[Dixielandjazz] Thinking Outside The Box at Lincoln Center

[Steve Barbone]

Perhaps off topic except for those who produce or volunteer at Jazz
Festivals, and/or band leaders seeking the enlarge their audience.

For others, the gist of the article is the paragraph below. Mr. Levy,
Lincoln Center's new president is trying to attract more audience and argues
that the artistic content (music) is not enough.

"While Lincoln Center¹s main attraction is still its artistic content, Mr.
Levy argues that the performances alone are not sufficient to attract
today¹s audiences. 'That sufficiency is the environment we create, the
barriers we break down in the sense that Lincoln Center is open and
accessible to those of all income classes from all over the city and the
country,' he said."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


At Lincoln Center, Reynold Levy Is Loosening Things Up

NY TIMES - By ROBIN POGREBIN - July 26, 2006

Understandably, perhaps, some concertgoers were not pleased by the sight of
a man floating in a glass tank, smack dab in the heart of Lincoln Center
Plaza, as crowds and television cameras looked on for a full week in May.

But in the view of Reynold Levy, Lincoln Center¹s president, the stunt man
in the scuba mask served a worthy purpose. Mr. Levy cited a live ABC
broadcast of the event, in which David Blaine set a record for living in an
aquarium. 

³The fact that Lincoln Center¹s brand was experienced in that way, and shots
of Lincoln Center were seen by millions of people, is a net plus for the
place,² Mr. Levy said.

That spectacle is one of several recent efforts approved by Mr. Levy to make
his institution accessible to a wider audience. Today, for example, Lincoln
Center is to announce the establishment of its own publishing imprint, under
which it will produce about five books a year in a partnership with John
Wiley & Sons. Choices could range from a history of Lincoln Center to
memoirs by prominent classical artists to concertgoing companion books for
families.

Mr. Levy cannot take all the credit for injecting a populist note into
Lincoln Center¹s imposing travertine campus. The Lincoln Center
redevelopment project, for example, which aims to open up the campus
physically and make it seem more transparent, was already under way when he
took the job four years ago.

But Mr. Levy has played a crucial role in pushing the project along, given
that many predicted that it would never get off the ground. (Construction
began in March.) He has been deeply involved in discussions on the designs ‹
by the architecture firm Diller, Scofidio & Renfro ‹ promoting a rethinking
of the campus as a place where people should feel comfortable stopping by
for a sandwich on the grass roof of a planned restaurant or for a coffee in
the new lobby of Alice Tully Hall.

Mr. Levy has overseen several other efforts by the center to loosen up a
little. With the goal of making all sorts of people feel welcome ‹ whether
or not they were weaned on ³Rigoletto² and ³Swan Lake² ‹ two installations
of public art were planned for this summer: ³Big Pleasure Point,² an
assemblage of brightly colored boats by Nancy Rubins on view on the plaza,
and ³Enlightenment,² a digital reworking of the last movement of the
³Jupiter¹¹ Symphony, timed to the opening of the Mostly Mozart Festival on
Friday. 

Mr. Levy¹s further initiatives include unorthodox performance times, like
10:30 p.m.; Mostly Mozart shows in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse; the
installation of WiFi access, which should become available within the year;
and the acquisition of the Harmony Atrium nearby on Broadway, which will be
reconfigured as a place where people will gather before or after
performances, buy day-of-show tickets at half price or listen to Juilliard
students perform.

³We¹re all very focused on exploiting the potential of 21st-century
technology to extend what happens in our halls outside of our halls,² Mr.
Levy said.

The Lincoln Center presidency is an unwieldy command. Mr. Levy is in charge
of the campus¹s day-to-day operations, overseeing an annual operating budget
of $95 million. He is both landlord and parent, in charge of everything from
maintenance and mechanics to programming like the Great Performers series
and Midsummer Night Swing, when people dance on the plaza.

But it is the chairman, Frank A. Bennack Jr., who has the final say at
Lincoln Center. And Mr. Levy cannot really tell the 12 constituent groups
what to do. Each organization ‹ including heavyweights like the Metropolitan
Opera, the New York City Ballet and the New York Philharmonic ‹ is a power
center on its own, with its own often formidable leader. The redevelopment
has challenged Mr. Levy to steer those groups toward consensus.

