With the Arts United Center closed for renovation, the Fort Wayne Ballet is opening its main stage season and christening the new Pearl Arts Auditorium with a special production of Don Quixote on Oct. 18.
Located in the east end of the historic Perfection Bakery Building on Main Street, Pearl Arts is opening its doors as a one-of-a-kind community hub for the arts, music education and entrepreneurship.
Its founders, Chuck and Lisa Surack, are committed to bringing growth opportunities to the residents and youth of the Fort Wayne area in an accessible location that fosters collaboration and sparks creativity for the benefit of the entire community
WBOI’s Julia Meek discusses the scope of this undertaking, the new space and what the season holds in store for both organizations with the ballet’s executive director, Jim Sparrow, and Jim Palermo, executive director of Pearl Arts.
Event Information:
Fort Wayne Ballet’s Don Quixote @ Pearl Arts, Fort Wayne
Friday, Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 19, 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Find ticket information at the Fort Wayne Ballet website.
Learn more and connect with Pearl Arts at its website.
We should disclose that the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Fort Wayne Ballet are underwriters of WBOI.
Here’s a transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Jim Sparrow, Jim Palermo, welcome.
Jim Sparrow: Hi.
Jim Palermo: Hi.
Julia Meek: So, perfectly imperfect timing has temporarily gotten the ballet ready to christen the stage at Fort Wayne's newest art space. In a word, what is the intensity level about now?
Jim Sparrow: Electric! (all laugh)
Julia Meek: Okay, great, new space. Jim Palermo, what do we need to know about its performance capabilities?
Jim Palermo: Well, we have a beautiful building. Anyone who performs in our 400-seat auditorium will be enveloped with a beautiful, wooden atmosphere. So, it's a warm, glowing, wonderful acoustic. The music will sound great in there. The ballet will look wonderful in the space.
Julia Meek: And everybody should remember the old Perfection Bakery building, as well.
Jim Palermo: Correct. We are in the easternmost third of the Perfection Bakery, for those who were around back then, we are in the 1979 addition. The original building was built in 1940.
Julia Meek: Don Quixote is a real crowd pleaser for the Fort Wayne ballet, to be sure, Jim. What makes it so?
Jim Sparrow: Well, it's a comedy. I think sometimes when we do these ballets, that people think they know, the comedy is always fun because it keeps you a little bit off kilter and a little off balance. And it's Don Quixote.
And while he does make an appearance in this ballet, it is really not about Don Quixote. It's about Basilio and Kitri and all the antics that go on when Don Quixote shows up in a courtyard on his journey.
Julia Meek: And how is this working as your big season opener as well as launch for the Pearl Arts?
Jim Sparrow: Well, I think it's going to work great. Like I said, it's a comedy. It will employ most of the ballet in a brand-new space. I think it's very exciting to be in a new space, a non-traditional space for us. It's really what the art form in this year is all about.
Not only what we're embracing, but we've programmed with that in mind. The things we're doing in the spring with the Ballet Russe. It's all looking at the way it was done before us that really put 20th century ballet on the map.
Julia Meek: Which is a wonderful connection to be making here in the 21st century, in a new space like that to begin with. So, what kind of challenge does a performance of this scope present to both of your organizations under the circumstances? And were there any surprises along the way getting ready for this?
Jim Sparrow: (chuckles) Well, we're not quite there yet, so we're gonna find some more surprises as we go. But Jim, what do you see?
Jim Palermo: Well, we are a non-traditional performance space, I think, for the staff, on both sides, including Pearl Arts, we are not a theater. We are a concert facility. So, we don't have the lighting setup you would have in a proscenium arch theater. Jim and his capable staff are working all around that.
They will have their own lights there. We will supplement with what we have. We have some spots. We have color. We can do fun things with a screen and with washes on the walls. But this is not going to be the same kind of experience that one might have at the Arts United Center, which, of course, is currently being renovated.
But I think there's an enormous opportunity for the audience to experience something very close up and personal in a much more sort of organic way. Quite honestly, we're figuring it out as we go with Jim and his staff.
