Whether you’re a nonprofit like ArtsWestchester in White Plains or a business like The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester – which will be hosting the arts council’s fundraising gala on Tuesday, Nov. 12, for the second year – your concerns are surprisingly similar: How do you put fannies in the seats, particularly in this virtual, post-pandemic age?
“We’ve had the realization for a while…that the traditional gala is not as effective as it was pre-pandemic,” Kathleen Reckling, ArtsWestchester’s new CEO, said of sit-down dinner events. “How do you refresh the model?”
Last year, ArtsWestchester piloted the model of the popular cocktail reception plus a buffet with a marvelous concert, “Neil Berg’s Tribute to Rock’n’Roll,” at The Capitol – a 1920s movie palace-turned-1970s rock’n’roll temple that returned to its musical roots when Peter Shapiro, owner of the Brooklyn Bowl and Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas venues, took over in 2011. (No less than Bob Dylan inaugurated “The Cap,” as it is affectionately known, in September 2012.)
Now son Jakob Dylan and his band The Wallflowers return to The Cap, which they played in 2012, for the ArtsWestchester benefit, which will feature a VIP reception and a tribute to Ken Jenkins, Deputy County Executive, Westchester County.
“The Wallflowers are a huge name,” The Cap’s General Manager Alyssa Kitchen said of the two-time Grammy Award winners. “We’re excited to have them back at The Capitol.”
In choosing and securing The Wallflowers, Reckling said, ArtsWestchester worked with Soups On Entertainment, a full service live entertainment consultancy owned by Scott Campbell with more than 25 years of experience, as well as Emily Schmalholz, The Cap’s head of special events. “We always give an opinion on who would be great,” Kitchen added.
These days, a great headliner must appeal to both an older audience, generally with a history of concertgoing and discretionary income, and a TikTok generation with less to spend and more interest in streaming. It’s a challenge that The Cap navigates as it offers a slate of some 100 acts a year in the 1,450-seat Main Room (1,950 standing) and Garcia’s Bar, named for Jerry Garcia, who was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist and vocalist for The Grateful Dead. It was Garcia who famously said: “See, there’s only two theaters, man… that are set up pretty groovy all around for music and for smooth stage changes, good lighting and all that – the Fillmore and The Capitol Theatre.”
Indeed, it is that legendary reputation – through the years, The Cap has played host to The Dead, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Traffic, among others – along with Shapiro’s connections and state-of-the-art renovations that enable the rock palace to continue to draw equally legendary names. Neil Young played The Cap on Sept. 7. At $150 a ticket, the place was packed, with people outside still hoping to get in, Kitchen said. (Between 30% and $40% of the shows sell out.) Sting made his Cap debut Oct. 12 and said, “I can’t believe I haven’t played here before,” she added.
On the other hand, a concert featuring Declan McKenna, the English singer-songwriter who’s a Gen Z favorite, was only half-sold at $40 a ticket.
For The Cap, it’s a question of balancing big names with emerging artists – some of whom begin in Garcia’s Bar before moving on to the Main Room – as well as drawing on Latino talent, which the venue is hoping to do more of in 2025.
“We’re seeing more of a demographic that is interested in Latino and Hispanic music,” Kitchen said. “A lot of our staff is Latino,” she added of a team that ranges from 50 to 100, depending on the event.
As with movie theaters, tickets are only a portion of The Cap’s revenues. There are also food and beverage sales as well as rentals, the latter accounting for 10% to 15% of income – and growing, Kitchen added, as people seek out an unusual venue with a superb lighting and sound system for everything from a wedding reception to a bar mitzvah.
Despite a drop-off in audiences that had returned post-Covid, The Cap is eager to support the arts in the community, hence the relationship with ArtsWestchester. “It’s rewarding,” Kitchen said.
And it no doubt comes with a recognition of ArtsWestchester’s support for music in the county.
Approximately 25% of the 200-plus grants that ArtsWestchester awarded this year were for music performances, while of the 21 artist grants it funded in the Arts Alive grant program, nearly half went to musicians. (As a fiscal sponsor, ArtsWestchester also works with musicians on their grant applications to the New York State Council on the Arts, NYSCA.) Musicians in turn are part of a cultural community that generates more than $182 million in economic impact for the county annually.
“We support the music sector in different ways,” Reckling said. “We support music schools (Lagond Music School, the Music Conservatory of Westchester, Hoff-Barthelson Music School.) We support orchestras (like the Westchester Philharmonic) and musical artists. We support performing arts venues (Caramoor, the Emelin Theatre, the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, Tarrytown Music Hall).”
Plus, she added, “when you hire musicians” – as ArtsWestchester does for such events as its annual JazzFest – “you’re supporting a team – sound engineers, stage technicians, rental companies.”
It’s a nonprofit/for-profit duet as exemplified, Reckling said, by Music Conservatory of Westchester’s new recording studios, designed by Sound Associates, an industry leader. MCW Studios serves everyone from students to professional musicians.
Talking from her home office, Reckling mentioned that it contains a poster of Bob Dylan from a concert he gave in Cleveland.
His son, she added, is “not a nepo baby, but a skillful, thoughtful musician.” For many reasons, The Wallflowers’ concert benefitting ArtsWestchester is one she’s excited about.
The Wallflowers’ concert benefit for ArtsWestchester is Tuesday, Nov. 12, at The Capitol Theatre, 149 Westchester Ave., Port Chester. The VIP reception is at 6:30 p.m. Doors open for ticket-holders at 7 p.m., with the concert at 8:30 p.m. For tickets and more, click here.
