MUSIC - Luscious Jackson

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in Soho. Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Coming up later in the show, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth has a new memoir out called Sonic Life; A memoir. We'll talk to him in just a bit. Right now, let's talk about something exciting happening in downtown Manhattan. Near the site of the World Trade Center, you will now see an enormous marble cube set slightly askew across from the Memorial pools. At night, this cube glows with a golden hue, looking like a large paper lantern.

The New York Times called it the most glamorous civic building to land in New York in years. That glamorous new building is the newly opened Perelman Arts Center. The new space will host opera, dance, theater, and conversations with authors and creatives, and is even set to include a new restaurant from celebrity chef, Marcus Samuelson. The inaugural arts season kicked off last month, and here to talk about the first slate of programming is Bill Rauch, who serves as artistic director. Bill, welcome to the show.

Bill Rauch: Thank you. It's great to be here.

Alison Stewart: Khady Kamara is executive director. Khady, welcome.

Khady Kamara: Hello, so excited to be here.

Alison Stewart: Khadyi, why did this brand new center feel like the right thing to be a part of the reimagination of that part of town down by the World Trade Center?

Khady Kamara: It's been for 22 years now, it's always been part of the reimagining and the rebuilding plans of the World Trade Center site to have an arts institution on its campus. The way I have heard a member of the 9/11 Community speak to it, and that has really resonated with me, has been the purpose of each one of these institutions within the World Trade Center site and their purpose.

One, the memorial being a place where people are able to come to and pay their respects for the lives lost. Then the second one being the museum, which is a place where people can come to to learn about what happened on September 11th and never forget. As a third and final piece, the Perlman Performing Arts Center's purpose is to be a celebration of life and resilience, both for New York and for the country.

Alison Stewart: Bill, I understand that theaters are built to adapt to performances. Can you tell us a little bit about the theaters, and as someone who's worked in theater for years, what is exciting to you about these capabilities?

Bill Rauch: Oh my goodness, it's all so exciting. There are over 60, 6-0, configurations of stage and audience, so the flexibility is really on steroids. There are three different theaters that can be separated into separate rooms. There are big acoustic walls that can be lifted so you can combine into different room volumes, but then there's so much variety and where the seats can go so every one of the spaces can be in the round, can be in a proscenium and end-stage, or avenue where the audience is on both sides. You name it. There's so much flexibility.

I think it's really thrilling for a couple of reasons. First of all, the audience will be surprised and delighted every time they enter the theater because you can come through the same door upstairs to enter a theater and you can be in a completely different space from one event to the next time you enter and so I think that surprise and that delay--

Khady Kamara: Is there's something else I can help with?

Bill Rauch: It is really important. I don't know I don't know how to answer that question but I'll keep going with my other question.

Alison Stewart: Siri, she's nosy. She just has got to get in on everything.

Bill Rauch: She's got opinions. Exactly. The surprise and delight, but also for artists to be able to have a space conformed to their vision instead of having to conform their vision to the space. The other thing, just to speak more metaphorically, is I do think, especially right now in the world, we need to practice changing our perspective on one another. We need to do that all the time. I think the fact that this space forces you as an audience member to come in and see your fellow audience members and the artists who are performing from a new angle, a new perspective is really important. That's part of what we're here to do as an arts organization.

Alison Stewart: Khady, I wanted to ask you about the building's design. I have to be honest, I hadn't been down there in a while. I was down there about five weeks ago and it just suddenly I looked up and there it was. It's just like, "What is in front of me?" It's beautiful, it's unusual. I wasn't really sure what to make of it. Can you tell us a little bit about the design, who designed it, the thought process behind what you wanted the world to, you all, the whole team, everybody involved, wanted people to experience when they first see it?

Khady Kamara: Absolutely. The lead architect is Joshua Ramos, who heads up Rex Architecture. One of the primary purposes when it comes to the design of the place was to be respectful of the site that we're on, which is why the building is surrounded by marble. The pieces of marble are 12 millimeters thin, which allows for light to shine through during the day, and then at night for light from the inside to shine out, which allows the building to glow, which really represents that metaphor of being a beacon of light, a beacon of hope for this area.

Then within the building itself, going back to Bill's reference of surprise and delight, when you come in, our goal is to have the lobby be completely open to the public. You do not have to have a ticket, you do not have to have a transactional relationship with us to walk into the space and are able to come in as you are to read a book, to sit down within our lobby area to read a book, to answer some emails, to enjoy a meal at Marcus Samuelsson Restaurant Metropolis by Chef Marcus Samuelsson.

You're able to do all of those things, and in addition to that, you have the ability to engage with free art on our lobby stage. We will offer about an hour or two of free art most days that we're open. People can come in and just engage with dance pieces, spoken word, and music pieces as well. This idea of being welcoming to all is really key and a part of our DNA.

Alison Stewart: We're talking about the new Perelman Performing Arts Center with its artistic director, Bill Rauch, and his executive director, Khady Kamara. As I said, Perelman Center, I think people in New York know Ron Perlman, the billionaire, is part of the reason this exists. Bill, what was his involvement and how long had this been in the works?