Julia Meek: That's a great opportunity to have the two of you working together. You do work well together, and that's going to be a lot. And the time has come with the Black Box Theatre and the other things that are happening right down there on the Arts Campus. We are getting used to and really enjoying the up close and personal. Is that a big reason to go that direction?
Jim Palermo: Well, I think in this day and age, being in a performance with 2500 people has its charms, especially if you're in a great concert hall, but there's nothing like that excitement that you feel when you're five or 10 feet or 20 feet away from a performer and you see them, you know, with sweat on their brow, or you see their costume up close, all those kinds of things make it more magical.
And being in Pearl Arts, which is a brand-new facility, there's a curiosity quotient there. I will tell you that everyone we've walked through the building is absolutely ecstatic at how beautiful it is. So, it does add something to the community. And we're happy that the ballet is among the first of organizations going to be in there.
Julia Meek: That is so exciting. What has the reaction been so far to you new kids on that Pearl Street block?
Jim Palermo: So, I would say that there's a curious mix of people who know we're there and are expecting us to, you know, come on-line fully, and people who don't quite know who we are yet.
So, we're in this interim stage where we're informing people, and articles are coming out, and people would say, oh I've heard something about that, but I'm not quite, sure you know that kind of thing? And so, we're doing a lot of information gathering and communicating with people.
At the same time, The Pearl across the street is coming online. They have some tenants already moved into the building, and by November and into the new year, some restaurants will be opening there. So, there'll be a whole new list of amenities in the downtown region, especially around Pearl Street, that will just come to life.
People are very excited, and I would imagine the people at the Bradley Hotel, having all of us right across the street, that'll be a real plus for them.
Julia Meek: A natural and what do you think this opening night is going to net Pearl Arts as well as the ballet?
Jim Sparrow: For the ballet, it'll be something that people haven't seen before, and I think that's a good thing. I mean, they're expecting certain things from the ballet. This is an opportunity to be in an intimate space.
I'm excited about the intimacy as well. This will feel much more like the audience is part of the performance than what they're used to in a standard proscenium-style stage. And for a ballet that is usually presented in a traditional way, this will give it a more vaudevillian, more intimate, more you have to be there for the performance type of feel.
And I think that alone for our opening night just sets the tone for the entire season.
Jim Palermo: But I think for us, we're going to learn a lot. I think having dance in there and that visual component in our beautiful space, it'll just come alive. So, I'm really happy about it.
Julia Meek: Okay, you are both looking at incredibly busy seasons on the horizon. Let's start with you, Jim Palermo. How are you following this act there, on stage at Pearl Arts?
Jim Palermo: So, in terms of performances, we have the ballet several times this year. The Old Crown Brass Band will be in there with a guest band from Michigan. We have a number of artists in residence ensembles that we'll be visiting through a school partnership that we formulated.
So, we'll have a solo marimba player one week and a month later, we'll have an all-female brass quintet, and a couple of months later, a string quartet. So, we'll have a number of different kinds of performances for different audiences.
Julia Meek: Is it easy to get folks interested in wanting to perform there at this point?
Jim Palermo: Everyone's curious about the space. Our founder is Chuck Surack, who founded Sweetwater, and he is used to building very effective, useful buildings. And I think people who know the music industry know him, and there's a certain amount of trust we have that what we're doing is very high quality and will serve many uses.
Julia Meek: As well as anticipation, because if you're doing it, it's going to be something cool.
Jim Palermo: Yeah, absolutely.
Julia Meek: Perfect. And okay, the Fort Wayne Ballet is readying for another doubly noteworthy milestone with its annual Nutcracker performance at the University of St Francis Robert Goldstein PAC, along with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. What makes this so multiply memorable, Jim?
Jim Sparrow: Well, a couple of things. As you mentioned, it's a milestone. The Fort Wayne Ballet, when it was founded in 1956-57, its first full length performance in the early 60s was in that space, when they did Cinderella. So, we're going home.
