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BIG LEAGUE LEADERS
RECRUITED TO ST. LOUIS
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By Christine Imbs
It’s no secret: St. Louis is a sports town. But it takes more than major league sports teams to make a major
league city. It also takes some heavy-hitting arts and culture—and with the lineup we have, it’s enough
to make even the most cynical New Yorker take notice.
“Our institutions are of extreme high quality,” says Jill McGuire, executive director of the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission. “Just look at the talent we have running them. How can they be anything else but outstanding?”
 Jill McGuire, executive director,
St. Louis Regional Arts Commission. |
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It’s true, St. Louis has attracted some of the top leaders
in their fields to
head our institutions. For example, David Robertson, who will take over as music director of the
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2005, is considered one of the leading conductors of his generation, and was sought by dozens of symphony orchestras throughout the world. Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, is a noted botanist and world-renowned conservationist. And Paul Ha, director of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, was in demand nationally for his arts management expertise.
“I think what attracts individuals like this to St. Louis is the quality of our institutions,” McGuire says. “Just consider all of the excellent institutions we have such as the
Zoo, Art Museum, Science Center, the Contemporary, the Symphony and the Opera. For a city our size, we really have an amazing array.”
Even up against cities like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, our cultural institutions rank among the very best. For instance, the Saint Louis Art Museum is consistently ranked among the top 10 in the country, and its exhibits are requested by museums throughout the world. The St. Louis Zoo ranks number one in Zagat’s Travel Family Guide for zoo/animal parks, and both the
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis are recognized as world-class institutions.
| (Left to right): Peter Raven, director, Missouri Botanical Garden;
David Robertson, music director, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Jeffrey Bonner, president and CEO, St. Louis Zoo. |
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Jeffrey Bonner, president and CEO of the
St. Louis Zoo, says for him making the decision to come to St. Louis was easy. “To come here and follow in the footsteps of Marlin Perkins, well that is really cool,” he says with a laugh. “Why would you go to New York? This is Marlin Perkins’ Zoo! And the people in
St. Louis have a reverence for this institution that is simply unequaled in any other city for any other zoo.”
Experts say another reason such high-caliber talent is attracted to St. Louis is the diversity of our arts.
“St. Louis is a place where you have the opportunity to do things that you may not get to do elsewhere,” says McGuire. “I think part of the reason is our cost of living. Doing business here is not nearly as expensive as in New York or L.A. So you can try more innovative things here more freely.”
Then there’s the phenomenal support our art and culture institutions enjoy. Not surprisingly, part of the region’s high attendance figures is driven by affordability.
“St. Louis is known as one of the few—if not the only—communities in this country that has so many free opportunities for its citizens to take advantage of culture,” says Kay Porter, director of marketing and communications for the Saint Louis Art Museum. “That’s because we have an unusually strong philanthropic attitude toward culture.”
In addition to the Regional Arts Commission, which is funded by a portion of the St. Louis City and County hotel/motel sales tax, there is also the Zoo-Museum District, funded from St. Louis City and County property taxes, and the Arts and Education Council, which raises private dollars to help support the arts and arts education programs throughout the community. On top of that, there are dozens of private foundations which work to ensure a healthy arts and culture scene.
“We’re an extraordinarily generous city with respect to the arts,” says Bob Ciapciak, Edward Jones senior partner and chair of the Arts & Education Council of St. Louis. “And when it comes to recruiting exceptional talent to head our arts organizations, it comes down to the fact that the existing institutions are strong and that the St. Louis community is supportive.”
| (Left to right): Paul Ha, director, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; Charles MacKay, general director, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Brent Benjamin, director, Saint Louis Art Museum. |
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Although financial support of the arts is a major draw for some, there are those who point to the abundance of community outreach programs as a major determining factor. This certainly played a part in Robertson’s decision to come to St. Louis.
“The orchestra has put on more than 300 free performance events at schools, churches and even nursing homes,” he said in a Commerce cover story earlier this year. “What the Symphony does in the community is a recognized model for orchestras everywhere. I spent several years in Lyon (France) trying to get that orchestra to the level where St. Louis is right now.”
Even with its numerous strengths, Ciapciak says it can still be difficult to recruit top-notch leaders. “It’s a normal human tendency to be attracted to performance venues and cities where you perhaps have a higher profile and there are so many opportunities,” he says. “But St. Louis offers something different. It’s a very livable city.”
Bob Ciapciak, chair,
Arts & Education Council of St. Louis. |
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Charles MacKay, general director of the
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, agrees. Hired as a consultant early in the history of the Theatre, he spent some time exploring
St. Louis for himself. What he found is that the city has a lot to offer outside its arts institutions. So when asked to be the theater’s new director, he says the answer was easy.
“I knew the company’s reputation, and having been here previously, I was very familiar with St. Louis,” he explains. “It’s a great place to live. It has all kinds of opportunities for outdoor activities including parks, the river and hiking trails. And things are also reasonably affordable here. I really think this helps in recruiting the very best and brightest to St. Louis. And the excellence in the arts keeps them here.”
St. Louisans themselves have also played a role in winning over potential talent for our venues. Like MacKay, Brent Benjamin, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, also had the opportunity to witness a little of life in St. Louis before agreeing to relocate from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
“I arrived in St. Louis early to visit the Museum on my own,” Benjamin writes in an e-mail. “It had snowed the night before, and as I drove up the hill to the Art Museum, a magnificent scene unfolded before me. The Museum was absolutely beautiful, and Art Hill was full of sledders. What a wonderful first impression! Then I went inside and discovered that the Museum’s renowned collection was even more outstanding than I had imagined.”
In short, like many “imported” cultural leaders, it was the reputation of the institution that grabbed Benjamin’s attention—but it was the city that won him over.
“If you really take a look at what St. Louis has to offer in comparison to some other cities, I believe you’ll find us at the very top,” says Bonner. “I honestly believe we are unequaled in America.”
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