Marcus Center is Ready for the Return of the Performing Arts

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Courtesy of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

It’s now called the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, but the landmark on the banks of the Milwaukee River has long been immediately recognizable to Milwaukeeans. The facility was built in the Brutalist architectural style with a blocky feel characterized by a well-defined geometry and small windows. But inside the monolith, an imaginative wealth of arts and entertainment flourished.

Originally called The Performing Arts Center, the facility opened on July 26, 1969. The Marcus name was added in 1994 when the founder of Marcus Corporation, Ben Marcus, made a $25 million donation

In the years since, it became apparent that it was time to upgrade the facilities. A $4 million renovation was originally scheduled to begin in 2020. Then came the unexpected specter of COVID-19. However, despite cancelling programming, the Marcus Center continued to move forward through the pandemic.

“When it became clear that the Center would be closed for many months, we reorganized the projects in the Campus Master Plan timeline,” explains President and CEO Kendra Whitlock Ingram. “Originally, the seat renovations in Uihlein Hall were not scheduled to take place until 2024. However, the closure gave us the opportunity to do the seat renovations now, since this work requires the venue to be offline for several months.”

The renovations include creating more aisles, reducing the current number of seats from 2,305 to 2,110. Seating locations will increase for patrons that use wheelchairs, says Ingram, while sight lines will remain the same.

Reschedule and Hope

The unplanned closure certainly has a major downside: Live programming came to a standstill, and with that came the economic challenges that inevitably follow. Long home to the Milwaukee Ballet, First Stage and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Marcus Center worked to do what every other performing arts organization began doing—reschedule. And hope.

“After March 2020, when it became clear that we were likely to be closed for an extended period of time, we began looking at everything we had booked to determine if it would be possible to reschedule,” explains Heidi Lofy, vice president for experience and engagement. “Initially, everyone hoped it would only be a shift from spring and summer to fall, and we began working under that scenario. As the pandemic worsened, we realized that we were in a situation where the 20-21 season was not going to happen.”

There are some programming notes of hope for 2021: Lofy points out that they’ve been able to reschedule the majority of events including the Broadway Series—and in particular, the return of the theatrical phenomenon, Hamilton. In the meantime, fans of live performances have been making the best of this virtual world. But that meant that the Marcus Center needed to get up to date quickly for live streaming.

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Courtesy of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

Upgrading Tech

“The need to upgrade our technology infrastructure was a need that emerged as a result of COVID,” Ingram emphasizes. “We needed a more powerful streaming capability, as well as equipment to produce higher-quality digital content. As a result, we added upgrades of fiber networking and investment in live streaming technology to the original plans.”

Audiences have been able to see shows during the shutdown that otherwise would not have been possible without the added technologies, including those well outside the Milwaukee and southeast Wisconsin markets.

“Live streaming has been a great way to keep our audiences engaged and for artists to offer up new and creative content during this shut down,” says Lofy. “It has allowed us to continue offering access to our student programs and broadened the number of people who could participate significantly. For example, for a typical year, we would reach about 5,000 kids with our KidZ Days events. Virtually, the events have had over 46,000 views.”

And many organizations like the Marcus Center have found that live streaming is a viable way to connect with audiences even after we can all return to live performances. “It is likely that a live streamed component will exist going forward in some form, particularly in regard to education programming,” Lofy says. “We see it as offering access to audiences that, for whatever reason, are unable to attend in person or as a way to offer access to performances for a longer period of time.”

Live streaming as well as streamed (recorded) performances have become the lifeline for many performing arts organizations working to “stay open” while facilities remain physically closed. And there’s an upside as well. The current downside of being closed has accelerated the need to update technologies to reach audiences virtually.

Broadening Their Reach

“We’ve gained some really valuable insight regarding live streaming technology over the last 10 months. It’s helped us to continue to stay engaged with our audiences when we couldn’t convene large assembly, but it is not a viable revenue stream,” Ingram points out. “I think, when it comes to ‘must-see’ special programs, there’s a lot of demand. However, we keep hearing from our audiences that they can’t wait to return to live arts and entertainment events.”

She explains how live streaming technology played a critical this past 2020 holiday season. “We produced several short concerts to be broadcast in local hospitals for in-patients,” Ingram says. “We hope to build upon this project for when we return to live performances. Live streaming technology will also help us to broaden our reach into schools, particularly those located in rural places or which aren’t able to make the trip to the Marcus Center.”

For all the concerted efforts to reach audiences, there is still the daunting task of dealing with the financial havoc the pandemic has wreaked, particularly on arts organizations like the Marcus Center that depend on audiences year-round.

“The closure due to COVID has dramatically impacted our revenue, resulting in a 75% loss of revenue since we closed,” explains Ingram. “As we return to full operations again, we’re going to need time to recover financially over the nest two to three years. We’ll have to consider a number of factors (e.g., financial, project work timeline, etc.) as we look to embark on Phase 2 projects.”

One of the economic losses has nothing to do with COVID-19; it results from the pre-pandemic decision by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to move to its own space after over 50 years of renting at the Marcus Center. The Milwaukee Ballet also chose to shift some of its performances to the new Baumgartner Center. However, the “deafening silence” left by the MSO’s move does present other opportunities for new programming, according to Lofy.

“The MSO’s departure does impact our revenue but also creates a significant opportunity to bring new cultural programming to Milwaukee,” Lofy points out. “We expect to announce several new series later this year that will feature some incredible nationally and internationally touring artists, some of whom have not performed in Milwaukee for a very long time, as well as some who may be making their Milwaukee debut.”

As we move past the pandemic, Ingram says that the Center will be ready and up to date: “Our prime objective is to make the Marcus Center a welcoming and state-of-the-art facility for the community to enjoy for many years to come.”

For more information on the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, visit: marcuscenter.org.