In a way, we're going back to a space that the ballet is familiar with. But what's particularly exciting for me is the space is so much bigger than the Arts United Center. We have one full weekend here in Fort Wayne, which means all of our performances are with the Philharmonic.
And it also allows us to tier performances in a situation where we can have less expensive tickets for families all the way up to our regular ones. Anyone who wants to see the Nutcracker with the Philharmonic is going to have the opportunity to do that.
So, I think it's a unique opportunity for us to embrace the season that we're having. It will also be a non-traditional type of performance, in that you'll see all the things you're familiar with, but we're gonna use projection, we're gonna use a few other things that will add some elements that will make it a little bit unique.
Julia Meek: New things.
Jim Sparrow: Yeah, they're gonna see new things. We're gonna see things that you're used to. You're gonna see all the things that make Nutcracker special, but you're also gonna see other surprises. I won't fill everybody in, but it is a unique opportunity as for to be in a space like that and to go home again.
Julia Meek: And gotta say, how about that space?
Jim Sparrow: I've always loved that space. I own a Victorian home. I love old things, and to be in that art deco space, again, built in 1922 it's beautiful.
So being in that space and walking through the lobby and walking into that space feels to me like going to a big old-time theater, and I'm thrilled that that space is going to be loved again.
Living in Fort Wayne for a long time, it's one of those spaces that I've always been intrigued to see it kind of come back.
Julia Meek: And kind of a full circle gift to Fort Wayne, again, from the Suracks wanting to put this all together, have form following function, and having great spaces to create great performances, great memories.
Jim Sparrow: Agreed, I think it's going to be wonderful space. Along with Pearl Arts and the Pearl Street Arts Center that's an addition in that area, there'll be new and unique ways to see the arts and to see things that will just add to downtown.
Julia Meek: And from here, the new year is a joyful one at the Fort Wayne Ballet as well. So, what and where are you going to be rolling out in that coming year?
Jim Sparrow: So, for the rest of the year, after we get done with Don Quixote, we will be, as we mentioned, doing Nutcracker. But what it also allows us to do is take Nutcracker on the road, because we're only doing one weekend here.
So, we'll be in Kendallville. We'll be in Defiance, Ohio. We'll also be back at Pearl Street Art Center to do our Love Notes in February. And then, what I'm particularly excited about is the spring, which will be Ballet Russe reimagine.
We'll be setting March, April and May, three different performances, that will follow a similar format of when it was originally done with the Ballet Russe back in the early 1900s but reimagining a variety of pieces.
We'll have world premieres of Les Sylphides, so it'll be reworked. And then, a brand-new commission for Rite of Spring with a choreographer who would be coming in from Los Angeles. So, I'm very excited about what this season's going to bring.
Julia Meek: That's amazing, and ambitious was certainly the right word to use there. Also, directly or indirectly, or just a happy coincidence that all this is happening at the new Pearl Arts?
Jim Sparrow: Well, we designed the spring specifically to be a little more flexible, a little more avant garde, knowing the space was a non-traditional space. Now the only thing I'll have to try to rein in, as I'm bringing in choreographers, and you never know what they're going to want to do.
So, with that in mind, the spring is really sort of using the same challenges and elements that the old Diaghilev Ballet Russes used in terms of going into spaces, non-traditional things and creating new things. Hopefully we'll be able to capture that same magic.
Julia Meek: So, let's talk about your non-performance offerings over at Pearl Arts, Jim. That's a whole world of artcentricity. Much of its free?
Jim Palermo: Correct. This year, a lot of what we're doing is free. We have a Music Academy with a very large music scholarship component. We are focusing on orchestra and band instruments primarily. We were hoping to launch with 100 students. We have about 260 as of this taping.
Julia Meek: Ooh, overachieving?
Jim Palermo: Well, it's a good overage, I would say. And a number of those young people will be scholarshiped, which is great because there's so much talent out there, and a lot of kids just don't have the means to take a lesson.
