Marquee de Sad

The hydraulic system operating the stage extension on which most of
the orchestra was situated had malfunctioned. As a result, the orchestra
was forced to perform a farcical interpretation of its classical
repertoire as the stage submerged half its musicians.

This embarrassing situation is a metaphor for the Civic Center’s
limitations as a performance venue. As the building grows older, its
ability to support the performing arts within its walls is
deteriorating. Although the main occupants of the Civic Center—the SSO
and Syracuse Opera—work diligently to attract more people to their
programs, their efforts are impeded by a lack of outdoor advertising and
outdated facilities. A new budgeting system that puts the county in
charge of needed repairs and refurbishment of the entire Oncenter
complex (consisting of the Convention Center, the Civic Center, and the
Onondaga County War Memorial) could help matters, but it could also
postpone renovations in the Civic Center for a very long time. 

The 1975 construction of the Onondaga County Civic Center can be
linked to original County Executive John H. Mulroy, who was desperate to
move local artistic performances into an independent venue, rather than
rely on local high schools to host events. But now, lackluster and
outdated, the Civic Center must rely solely on the hardworking talent
within to attract an audience.

The Civic Center—crucial to the health of the arts in downtown
Syracuse—is the least architecturally inviting of all the buildings in
the neighboring streets. It looks more like a corporate headquarters
than a concert hall. There is no sign or marquee to color the building’s
bland facade, and there are no outdoor displays to signal that the
Civic Center is even a performance space. 

Sandra Baker, vice president of sales and marketing at the Oncenter,
points to the Civic Center’s prime location on Columbus Circle in the
center of downtown, but a lack of signage contributes to the fact that
many people can’t even find the concert hall. “Signage in general
downtown is really an issue,” Baker acknowledges. “You’ll be driving
downtown and have no idea that we’ll have 2,000 people in for a show
that day.”

Baker says the Oncenter is currently working to resolve that issue.
Placing advertisements, including banners on Montgomery Street and
possibly a marquee outside the Civic Center, is at the top of the
Oncenter’s list of priorities. She hopes that those improvements will be
made within the next six months. The inside of the Civic Center,
however, needs just as much attention.

Once audience members locate the Civic Center, they encounter a stark
environment dominated by county government, which shares the space. In
an artistic setting where architectural individuality should be
celebrated, the Civic Center is instead a chilly space devoid of
character. “It’s not the most welcoming of spaces,” admits Nicki Inman,
vice president of Patron Development for the SSO.

Inside are three individual performing spaces: the Crouse-Hinds
Theater, with more than 2,000 seats; the much smaller Carrier Theater;
and the incredibly intimate BeVard Studio. In the Carrier Theater,
ticket holders sit on seats that are tattered and worn. Baker admits
that most Syracusans have probably never heard of, much less seen the
inside of, the BeVard Studio, since it is rarely used for public
performances. 

The premium box seats in the Crouse-Hinds Theater—which are, in fact,
office chairs on wheels— are enclosed in dull, chunky concrete walls.
If it weren’t for the red seats in the rest of the auditorium, the
theater would have no personality at all. The absence of a center aisle
on the floor of Crouse-Hinds means that once a ticket holder takes his
premium front-row-center seat, he’s there for good unless he cares to
disrupt his neighbors. 

Faulty stage panels and the lack of acoustical side panels in
Crouse-Hinds cause sound to rise up, but not project out into the
theater, according to Inman. The space might work for a Broadway show
that is heavily amplified, but it does not give the symphony or the
opera the same benefits. Behind the stage is a labyrinth of linoleum
hallways. The “musicians’ lounge” is more like a hallway with a few
cafeteria chairs. 

Picture This

Compare all this to the recent renovation of the Eastman Theatre in
Rochester. Now called Kodak Hall, the theater was gutted and refurbished
in October 2009 as part of a $46.9 million project—a large portion of
that money coming from New York state—at the University of Rochester’s
Eastman School of Music. The goal of the project was to dramatically
improve the existing hall and add another smaller venue for recitals and
master classes. 

During the renovation, about 800 seats were removed from the theater
so that the back walls could be reshaped and pushed further toward the
stage, producing better acoustics. Cozy box seats were added on the
orchestra and mezzanine levels, and the seats throughout the theater
were repaired or replaced. 