When Mr. Levy assumed the post in 2002, the campus was split by conflict
over the renovation plans, which started in 1999 as a way to upgrade Lincoln
Center¹s aging infrastructure. Disagreements among the constituents ranged
from whether the architect Frank Gehry should design a glass atrium arching
over the plaza to whether garage access should be eliminated on West 65th
Street.

Mr. Levy¹s predecessor, Gordon J. Davis ‹ the former parks commissioner and
founding chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, who assumed the presidency in
January 2001 ‹ lasted just nine months in the job after clashing with
Beverly Sills, who was then the Lincoln Center chairwoman.

Before him, Nathan Leventhal had been something of a permanent government at
Lincoln Center, lasting 17 years in the job while overseeing the campus¹s
diversification through the establishment of the Jazz at Lincoln Center
program, the American Songbook series and the Lincoln Center Festival.

Soft-spoken and bookish in spectacles, Mr. Levy, 61, does not immediately
come across as a tough commander, but he has considerable experience under
his belt. He has served as president of the International Rescue Committee,
the refugee organization; executive director of the 92nd Street Y; and
president of the AT&T Foundation, which supports many programs in the
performing and visual arts.

Still, in assuming the mantle at Lincoln Center after a period of squabbles,
he inherited ³a considerable amount of stress² on campus, said Bernard
Gersten, executive producer of Lincoln Center Theater.

³I think he¹s done remarkably well,² Mr. Gersten said. ³The acrimony has
totally disappeared. I walk by the construction site: that which seemed
theoretical four years ago is now actually happening.²

Construction is under way on the first phase of the redevelopment: a $650
million overhaul of the West 65th Street artery, including a refurbished
Alice Tully Hall and Juilliard School. The constituents have approved
concept designs for the next phase, an upgrade of the plaza, the fountain
and the Columbus Avenue entrance.

Lincoln Center has raised $348 million of its $459 million share of the
project. The constituents are responsible for the rest, and Mr. Levy is
leading an effort to have Lincoln Center match what they raise: 20 percent
of the first $25 million and 15 percent of everything over that amount.

³Even before he came, we said we would break ground in ¹06, but we wouldn¹t
have broken ground in ¹06 if it weren¹t for him,² said Rebecca Robertson,
the former executive director of the redevelopment. ³He went out and figured
out how to build the board and create committees to raise money.²

Mr. Levy also sought to keep the New York City Opera as part of Lincoln
Center after the opera company almost defected to a proposed site at ground
zero. He was involved in City Opera¹s subsequent bid to build a new hall at
the former site of the American Red Cross on Amsterdam Avenue at 66th
Street. Although that project fell through in May, City Opera came away
committed to finding a location close to Lincoln Center and maintaining its
affiliation.

Mr. Levy also attends Lincoln Center events almost every night of the week.
³He¹s at all the performances and knows what¹s going on,² said Zarin Mehta,
the president and executive director of the New York Philharmonic.

While Lincoln Center¹s main attraction is still its artistic content, Mr.
Levy argues that the performances alone are not sufficient to attract
today¹s audiences. ³That sufficiency is the environment we create, the
barriers we break down in the sense that Lincoln Center is open and
accessible to those of all income classes from all over the city and the
country,² he said.

In broadening Lincoln Center¹s purview, Mr. Levy appears to have the strong
support of the constituents, although some felt he overstepped with the man
in the water tank. 

³I thought the David Blaine was an error in judgment,² Mr. Gersten said. ³It
was not appropriate as a use of the plaza space. There was the atmosphere of
a carnival.²

Mr. Bennack, who approved the decision, said, ³I¹m not sure I would do it
again.² But he added, ³It did get a lot of publicity and introduced people
to Lincoln Center.²

Katherine G. Farley, a senior managing director at the Tishman Speyer real
estate corporation, who is chairwoman of Lincoln Center¹s redevelopment,
said the debate about that spectacle was worthwhile in and of itself.
³Controversy of that sort attracts people interested in seeing something
new,² she said, just as the redevelopment is partly intended ³to attract a
younger, hipper, more edgy crowd.²

Mr. Bennack said he saw part of his role as reining in Mr. Levy¹s sizable
ambitions with a dose of pragmatism. But, he added, he appreciates his
counterpart¹s tendency to think big.

³At the end of the day,² he said, ³he comes to realistic conclusions.²