permanent collection is present in galleries.

But much of the North Building has yet to be completed. The exterior still needs finishing. Inside, floors and fixtures await installation. Walls are unpainted. But a great deal of glass and stone is in place.

On the way to meet Battin, a construction worker noted that the structure needs about five more months of work.

“You can’t trust construction workers,” Battin said in reply.

Saying a delay is not possible is partly exaggeration, conceded Battin. The unforeseen sometimes happens. For example, officials canceled an Oct. 14 opening after ultra-violet protection on several glass panels showed signs of bubbling in June. New panels were installed in August and so far have not bubbled.

But bad glass turned out to be only one problem. Some officials said that delay was caused by lack of foresight and poor coordination between builders, architects, designers and administrators.

Diane Lesko, the Telfair’s executive director, cited bad glass as the reason for the Oct. 14 delay, but admitted Monday that other problems included environmental control and problems with lighting trusses. When asked why she had not disclosed this information in June, Lesko said she couldn’t remember all the problems.

“What’s the difference?” Lesko said. “I’m not hiding anything. A delay is a delay. Glass is by far the most interesting.”

Paul Hansen, of Hansen Architects, the firm overseeing the center’s construction, said the bad glass was not a major problem. On Monday, Lesko called Hanson’s comment “cavalier.”

“That’s B.S.,” Lesko said.

Lesko wouldn’t say whether Hansen was incorrect, but said, she considered the glass a big deal.

“We could not have opened the building with bad glass even if everything else was perfect,” Lesko said.

Two phone messages left for Hansen on Monday were not returned.

Delays are an inevitable part of building museums, said Ed Able, president of the American Association of Museums.

“It’s not unusual to miss four opening dates. It’s nearly impossible to build on time,” Able said.

He said architects are designing museums that are so unique they demand novel and highly technical requirements.

“It’s a matter of things being out of your control, not a matter of competence,” Able said.

THE BACKGROUND
The Jepson Center for the Arts has been scheduled to open in 2003, 2004, early 2005 and late 2005. March 10, 2006, is the latest opening date to be announced.

Savannah Morning News
November 23, 2005

Telfair Museum: Q&A with then-director Diane Lesko

JEPSON CENTER ‘SHOULD BE A POWERFUL DRAW’
Diane Lesko discusses building lessons and acquiring world-class art

Before Diane Lesko arrived, in 1995, as director of the Telfair Museum of Art, there was already talk about expanding the South’s oldest museum.

Its collection was growing, storage was shrinking and educational abilities were increasingly limited. It was clear to many on the board, Lesko said, that it was time to expand.

But nobody, not even Lesko, envisioned a building as bold and ambitious as the one designed by Moshe Safdie, one of the world’s leading architects.

Something else no one envisioned was this: a two-year controversy surrounding the Telfair as it made its case before Savannah’s Historic Review Board.

At the center of the issue was Safdie’s transparent façade.

Critics claimed it violated the district’s zoning ordinances, called the “Chadbourne guidelines,” which specify the number and size of a building’s openings. Proponents claimed museums were exempted from the guidelines and that modern art called for a modern building.

Opposing ideologies clashed until a compromise was made: Safdie added mass by installing stone columns to the glass façade. With changes made, the review board passed the proposal in 2000.

Now after six years of construction, delays and one opening-day cancellation, the $24.5 million Jepson Center for the Arts will open on Friday.

We talked to Lesko recently in her office at the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences. We talked about the lesson of the past controversy, opening the center with Robert Rauschenberg’s artwork and the new permanent collection named in memory of the late Kirk Varnedoe.

Question: How did the idea of a new building first get off the ground?

Answer: If the Telfair was going to grow, it had to have an additional building. With the increasing popularity of the Telfair, there was excitement on the board for really moving forward on a new building. You don’t discourage a board from being ready to move even if you don’t think they’re ready to move.

Q: Once you had the design from Moshe Safdie, how did you make the case before the Historic Review Board?