The reshaped hall not only allows for a more intimate concert
experience, but it also permitted the expansion of the lobby and the
addition of five new lounges. Ornate red carpeting was added as well as
new sound and lighting systems. The Italian Renaissance-style theater,
complete with murals, busts of composers and a grand chandelier, is now a
completely 21st-century structure that both the Rochester Philharmonic
Orchestra and Eastman School ensembles call home.

Of course, the Eastman project was helped along by private monies.
Still, the Civic Center is far behind Kodak Hall, but having three
discrete performance spaces wrapped up into one building means that the
components are in place for the Civic Center to be a competitive
performance venue, if they are used properly. “Three theaters really
give you so much opportunity,” Baker says.

The Civic Center was conceived by Mulroy to host multiple events at
once. The venue can accommodate a community theater production in the
Carrier Theater while simultaneously producing a large Broadway musical
on the Crouse-Hinds stage, during which the performers can warm up in
the adjacent BeVard Studio. In that case, the structure does the job it
was given. But as the Crouse-Hinds Theater has become the venue of
choice for large events because of its broad stage and 2,117-seating
capacity, the smaller theaters have become increasingly neglected as
purely artistic spaces. 

Michael Spaulding, director of ticketing and event booking at the
Oncenter, points to another problem in maximizing the value of the three
spaces. Crouse-Hinds Theater is most often preoccupied with its three
main tenants: Syracuse Symphony, Syracuse Opera and the Famous Artists
Broadway Theater Series. It is difficult to book other events around
their rehearsal and performance schedules.

“It’s not difficult to attract {non-local events} to our theaters,
but it’s tough to fit them in our schedule because we are so busy with
our three major tenants,” Spaulding says. He can, however, book
non-local events on a Tuesday because the SSO contract precludes
rehearsals on the day. When that happens, the BeVard Studio and the
Carrier Theater are converted into support spaces. “When a national tour
comes in,” Spaulding says. “We use the BeVard as support space for
Crouse-Hinds—catering, equipment storage, that kind of thing.”

Baker says that while many people in the community recognize the name
“Crouse-Hinds,” there are few who know the Carrier Theater or the
BeVard Studio by name. This is why local theater troupes will advertise
that their events are held in the Civic Center Theaters rather than
specifically in the Carrier Theater. The Civic Center relies on its
ushers to guide ticket holders to the proper theater, since many patrons
do not know where they are going once they make it inside the
building. 

For the Civic Center to become a competitive performance venue, major
changes need to be made. Some recent amendments in the fiscal
relationship between the Oncenter and the county suggest that these
renovations could happen on a smaller scale—or they might not happen at
all.

An audit released by County Comptroller Robert E. Antonacci II on
July 15 assessed the Oncenter’s growing concerns about balancing its
budget. Antonacci discovered that the Oncenter had been using tax
dollars from the county to pay for steam, chilled water, maintenance and
repairs. According to Antonacci, these are costs the county should have
captained long ago. This will save the Oncenter roughly a half-million
dollars a year so that it can focus on its core mission: getting people
in the seats.

Antonacci says rejuvenating the Oncenter will be a topic of major
focus. “I think the Oncenter is going to be part of my office’s priority
list as long as I’m here,” he vowed.

But now that maintenance and repair are a county responsibility,
James Rowley, the county’s chief fiscal officer, reveals that the Civic
Center’s needs will compete with the needs of other county departments,
such as highway, sewer and sanitation. The Oncenter’s needs, Rowley
estimates, “are probably between $3 million to $4 million of capital
projects on top of what is already going on over there.”

The county has a Capital Improvement Plan consisting of $784 million
worth of projects. The Oncenter is clearly a small part of that plan.
Where the Civic Center fits into Oncenter priorities will determine how
quickly improvements will be made. For example, Rowley estimates that a
marquee alone for the Civic Center will cost approximately $500,000.

Right now, while the War Memorial is undergoing a $7 million roof
replacement, the Civic Center must be satisfied with having an elevator
replaced so that it can handle more than one rider. And even though you
could argue that more people pass through War Memorial turnstiles, it’s
also a valid question to ask when the Civic Center will finally get its
due. It’s long overdue, that’s for certain.

The results of the audit could change how the county allocates
resources to its ailing performance spaces. But given all the competing
demands and an overall lack of funds, those Syracuse Symphony cellists
will have to be prepared for anything. 

Leah Rankin has an undergraduate degree from the University of
Rochester with majors in English and music, and a certificate in
ethnomusicology from the Eastman School.  She was the first-chair
cellist in the UR Chamber Orchestra. Her writing interests are world and
classical music.