By Steven J. Smith
Beating out nearly 100 applicants for the job, Rob Steele was recently chosen to take the reins at Old School Square — formerly the Delray Beach Center for the Arts — as its new president and CEO.
Steele, 57, is originally from Flint, Mich. He earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Adrian College and his master’s in business administration from Central Michigan University. In 2005 he took the position of executive director at the Williamsport Community Arts Center in Pennsylvania, where he spent the next 10 years.
During that time he implemented event analysis, fee negotiation practices, marketing strategies and guest service enhancements that effectively doubled ticket sales there in just two years. In addition, Steele initiated a community outreach effort that increased local and regional partners, and devised an endowment campaign in 2010 that generated more than $5 million.
“My mandate from the board of directors in Williamsport was ‘to put the community in the Community Arts Center,’” Steele said. “While I never actually had this mandate tattooed anywhere on my person, I did take the responsibility very seriously indeed.
“During my tenure, we expanded the number of community partners from a dozen or so to nearly 300,” he said. “I hope to bring and share a vision for community outreach and engagement with every corner of the community to my position at Old School Square.”
Although he has been on the job for only a few short weeks, Steele has hit the ground running. He said his first order of business is to comprehensively understand how the community works — how decisions are made, how the municipal government and the arts community work together, what kind of people live in Delray Beach and what they like in terms of arts and entertainment — in order to establish a useful and collaborative presence there.
“Understanding every facet of the community is important in figuring out how we can best serve its needs,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to do and I’m trying to do it fast, while I still have fresh eyes and am not pulled into how things were done in the past.”
In his first six weeks on the job, Steele says, he had “at least 30 breakfasts and lunches with everybody under the sun” — the mayor, the city manager, the head of the historical museum, the heads of the nearby Arts Garage, Milagro Center and the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, to name a few.
“I wanted to learn what they’re doing and what their challenges are and avail the Old School Square to help the marketing cooperative, the chamber of commerce and everybody we possibly can,” he said. “If it’s another arts organization, I’ll promote a show for them the same night I’ve got a show, if necessary, because I figure I’m not competing with them. We’re all in this together, and what I’ve learned is Delray Beach is at a point where a lot of things are falling in place.”
Many of those things falling into place are doing so at Old School Square, located at 51 N. Swinton Ave. in downtown Delray Beach. Currently celebrating its 25th anniversary season, the center offers what it calls “a total arts experience” through events, theater, exhibits and learning opportunities.
The campus includes the 323-seat Crest Theatre (which recently received approval from the fire marshal for about 36 more), the Cornell Museum of Art and the Vintage Gymnasium. The Pavilion, which opened in 2002, hosts outdoor concerts and festivals. The School of Creative Arts (located on the second floor of the Crest Theatre) offers art, photography and writing classes and workshops. The center also serves as a venue for community, corporate, private and media events.
“People feel better if they have lots of choices,” Steele said. “I am a firm believer in the ‘reverse-engineering’ technique for choosing programming that will be appropriate to the tastes, calendars, and budgets of the people who live in the community. The trick is to continually ask questions, listen carefully to all of your constituents and keep a vigilant eye on affordable access to the arts.”
One refrain Steele often hears is a clamor for family entertainment, and he plans to take that seriously.
“There has to be enough things for families to do,” he said. “That’s certainly an area we’ll concentrate some of our efforts on. Educational programming is also important. I want to start an educational series and bus kids in, because there’s really no arts offered in schools anymore. I was alarmed to learn about that. We need to fill that gap.”
Funding the arts center’s myriad activities and campus improvements is a challenge Steele welcomes and one he feels the Delray Beach community is willing to help shoulder. The Community Redevelopment Agency has earmarked $1.2 million so far, he said, and he is exploring other opportunities such as inducing local corporations to buy naming rights to several of its performance venues.
“We’re also looking into doing some fundraising and attaining government grants,” he said. “Grants are definitely available for projects like ours.”
As for the future, Steele wants to see the arts center return to its “Square roots.”
“We are currently plotting a course to become the Old School Square Arts and Entertainment Park,” he said. “We envision a cohesive arts and entertainment campus in a park-like setting that is continually abuzz with activities for all ages. We hope to be a highly prized community asset where residents and guests alike can create cherished memories. We would also welcome the opportunity to be a catalyst for economic growth and vitality.”
For more information about the Old School Square, its programs and events, log on to www.oldschoolsquare.org or call 561-243-7922.