A: There were some who really felt this building had no business being in Savannah. But we felt that we could counter that argument. If you are building in the 20th century, to build a 19th century building is a fake. We’re in a different age now. If you have a building to redo, that’s one thing. But to start from scratch, as we were able to do, it wouldn’t reflect the 20th and 21st centuries.

Q: So what did you do?

A: The “Chadbourne guidelines” make exceptions for churches, civic building and museums. The word “museums” is in there. Some on the Historic Review Board chose to ignore that. We had to have a glass façade in order to have that feeling of flow and interaction and warmth and welcoming. What we wanted to do was attract people who might feel intimidated by art, not build a fortress. When Savannahians walk into the building, the majority who were originally against it will say, “Yeah I guess it is a pretty good building.”

Q: The Jepson took a lot longer to build than anyone expected. Why?

A: The challenge for our local architects and subcontractors was the design itself. Nobody had built a building that was anything like the Jepson. The problem was the interaction of every group and the whole assortment of challenges they faced.

Q: Let’s talk about art.

A: We are so fortunate to have three shows. It’s Rauschenberg. It’s big photographs by his son, Christopher. And then there are some collaborations in the largest galleries between Rauschenberg and his longtime assistant Darryl Pottorf. Not everybody will like them, but many will. They are the perfect shows to open with. We like to think there’s something for everyone - a gallery for Southern art, a gallery of photography and large galleries for large works. We’re offering something on a scale that has not been offered before.

Q: You’ve named a gallery after Kirk Varnedoe, the Savannah native and former director at the Museum of Modern Art. He died in 2003. Tell us about the collection at the Jepson that will bear his name.

A: The idea for the Kirk Varnedoe Collection came from Elyn Zimmerman, his widow. She felt that if we ask 20 artists whom Kirk admired to donate a piece, they would not refuse. And they have not. All those artists are invited down for a special opening soon. We thought to have a free panel discussion open to the public. It should be a powerful draw.

Q: Can you name some of these artists?

A: Of course, I can. Let’s start with Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Richard Serra, the sculptor. And Richard Avedon, Chuck Close, Ellsworth Kelly, Kiki Smith, Roy Lichtenstein and Jeff Koons. There are others. These are names that are so well-known. It’s a boon to the museum and to the area.

Savannah Morning News
March 6, 2006

Telfair Museum: The Kirk Varnedoe Collection

AN INSPIRED COLLECTION
The life of Kirk Varnedoe brings about an art collection for all the enjoy

Some 20 pillars of the art world of the past three decades, including Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Chuck Close and Roy Lichtenstein, have donated one piece of artwork each to the new Jepson Center for the Arts in memory of Savannah native Kirk Varnedoe.

These works will be kept together and curated in the Kirk Varnedoe Collection, a permanent group of 20 works on paper that will be on display at the Jepson Center for the Arts starting Friday.

By the time Kirk Varnedoe died of cancer in 2003, he achieved, in the words of his brother Gordon, everything he’d wanted to achieve.

Varnedoe was a celebrated professor at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” and the first art historian ever appointed to the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study.

In 1988, he was named director of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, a job “where his gifts and passions could make the biggest difference,” wrote Hal Crowther, a college friend.

That strenuous engagement began with the opening exhibit of his 14-year tenure called “High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture.”

Varnedoe, as MoMA’s head, gave it, and thus the art world, an earthy swagger and gentlemanly panache it hadn’t seen before.

Ron Strahan, a childhood friend and art collector who kept in touch with Varnedoe in New York, said “Kirk had that balance of energizing you but not overwhelming you.”

And he was complicated, said Varnedoe’s wife Elyn Zimmerman. Beneath the image, accolades and achievements, he was simply a man, she said. He loved to laugh and sought adventure while being down-to-earth, despite his privileged upbringing.

“For being a scholar, he loved rock music, wearing torn jeans and fixing his motorcycle,” she said. “He was a handsome kind of guy.”