So that's wonderful. We also have a number of free, you can either call them classes or sessions, with lots of different kinds of programs, music therapy programs. We have ukulele group music lessons, rhythm drum circles and things like that.
So, there's a lot of programs. There's even a music appreciation, the great composers series that we're doing.
Julia Meek: And you have classes or sessions, as you call them, for adults, children, all ages; people that want to do some music, Pearl Arts is going to be that go to place.
Jim Palermo: Yeah, it's exciting, because the programs are fun. They seem engaging. We've got a roster of teachers who are committed. We want to get out of the gate and invite the community in and get as many people participating as possible.
We often say that the vision, you know, you go backwards from your vision; your vision is the end, right? And so, we were saying, wouldn't it be great if you saw a bunch of 80- and 90-year-olds go into a group ukulele class and passing in the hallway a young kid playing his trombone and a performance being rehearsed in the auditorium. So, it's a place that's full of life.
Julia Meek: Full of life.
Jim Palermo: Full of life and activity in the arts. So, we're excited about that.
Julia Meek: And meanwhile, Jim Sparrow, how's the ballet keeping that outreach momentum going?
Jim Sparrow: Well, besides an exciting season here in Fort Wayne, we're able to take our performances on the road. This Fort Wayne Ballet on the Road, which started basically in earnest last year, we're ramping it up to a new level.
We started with the Firefly regional tour that's now expanding to eight communities. Please visit our website and check those new communities will be happening in the spring. We're also repeating things.
Nutcracker will be in Defiance, Ohio. We'll be in Kendallville, and we're taking our Love Notes performance to Wabash. So, we're trying to take our performances that we do here in Fort Wayne, take them out to the greater region.
Julia Meek: And a lot of those spaces you'll be performing, and they're wonderful communities, every single one of them, you are going to be in some historic places and wonderful spaces on the road. So, it's not just about Fort Wayne's absolute new momentum building for the artcentricity everywhere. It's regional.
Jim Sparrow: That's exactly right. And we're meeting new people who are excited to have the ballet, the Philharmonic, other organizations out in their communities. It makes it feel like it's theirs. So that's fantastic.
Julia Meek: It is! That's all fantastic. Now, for those that are wondering how this new performance space fits into the ever-emerging downtown arts scene, is it simply build the space, a cool one, and they will come?
Jim Palermo: Well, I'd say it's filling a need. Fort Wayne has the wonderful Black Box Theatre, seats, what, 150 to 200-ish? The Arts United Center, which used to seat, what, 670 something or other.
And we're sort of in between. We're at a capacity of around 400, plus performers. So, we think we kind of slot right in between the other theaters. We're not an Embassy Theatre, or the new Scottish Rite, whatever that will be named.
So, we think there's a niche there for organizations. In fact, in some of our earlier talks, Jim Sparrow and I were discussing this 400-seat sweet spot and the need in Fort Wayne for that. So, we took that seriously when we had these initial conversations about this place, and we said, that seems like a good footprint for a new auditorium in Fort Wayne.
Julia Meek: It is sweet, and it's a sweet spot, and it's also a multi-use spot right out of the gate. Internally, do you think that's going to help keep the place alive and going great, just because you never know what wonderful thing is going to be coming out of that space?
Jim Palermo: Sure, I mean, what we do is so multifaceted. We have a Music Academy. We have classrooms where we have classes. We have the auditorium; we have a boardroom and offices and other amenities.
We have recording studio backstage. And so, we do a lot, and we will be ramping up and doing a lot more than just having a traditional performance in the space. We also have a major arts and education program that we're developing, where we'll be providing technical and entrepreneurial kinds of experiences for high school students who are interested in careers in the arts.
Julia Meek: The tech side of things, mmhhmm.
Jim Palermo: Exactly. So, a lot of our activity is pointed towards servicing that population.
Julia Meek: Good luck. And it sounds like you're off to a great start with a great plan. Now, in your minds, what does Pearl Arts and its amenities add to Fort Wayne's artcentric profile? Visit fort Wayne's tourism master plan is looking for us to be a major Music City. Is this going to help all that happen?
