Through much of 2010, ongoing announcements heralded the imminent debut of the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC), billed as a “world-class, state-of-the-art performance facility,” constructed on the campus of California State University, Northridge (CSUN).
Executive Director Robert Bucker
For Executive Director Robert Bucker, Dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication, the hoopla has been merely the tip of the iceberg. “The anticipation regarding this facility precedes me by quite a few years. This has been talked about in the San Fernando Valley for probably 50 years. I’m in my fourth year here at CSUN. The really serious planning for this project started about eight years ago. It was clearly a project that was in motion by the time I came to the campus.”
Bucker affirms the Center’s mandate to take its place among the world’s leading performance venues. This is certainly supported by the specs. The facility is highlighted by a 1,700-seat Great Hall, featuring an acoustically-tunable performance space that will support a spectrum of professional arts programming, including large symphonic orchestras and small instrumental ensembles, dance, opera, musical theater as well as film and lectures.
The 166,000-square-foot Center also houses a 178-seat flexible experimental theater, classrooms, laboratories, rehearsal space and offices. And it’s the new home of CSUN-based National Public Radio outlet KCSN.
VPAC in construction
“The Center is located on a university campus. so there are both a public presentation focus and an academic focus that need to be addressed,” says Bucker. “We’re now set up in business to present performing arts organizations that will be booked from around the world. At the same time, this is the home to campus-generated academic programs which will actively use the experimental theater, the classrooms, lecture hall and the radio station. All of these agendas are now part of the umbrella of Valley Performing Arts Center.”
Bucker, who earned master’s and doctor of musical arts degrees at University of Missouri and graduated from Harvard University’s Management Development Program, has actively straddled the mandates of performance and academia since his first position as Assistant Dean and Director of Development for the College of Fine Arts and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1992-1995).
Bucker then served as Director of the Education Department for the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1995-97), followed by stints at the University of Minnesota (1997-2001) and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (2001-2007). He is also founder, director and conductor of the Choral Arts Ensemble of Kansas City. In his current position at CSUN, Bucker is quite aware of the need to plan ahead when programming a facility like VPAC.
VPAC interior
“Right now I’m about 85 per cent confirmed for the 2011-12 season and I’m working on dates for the 2012-13 season,” he relates. “You are always working a year ahead. The schedule pretty much includes all aspects of the performing arts, which have their individual requirements. Sometimes popular culture events are scheduled in a shorter window than classical arts events.
“When booking the season, there is always the challenge of artist availability. Some of the artists you might most want don’t tour every season or don’t come to the West Coast every season. So, there is a need to get them when they are available and to structure the season around those booking commitments. That has always been part of the presenting business. It’s always challenging, including working out the logistics, such as travel, housing, cartage and expenses.
VPAC at dusk
“Ensembles, whether they are stateside or international, tour and put together schedules based on single performances, sometimes two, at a facility and then move on. It would also not be practical for a theater or ballet company to come in and present any kind of season at the Center. It is a 1700-seat house, too large for a resident stage company. The Center’s small experimental black box theater is very much committed to the academic agenda of the University, although there is a potential there for bringing in an outside theatrical endeavor if there was a strong desire to do so.”
For the Center’s premiere season, Bucker has put together a series of pairings of similar disciplined artists including folk artists Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainwright III (Feb. 5); the composer/performer duo of Marvin Hamlisch and Joel Grey (Feb. 26); Parsons Dance and East Village Opera (Mar. 4); and Broadway icons Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin (May 21).
Joan Rivers
The inaugural lecture/spoken word series features Arianna Huffington (Feb. 19), Joan Rivers (Mar. 1), Shirley MacLaine (May 7) intermingled with world-class singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (Mar. 12) Rosanne Cash (Mar. 19) and Brian Stokes Mitchell (Apr. 30). Large ensemble bookings include Russian National Ballet’s Swan Lake (Feb. 8), the China Philharmonic Orchestra (Apr. 16) and Metales M5 (May 5).
When asked about the overall vision of the Center, Bucker readily replies, “You don’t build a $125 million building without having a vision. Our vision here is to develop a very diverse and very high quality program, to become known for presenting at a very high performance level. The acoustical capabilities of this new space allow us to present superb artists from around the world, fostering artistic development in our students and encouraging community involvement and participation beyond the campus.”
Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainwright III
The Valley Performing Arts Center was launched last Saturday, with a gala show, O! For a Muse of Fire, created especially for the facility’s debut. Leading artists from around the world participated including American Ballet Theatre stars Gillian Murphy and Jose Carreno; international opera star Carol Vaness; comedian Cheech Marin; jazz and popular music favorites Dave Koz, Arturo Sandoval and Monica Mancini; Broadway stars Davis Gaines and Tyne Daly; film/TV celebrities Benjamin Bratt, Keith David, Calista Flockhart, Jane Kaczmarek, Doris Roberts, Eric Stoltz, Steven Weber and Noah Wyle.
Valley Performing Arts Center, 18111 Nordhoff St., on the campus of Cal State University, Northridge. For tickets and information on the 2011-2012 season: 818.677.3000 or ValleyPerformingArtsCenter.org.