A mother’s dream
John Kirk Train Varnedoe was born in 1946 into a prominent Savannah family. He was the youngest of four - three boys and a girl - and loved to sketch, make jokes and listen to Elvis Presley, his sister, Comer Meadows, said.

“You never knew what he was going to say,” said Sheldon Tenenbaum, who grew up in the same neighborhood.

That element of surprise would become a signature of Varnedoe’s lecturing style later in life, said Kadee Robbins, a MoMA colleague.

“He was the most incredible wordsmith, completely fluid and sophisticated, even off the cuff,” Robbins said.

At 13, his mother, a religious woman passionate about education, sent him to St. Andrew’s, a boarding school in Delaware.

Varnedoe’s mother would be the driving factor throughout much of his life.

“He lived his life through our mother,” Meadows said.

Gordon Varnedoe takes the opposite view: “She fulfilled her dream through him.”

A fine disregard
After attending Williams College and Stanford University, Varnedoe’s reputation as an art authority began to grow. Teaching posts and lectures at Columbia University and the Institute of Fine Arts “contributed to making him one of the most sought-after and best-known advocates of modern art,” wrote Robert Storr, in ARTnews.

His speaking prowess, Robbins said, seemed rooted in his Southern heritage.

“I think it was part of his identity,” she added. “Some people leave home, and it doesn’t stay with them. But with Kirk, there was something in his sensibility that echoed his Savannah heritage.”

In 1982, he won a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship. The award allowed him to write “A Fine Disregard,” in which he used the origins of rugby - when an impudent soccer player violated the game’s rules by picking up the ball and running with it - to argue that art does and will always defy any system of rules applied to it.

Thus the stage was set for his quick ascent to the top echelons of the art world. In 1988, he was tapped by William Rubin to succeed him as chief curator of painting and sculpture at the MoMA.

“Rubin saw in Kirk a very strong person,” Robbins said. “He liked strength.”

After “High and Low,” Varnedoe established himself as a champion of artistic expression wherever it was found: in art museums; popular culture; or in the varied works of Cy Twombly, Chuck Close and Kiki Smith.

The exhibit formally recognized cultural currents already under way. Although he was stung by initial criticism, his vision eventually prevailed.

A fine disregard of the rules became the rule.

‘It is being done’
Throughout his 14 years at MoMA, Varnedoe maintained he was lucky. But in 1996, when the 50-year-old Varnedoe announced he had colon cancer, his luck seemed to have run out.

“By the time it was discovered, it was advanced,” Zimmerman said.

Radiation therapy and drug treatments drove the illness into remission for five years, during which time he continued this work: hugely received one-man shows of Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock; an “Artist’s Choice” series with such artists as Ellsworth Kelly and Elizabeth Murray; and additions to the Modern’s collection ranging from Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” to Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans.”

But later, after a routine examination, doctors discovered the cancer had crept into his lungs. His health failing, Varnedoe quit the Modern to take a sinecure with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where he poured the last of his energy into the Mellon Lectures.

A six-part examination of modern art called “Pictures of Nothing,” the lectures were delivered - without notes - at the National Gallery of Art. They were hugely attended in part because it was clear, as it was to him, that these would be among his last words.

“There it is,” Varnedoe said to conclude the lectures. “I have shown it to you. It has been done. It is being done. And because it can be done, it will be done. And now I am done.”

“He found his passion in life,” Benton said. “When you think about his life being cut short, it’s good to know that it was packed with the passion he brought to it.”

The Kirk Varnedoe Collection
This collection, a permanent group of 20 works on paper, will be on display at the Jepson Center for the Arts from Friday-Aug. 27. The collection was donated to the Telfair Museum of Art by well-known artists who knew the late Varnedoe, a Savannah native and art historian who for 14 years curated painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The artists include Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Chuck Close, Kiki Smith, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons and Ellsworth Kelly.

Savannah Morning News
March 7, 2006