Jim Sparrow: Well, I would think it would. The 250- to 400- seat space was a space that was missing here in Fort Wayne.
And whether we're talking about music, more intimate music space, alternative performance space, or whatever the world can think of within an arts type of mindset, this space, I think, enhances not only the master plan you're referring to, in terms of music performances and types of groups that might come in, but also what art kind of experiences Fort Wayne might imagine, because it's filling a gap that really was desperately needed.
Julia Meek: And the whole destination thing that goes with being a major Music City, Jim Palermo, you've got that all set up. You've been explaining just what you're ready for.
Jim Palermo: Well, I also think what you see in Fort Wayne is, you have theaters that have very specific purposes and uses, right? And so the kinds of things that will happen at the Embassy Theater, which people revere the space, it's so beautiful.
That wouldn't happen at Pearl Arts. The Black Box Theater is a very specific use. It's more entrepreneurial in its way and experimental. And so, we're just adding to the menu. We're just expanding the menu a little bit and offering performers and audiences, I wouldn't even say, an alternative.
We're just adding. You know, if you talk about a 10-year plan for making this a Music City, you have to have the facilities to service the level of activity everyone expects. And so, you've got Sweetwater, you've got all these independent organizations who have all their performances, you know, in churches and in other places.
You have Arts United, which is going to be a magnificent space when it opens up, Pearl Arts, the Scottish Rite. I mean, think about the next couple of years, how exciting it will be in this community to see all these places online.
Julia Meek: Quite something. So okay, it takes a community to further the arts and enrichment of everyone's lives. Fort Wayne is quite steeped in tradition and history and up for that task. Even so, this is pretty monumental, and we can't really do it without folks like the Suracks. What does that mean? What does that open up, Jim here in Fort Wayne?
Jim Palermo: I think every day that what Chuck and Lisa have accomplished, you know, through Sweetwater, has enabled them to take the next step. And now they're investing even more in the community--The Pearl, which is the apartment complex across the street, plus Pearl Arts and the work they'll do with the new theater.
It's extraordinary, and it's transforming the community in so many positive ways. And that kind of vision, melded to the resources, is what makes it special. They come with a vision for how to help transform the community. And a lot of generous funders don't have the vision. The Suracks have that vision.
Julia Meek: And bottom line, what does this new and wonderful opportunity do for the whole community's sense of place and accomplishment, as well as your own?
Jim Sparrow: The ballet and me personally are particularly excited about opening up a new door, and this space allows for that. As we've talked a lot about what it provides and with the gap it fills, we won't know exactly until we get in and work out some of the kinks.
And that happens through doing. What we think things will work out to be and how they'll look? The real magic is getting in there and seeing what actually happens. And I think that trajectory for downtown Fort Wayne has been happening in terms of what's been happening all around us.
Now, the arts are taking a step in terms of these spaces to dream a little bit and to be a little more creative. And that's particularly exciting. For someone who's lived in Fort Wayne for a long time and worked in the arts for a very long time here, to see that happening is exciting, especially at this point in my career.
Julia Meek: Jim?
Jim Palermo: You know, for us, I think providing a space that's wide open, where people can come with unfettered access to arts experiences, is what we want to do. That's why this year we're presenting so much that's free, because we want people to know where we are.
We want them to feel like they can just walk in, walk up and down the hallway and see some beautiful artwork, participate in a class, drop in, all that kind of stuff, is what we're hoping to do. We want to be additive to what's happening in the community.
We don't see ourselves in competition. We fundamentally do something different than every other organization or presenter. We're just sort of helping to build things up, we think.
Julia Meek: Jim Sparrow is executive director of Fort Wayne ballet and Jim Palermo, executive director of Pearl Arts. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful stories of your wonderful endeavors. Do keep up the good work and do carry the gift.
Jim Sparrow: Thank you.
Jim Palermo: Thank you.