Bill Rauch: Ron Perlman did a crucial thing which is he pledged a naming gift really early in the project's life and that really kicked it off and made it possible. We are forever grateful for that. We are called Perelman Performing Arts Center for that very reason. We also have a nickname just because that's a lot of syllables to have to say at once. We also call ourselves PAC NYC for short. People call us PAC, people call us Perelman, people call us Perelman Performing Arts Center, and people call us PAC NYC. We answer to all names.

Alison Stewart: You launched a season with Refuge Bill, which was a five-night concert series. It featured Angela Keijo, Jose Feliciano, Common. Why was this the production you wanted to inaugurate?

Bill Rauch: Well, I love all performing arts disciplines or I would not be in this job. Although I'm a theater director by practice myself, I love music and dance and opera and all of it. It felt really important to start with music because music is such an international language. Given our location at the World Trade Center, there were 93 countries represented and the people who lost their lives on 9/11.

Of course, it's our campus is called the World Trade Center. It's right there embedded in the name. How can we bring people together across communities from all five boroughs? We're also blessed to be at a transportation hub. There's 13 subway lines, as well as the path through to New Jersey and the Staten Island Ferry. Excuse me, I'm choking.

Alison Stewart: Have water.

Bill Rauch: Yes, thank you. Given that we're at that transportation hub, we have a special opportunity to bring people together. We wanted to do so with a series of concerts on the theme of refuge, because we really wanted to celebrate a place of safety, where people could come together and be together and make connections and celebrate life, a firm community, and that's very much what those concerts did. They were remarkable.

Alison Stewart: Khady, when you think about some institutions, you see an event, you go, "Oh, that's a 92nd Street White event," or, "Oh, that's a WNYC event. Oh, that's a New York Public Library," you know. You know what it is. When you think about the kind of productions and the kind of events that will be, people will say, "Oh, that's a PAC NYC event." What are some of the adjectives, what are some of the touchstones for PAC events?

Khady Kamara: It's really interesting. I've enjoyed having these conversations with Bill over the last couple of months as we worked towards announcing our season. One of the words that he's used that I think really applies with us is an eclectic range of programming. We are really working to ensure that we are welcoming to all.

In doing so, we want to make sure that there is quite a varied amount of programming beyond just the disciplines that Bill has just listed, but within each discipline, having quite a bit of variety within the programming so that people can look at our programming and say, "All right, well, maybe not this opera, but this particular musical is exactly what I'm looking for." That would be the word that I would use for us.

Bill Rauch: If I can jump in and add to that, absolutely, Khady, I agree. I would say that everything we're doing is about trying to invite as many different audiences into the building as possible. We have, for instance, memberships to PAC NYC that begin at $10 and go on up, but that commitment to access is really, really important to us. We also have a robust program of what we call our civic alliances, which are relationships with community organizations.

In fact, just last week, BMCC, the Borough of Manhattan Community College, is our neighbor to the immediate north. We had BMCC students, theater students, and music students performing on our lobby stage, offering a free performance, and that's one of many, many examples of community organizations that we're building relationships with. Again, we want people to feel at home in this art center. We want people to understand that it really belongs to all of New York City.

Alison Stewart: Just to be clear, do you have to have a membership to attend any of the events, or can you do some?

Bill Rauch: Absolutely not. You can be walking by and wander in and experience a lobby stage performance. We hope people will. People do already, and we hope people will continue to.

Alison Stewart: Bill, on November 3rd, you're launching Watch Night from legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones. Tell us a little bit more about Watch Night.

Bill Rauch: Watch Night, Bill is not only the choreographer, he's also the director and the co-conceiver. It is a piece that is a fictional response to the mass violence that we saw at the Charleston Mother Emanuel Church and the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting as well. It's a serious work of art that is about the limits of forgiveness and the limits of justice in light of things that do not feel very just and seem to be unforgivable. It's a beautiful, beautiful piece. It's a music theater work. It lives between music theater and opera and dance. It's multidisciplinary because it involves so many different performance disciplines. I saw a run-through on Saturday, and I was so moved. These artists, what they've created is extraordinary, and I cannot recommend Watch Night highly enough.

Alison Stewart: Khady, what are some things you wanted to shout out before we wrap? Something that's gone the way, something you're very excited about?

Khady Kamara: Well, the opening of our restaurant, Metropolis by Marcus Samuelson, is coming up very soon, next week as a matter of fact, so we're really excited. We are starting with dinner first, and then within a few weeks of that, we will be ready to open up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Alison Stewart: It's the Perelman Arts Center, PAC NYC, correct? That's the nickname we're going with?

Bill Rauch: That's right.

Alison Stewart: All right, it's brand new. Even just to go look at it from the outside, it's really beautiful. I'm very excited to have it as part of the repertoire of arts and culture in New York City. My guests have been Bill Rauch and Khady Kamara. Thank you so much for being with us.

Bill Rauch: We can't wait to see you in our theater.

Alison Stewart: Oh, you will. Oh, well, I'll be there a lot. [laughs]

Bill Rauch: Wonderful. Have a great day. Thank you.

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It.

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