Richmond CenterStage, now Dominion Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 10 years later

In 2009, the red curtain went up for the first time on the $73.5 million project that was originally called Richmond CenterStage.

The performing arts facility includes the 1,800-seat Carpenter Theatre as well as two smaller venues: the 200-seat Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse and the multipurpose venue Rhythm Hall.

Much was promised.

It was going to provide a home for Richmond performing arts organizations, revitalize downtown, bring in touring acts that people were excited to see and provide arts education to Richmond kids.

Last year, over 117,000 people went to 174 performances at the Dominion Energy Center.

Has it delivered?

Let’s take a look.

First up, a 10th anniversary celebration

The Dominion Energy Center is now home to 11 resident companies, including the Richmond Symphony, Virginia Opera and Richmond Ballet, and smaller companies, such as Quill Theatre and the Elegba Folklore Society.

To kick off the 10th anniversary, the Richmond Symphony, Richmond Ballet, the Virginia Opera and many other resident companies will share the Carpenter Theatre stage on Friday, Sept. 6, for a grand celebration.

“We’ve only done this twice before: the first on opening night in 2009, then again for our fifth anniversary,” said Abbi Haggerty, executive director of the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance, which oversees fundraising, education and community outreach for the facility. “It’s amazing to see all of this talent from local organizations on one stage.”

Expect dancing, singing, ballet, hip-hop, African dance and lots more with short performances from SPARC, Virginia Opera, Virginia Repertory Theatre and more resident companies.

“If you haven’t seen the opera or Elegba Folklore Society or SPARC in a while, you will get a little taste at the anniversary celebration. It’s like a flight, like a tasting of each arts organization,” said Brett Bonda, managing director of the Richmond Ballet.

Home base for Richmond performing arts

Although resident companies, such as the Latin Ballet of Virginia and the City Dance Theatre, will share the stage Sept. 6 to celebrate the center’s 10th anniversary, many of the resident companies don’t share the space at the arts center equally.

The Richmond Symphony, Richmond Ballet and the Virginia Opera get the most use out of the center.

The Richmond Symphony, which has offices in the Dominion Energy Center, will have more than 40 performances there this upcoming season.

“This is truly our home,” said David Fisk, executive director of the Richmond Symphony. “We have a performance here almost every week.”

The Richmond Ballet hosts three of its biggest performances at the Carpenter Theatre, including “The Nutcracker” and “Swan Lake.” It hosts the remainder of its season at its headquarters on Canal Street.

But smaller arts organizations can’t afford the rental fees to rent out the space. The Gottwald Playhouse, for example, rents for $675 per night, plus security and stagehands. For a three-week run, that adds up to $15,000 or more for the space.

In the last few years, the city set up a grant to help smaller organizations use the space by offsetting expenses.

For example, Quill Theatre now hosts one to two performances at the Gottwald Playhouse, in part thanks to the grant. But organizers say it isn’t financially feasible to host their entire run at the arts center.

Other resident companies, such as the Latin Ballet of Virginia and Elegba Folklore Society, still hold the majority of their performances elsewhere due to costs.

“We still have the nut to crack on how to get smaller performing arts organizations to use the facilities economically,” said Jerry Samford, president of the RPAA board.

“We’re always looking for ways to have more performances outside of the resident companies, especially in the Gottwald theater. It’s been historically less-utilized,” Bonda added. “It’s available to anyone. We’d like to get more diverse programming that meets the needs and desires of the city of Richmond.”

Who controls it?

The management of the performing arts center is a bit complicated. It’s a public-private partnership between the city of Richmond and RPAC Inc., a for-profit entity created to allow the use of historic tax credits for theater renovations.

Ten years later, RPAC Inc. is still in place and led by Dominion Energy CEO Thomas F. Farrell II.

RPAC hires SMG, a for-profit corporation based out of Pennsylvania, to book the talent and relies on the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance for fundraising and education.

In 2011, the Landmark Theater, formerly known as the Mosque, became part of the Richmond CenterStage complex. It reopened as the Altria Theater the following year with 3,565 seats.

In 2016, the CenterStage complex (which houses the Carpenter Theatre) was renamed the Dominion Energy Center for the Arts after a $5.5 million gift from Dominion Resources.

SMG Richmond books talent for the Carpenter Theatre, the Altria Theater and the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center. SMG also booked talent for the Richmond Coliseum, the 13,000-seat venue that is currently closed amid redevelopment discussions.

That means one company books three of the biggest venues in Richmond.

“When this thing was planned, we were promised this world-class arts center. Is this what that looks like?” said Don Harrison, a local arts writer and vocal critic of the arts center. He co-created the Save Richmond blog that examined the finances behind the arts center. “It’s cost Richmond a lot and caused later boondoggles, like Monroe Park, the Stone Brewing deal, the Redskins Training Center — all ushered in by the same small group of people.”

