Executive Director's Message
April 2008
Dear Friends,
John Haynes, Executive Director & CEO
I'm often asked whom PACE will benefit most, and whose boat, if any, might be rocked. The truth is that PACE is one of those rare projects that will benefit almost everyone it touches. Notwithstanding the "E" in our name that proudly announces our Eastside genesis, PACE is a truly regional initiative.
There is a "regional arts ecology" that shapes both the fortunes of our arts organizations and the cultural life of the Pacific Northwest. It consists of a complex and interdependent web of artists, performers, organizations, theatres, transportation, parking, restaurants, residential demographics, and other factors. No theatre or museum stands alone, unaffected by others. No orchestra or dance company is immune to the barriers imposed on a world-weary audience by the inconvenience of travel time, traffic jams, parking hassles, and the likelihood of future bridge tolls. Two rounds of extensive research show that Eastside patrons and potential patrons—citing traffic and inconvenience—are increasingly unwilling to cross the Lake at night to attend even the cultural events they love most.
Change has brought challenges to the arts ecology of Puget Sound that require a thoughtful response. The increasing density of the Eastside has been accompanied by now-notorious transportation challenges that threaten to cut half of the region's population off from its cultural life if that life continues to be headquartered exclusively in Seattle – a dynamic with negative consequences for arts organizations and audiences alike.
At the same time, the flourishing of Eastside performing arts groups, such as Bellevue Philharmonic and International Ballet Theatre, is constrained by the lack of adequate facilities. Bellevue's Meydenbauer Theatre, for example, seats barely more than 400. As the more well-established Eastside groups move their performances onto the stage at PACE, their fortunes will improve, propelled by world-class acoustics and seating capacity four times greater than that of any other Eastside hall. The smaller venues they now dominate will finally be available to younger, emerging groups who can thrive in them, and who will benefit mightily from PACE even if they never set foot on our stage.
PACE's location, design, and technical capabilities have been planned not merely to make it a superb performing arts center in its own right, but also to make it the "missing link" in the arts ecology of the region. PACE will offer an Eastside performance home to the great, Seattle-based performing arts groups. Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Symphony, and Seattle Opera have all expressed their belief that PACE would help them recapture and expand their Eastside audience. In his letter of support (posted on our website along with dozens of others), Seattle Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz wrote, "Eastside subscribers and donors form a critical part of Seattle Symphony's audience and our success. PACE will help the Symphony keep these people, and their love of classical music, closely involved in our future."
PACE will open important new possibilities for the region's cultural life, allowing Seattle ensembles to follow their audience home and Eastside groups to grow and prosper. Add to that a glittering array of nationally celebrated, PACE-presented performers, and you have a profound change in the arts ecology of the entire region that benefits everyone.
Sincerely,
