For the past decade, an unassuming three-story brick building on the corner of West Fayette and South West streets has been home to an ever-growing community of artists, all dedicated to improving the city of Syracuse through art.

This year marks the Redhouse Arts Center’s 10th anniversary, and the non-profit organization has begun to move from its original building into the old Sibley’s department store on Salina Street. Rachel Boucher, the center’s marketing director, said it is a great accomplishment.

“Redhouse started as a music venue and has morphed into a full performing arts center, which contributes to our huge growth,” Boucher said, in an email. “We were able to diversify our offerings to attract larger crowds.”

After a recent surge of success, the center’soriginal space can no longer meet its growing needs, according to a Redhouse presentation. Since 2011, annual membership has grown from 35 to 500, average attendance has grown from 30 to 92 percent and full-time employment has grown from three to 24 employees.

Boucher believes that executive artistic director Stephen Svoboda’s idea to start educational and community outreach programs has accounted for much of the center’s recent growth.

Svoboda, who is entering his fifth year with the Redhouse Arts Center, has shifted the center from being purely professional-based, to being a space that engages the community.

“We’re saying ‘Come participate in the creation of art. Come participate in watching what happens,’ and so we’ve built this entire education program that didn’t exist before that’s really fueled attendance and participation across the board,” Svoboda said.

For Svoboda, the mission of the Redhouse Arts Center is not to create art just for admiration, but to have a practical use and to use art as a tool for a greater reason.

“I think it’s important that art doesn’t play the role of art for art’s sake in the community,” he said. “I think art has a reason. There’s a reason we do art. It’s about understanding who we are as people — it’s about building connections.”

And by reaching out to the community, connections have been made. The Redhouse Arts Center now has partnerships with more than 50 businesses, and has an educational partnership with the Syracuse City School District.

Svoboda also believes in the idea of mentorship and apprenticeship. Michaela Geldmacher, a senior stage management major, worked for the Redhouse Arts Center during the summer.

Geldmacher said she had never experienced as much responsibility or opportunity in any of her prior work experience. She attended every rehearsal and performance at the center, keeping track of actors, props and sets. While it was a lot of work, Geldmacher relished the opportunity.

“The Red House is really open to having people be involved and giving them responsibilities that you wouldn’t find other places, because they’re all about learning and they are definitely open to student involvement,” Geldmacher said.

What Geldmacher noticed most during her time at the Redhouse Arts Center was its dedication to the community. She said professional and community actors worked side by side in productions and were both treated equally.

This community outreach will continue to grow as the Redhouse Arts Center moves into its new space in 2015. The move represents a new model for arts in the community, Svoboda said.

By partnering with for-profit developers, the Redhouse Arts Center will become part of a project to create a multipurpose space, which will include housing, restaurants and office space in the old Sibley’s department store. Svoboda said the center’s next goal is to raise $3 million dollars to build its own facilities.

“There’s a lot of interest because it’s not just an art place,” Svoboda said. “This is going to be responsible for a massive economic development of downtown, a transformation of that block.”

Once the move is complete, the larger facilities will generate more profits to create an endowment and become self-sustainable. The center will use its excess money to support itself and other local arts organizations, Boucher said.

The Redhouse Arts Center will also continue to own and operate out of its original space, Svoboda said. He said they are leaning toward rebranding it Redhouse West, and using it as a music venue for local bands.

After a decade, the Redhouse Arts Center has learned from its growth and is committed to creating a strong arts community and a sense of vibrancy and excitement to downtown Syracuse.

Said Svoboda: “Think about Salina Street right now, and you walk by and it’s like depressing and it shows that the city’s dying in a way… Imagine it now with classrooms and windows and watching people do rock camp, watching kids dancing and watching actors perform.”

Published on August 27, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Brendan: bskrisel@syr.edu