The city has contributed up to $500,000 annually to subsidize the operations at the performing arts center, but according to the city’s budget, that number will go down to $250,000 for fiscal year 2020.

Touring talent

Because of the Carpenter Theatre’s size, at 1,800 seats, it’s been a challenge to bring in bigger names at an affordable price point.

For the 2019-2020 season, as of this writing, the biggest names coming to the Carpenter Theatre are comic Patton Oswalt on Sept. 12, singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot on Oct. 2 and ’90s band the Goo Goo Dolls on Nov. 19.

“Hamilton,” the touring production of the Broadway smash hit, is generating the biggest buzz of the Richmond arts season. It will have a three-week holiday run at the Altria from Nov. 19 to Dec. 8.

According to organizers, the Carpenter Theatre and Altria are too small for an arena show that would draw an act like Bruce Springsteen.

“I’d like to have bigger concerts come to Richmond. Those are going to Charlottesville or Norfolk because we don’t have a Coliseum right now,” Bonda said.

As for getting a more intimate show from a bigger name like Springsteen, that would mean a bigger ticket price that a market like Richmond historically won’t pay, according to Dolly Vogt at SMG.

Vogt said she tried to book Robert Plant at the Dominion Energy Center, but in the end, that show ended up going to Virginia Credit Union Live! at the Richmond Raceway, which has 6,000 covered seats.

Additionally, because the Dominion Energy Center was created as a home for Richmond performing arts organizations, booking talent that doesn’t compete with home-town resident companies can also provide a challenge.

Legends on Grace

As for local shows to look forward to, Legends on Grace is expecting to be a hot ticket this year.

Featuring local legends of Richmond theater like Scott Wichmann performing personal favorites, the Legends on Grace series, held in Rhythm Hall, quickly sold out last year.

The series will return this year with more shows, including Classic Motown hits from Desirée Roots on Oct. 5, Wichmann’s take on the RVA Rat Pack on Dec. 7, Susan Greenbaum doing the hits of Burt Bacharach on Feb. 8 and Debra Wagoner performing Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli classics on May 9.
“You’re seeing these spaces become active spaces and embrace local arts communities,” Haggerty said.

Lights Up!

Education was also promised as a key component of the performing arts center.

The arts facility was built with an education center and a digital arts lab that offers video production courses for high school students. Open calls are put out to students who are interested in taking the classes, which are free to anyone enrolled in a local public school.

The digital arts lab reaches approximately 100 middle and high school students each year.

Last year, the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance partnered with Wolf Trap to provide a pre-K training program for the arts. In the program, artists go into the classrooms at five Richmond schools to train teachers how to incorporate the arts.

“The arts ... allow children to be creative, work together, problem-solve and take pride in the process as well as the product of their work. The arts have allowed our children to find alternative ways to express themselves,” said Johnnye Massenburg-Johnson, manager of the pre-school center at Martin Luther King Jr.

In the upcoming school year, the program will be in 40 classrooms, reaching approximately 700 students and 60 teachers.

New this year, the Genworth Lights Up! Youth Series has been expanded from one day of workshops from local arts organizations to a series of five free Saturday workshops and performances.

The first will spotlight theater arts on Sept. 7, followed by Lights Up! events on dance, digital arts and music. Each Lights Up! event is held in the Education Center on Grace Street from 10 a.m. to noon and is free to the public.

Revitalizing downtown

On a Saturday night, the neighborhood around the Carpenter Theatre, especially on East Grace Street, can be a bustling strip.

Julep’s, Maya and Rappahannock make for hot spots on Grace Street for drinks or dinner.

There are still plenty of dark, empty retail spots on Grace Street, however, despite historic tax credits meant to incentivize redevelopment in the area.

In 2003, the Richmond City Council increased the city’s meals tax from 5% to 6% to help pay for the arts center. In 2006, the use of the extra revenue was expanded to include school buildings.

In 2018, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney led the charge that raised the meals tax again, from 6% to 7.5%, to raise $150 million to build three schools.

Chris Staples, director of hospitality and marketing for EAT Restaurant Partners, which owns Wong Gonzalez restaurant, said the EAT group opened the Grace Street spot because of the real estate opportunity.

“We felt the impact of the meals-tax increase, as every restaurant operator in the city has,” Staples said. “The meals tax increase has had a palpable effect [financially] on all Richmond restaurants.”

But, he said, the restaurant enjoys the buzz of being close to the Dominion Energy Center.

“We love entertaining people going to the show before and after. It’s all part of that great experience of Richmond dining and going out,” he said. “Having strong retail, arts and culture, and dining — all of that is burgeoning down here.”