July 23--The taverns that line the stretch of Western Avenue that slices through the charming and historically significant neighborhood of Beverly on the Far South Side are lively and essential places. As taverns have for generations across this city, they function as social gatherings spots where people can take the roughs edges off their days or their jobs, can watch TV and otherwise reassure or comfort themselves in conversations about matters large and small.
The conversations and activities may be a bit different at the Beverly Arts Center, which sits prominently on the corner of 111th Street and Western Avenue, but this place is no less crucial to the health and well-being of the community.
"Arts and culture are intrinsic human rights and basic human needs," says Heather Ireland Robinson, the BAC's relatively new but wildly enthusiastic executive director. She is no stranger to the South Side, no stranger to certain wildly unfair misconceptions about it.
"I get it all the time," she says. "People will say, 'What do you mean 111th Street? Doesn't the city end in Hyde Park?'"
At that she laughs, as well she should. Born and raised in the Roseland neighborhood, even farther south in the city, she now lives in Chatham with her husband and their two sons. A graduate of DePaul University, where she earned a masters degree in theater, she has a few acting credits. But for most of the past two decades she has devoted herself to non-profit arts management at such places as After School Matters, Gallery 37, the Jazz Institute and, most recently, the South Side Community Art Center in Bronzeville.
If she has learned one thing it is this: "You can't have a tutu without a spreadsheet."
She came aboard at BAC 16 months ago, when its spreadsheets were bleeding red.
"But there was something very serendipitous about this," Robinson says, explaining that when she was an elementary school student at Morgan Park Academy she participated in productions by the Pitt Players, a children's theatrical program at BAC, which was then housed on the school's campus. The BAC's roots go back to the mid-1960s when local resident Eleanor Pillsbury was looking for a permanent home for works by John H. Vanderpoel, a Dutch-born painter and muralist who lived in Beverly. Others liked the idea and helped finance the first BAC, which opened on the grounds of MPA in 1969; its Vanderpoel Gallery shared the space with a theater and an ever-increasing array of events, programs, exhibitions and classes.
In 2002, the BAC's new building opened on the site of what had been a gas station, doubling its old space. It was and is beautiful, with 40,000 square feet that contains arts galleries, other exhibition spaces, music and dance studios, art classrooms and event rental spaces including a courtyard and light-filled atrium. There is also a 400-seat theater that was described at the time by my colleague Chris Jones as "arguably the best-equipped theater on Chicago's South and Southwest Sides." And nothing has come along since to challenge that assertion.
It was financed by state, local and private funds, but financial troubles started almost from the day it opened. The building had ended up costing $12 million, far exceeding the initial $5 million estimate, and revenue could not keep up with servicing the resulting debt.
Under the shadow of possible foreclosure, a bailout plan was announced in 2013.
The Fifth Third Bank held the $4.5 million mortgage debt loan. The city kicked in $250,000 to help, and the remaining $4.25 million was split into two loans of $1.75 million and $2.5 million. The center was confident it could meet payments on the $1.75 million loan with its revenue stream. To settle the other loan, Fifth Third agreed to forgive $2 million, if the center could raise $500,000.
Thus was created the BAC Challenge campaign, which raised that amount and more from the businesses owners of Beverly and the nearby Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood neighborhoods. "Our community's response has been much greater than we ever hoped or imagined," said Matt O'Shea, the alderman of the 19th Ward in which the BAC sits, and a member of its board of directors.
Though not the breeding ground for mayors that Bridgeport was for almost a century, Beverly is nevertheless a clout-heavy clime, with many politicians and hundreds of city workers living there and nearby. So, there were a few who questioned the terms of the financial deal, noting that Fifth Third Bank, which is headquartered in Cincinnati, does a lot of business with the city.
But most people were delighted, echoing the words of bank spokesman Andrew Hayes, who told Tribune: "What we are about is investing in the communities we work in, and the Beverly Arts Center is a perfect example of that. At the end of the day, we want (it) to be as profitable and successful as possible."
Says Robinson: "We are on solid financial ground now, and that is just another example of the affection people feel for the center and their appetite for it."
The BAC attempts to satisfy that craving with extensive and varied programming, classes, exhibitions and events. You can see the full "menu" at beverlyartcenter.org. Of special note are the weekly film screenings at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays (Aug. 12 is Michael Caplan's "Algren," a striking documentary of the famous Chicago writer); a three-performance run, Aug. 7-9, of the musical "Crazy For You," featuring a cameo by Ald. O'Shea; a battle of teen bands on Aug. 14; and the photographs of Louisa Murzyn and George Kuehn, which adorn the Atrium and Theater Galleries through Aug. 16.
In addition, the BAC is involved in outreach efforts that bring programming to 35 schools, taking some of its art classes out in the surrounding neighborhood and collaborating with other arts and cultural institutions in the city. Robinson is lavish in the praise of her staff and in talking to them one feels a palpable sense of excitement and possibilities.
"We want to remind people that we are here for all of Chicago," says Shellee Frazee, the BAC's artistic director.
Or you could talk to some of the BAC's neighbors.
Jennifer George has lived in the area with her family for more than a decade. She works in the financial world and her husband is a Chicago Police Department detective. Their boy and girl are in elementary school. Jennifer says: "We all love the BAC and we've really taken advantage of their many shows and (my daughter) has taken ballet there. It provides some incredible programming that we get the benefit of having locally. We've loved the Second City shows, musical acts and Wednesday night movies, where I can drink wine and enjoy an interesting post-movie chat."
Lou Macaluso is a retired teacher and author. His latest book is "D骮.. vu, Italian Style," a compelling murder mystery. He has lived in Beverly for 30 years, has been known to drop into some of the taverns on Western; indeed, his book launch party was at Cork Kerry, near 106th St.. He says, "The Beverly Arts Center infuses and invigorates my community with every art form -- music, literature, even comedy and much more. It makes me feel proud and privileged to live here."
"After Hours With Rick Kogan" airs 9-11 p.m. Sundays on WGN-AM 720.
rkogan@tribune.com
