2017 a ‘low-maintenance’ year so far for Centrum’s director

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Calling a Centrum season the best ever isn’t a new statement for Robert Birman.

“The truth is, we say that every year,” the arts organization’s executive director said. This year, Birman really does feel like the season has reached a pinnacle.

Now in his fifth year as director, Birman likes to attribute the annual success to the weather – it’s a critical element, he said – and this year has been especially fine.

“Everyone’s been so happy to be here,” he said. “The spirit on the campus is really special this year – largely because the weather has been so great.”

JAZZ

Ideal weather aside, the entire season represents an overall upward trend in terms of ticket sales and participation.

The biggest surprise, Birman said, were jazz ticket sales, which went way beyond the goal – by 19 percent. “That’s a giant step,” he said. “The jazz sales this year were just astronomically good.”

That’s due in part to some extra promotion and advertising, he said, and also a fabulous faculty. (But, like having the best year ever, “we say that every year,” he said.)

Every year, Centrum builds on the success of its prior season, which has a lot to do with word of mouth, he said.

“That is really important in building the brand and the demand for what we do,” he said.

Almost all of the workshops also did better than had been projected, bringing in hundreds of students ranging in age from 6 to 83 from all across the country and the world.

While the number of jazz participants was just shy of its goal, half of them were younger than 18, Birman said. “That’s pretty phenomenal.”

It’s emblematic of how strong the high school jazz programs in Washington state are, he said. Many of those kids also go off to other music camps, but they say Centrum’s faculty is the best in the country, Birman said.

Centrum is unique in how it builds relationships between those faculty members – each of whom is also a performer – and students, Birman said.

The faculty, which has consistently featured international artists, lives and eats in the same buildings as the students. It’s an atmosphere in which students can get to know their teachers, and teachers can spot out the hot new talent.

“It’s an intimate atmosphere here,” Birman said.

RHAPSODY PROJECT

Birman said Centrum embraces a multigenerational tradition. “It’s about passing along cultural traditions from one generation to the next,” he said. “That permeates everything we do.”

The Rhapsody Project, which this year helped bring six students of color to Centrum for the blues festival, is emblematic of that, he said.

The project was started by Joe Seamons and Ben Hunter, who met at Centrum and have devoted themselves to working with students of color in Pierce and King counties and getting them interested in their heritage and the blues tradition.

“We’re really honored to be a part of [the project],” Birman said. For next year’s program, he hopes to bring in a minimum of 10 students. “Our hope is to expand that program fairly dramatically.”

WHAT'S NEW, LOOKING AHEAD

Another newer element at Centrum is the Olympic Music Festival, which now is in its second season at the fort in partnership with Centrum.

“Olympic Music Festival has been a terrific partnership,” Birman said, noting that the festival’s artistic director, Julio Elizalde, brings in a younger generation of chamber music fans that Centrum’s Chamber Music Series, held in the fall, currently does not.

A unifying quality to both our chamber music program and [Olympic Music Festival’s] is quality,” Birman said.

Another new program that enters its second year this fall is Voices from the Field Arts Academy, an arts education program for students in the state Migrant Education Program.

“We are trying, very methodically, to grow,” he said. “One of the things we’re doing – which isn’t very sexy – is building the balance sheet,” he said.

Centrum is also looking to grow into the shoulder seasons, adding more events to the winter and spring months, he explained.

Birman noted how much the continued support of Centrum programs is needed and appreciated, as donations from local and regional donors constitute about half of the $3 million it takes annually to produce programs. Donations also help fund scholarships, which total more than $150,000 annually.

The season isn’t quite over yet, but if there’s one term to characterize 2017 so far, it would be “low maintenance,” Birman said.

And while he doesn’t necessarily want to say it has been easy, he said that it is nearing that feeling of effortlessness.