Dayton Live’s newest president and CEO — Gabriel van Aalst — has been on the job for almost six months. What's impressed him most during that time is how engaged the community is with the arts.
Van Aalst is a Sydney, Australia, native. He made his way here after first going to London to serve as chief executive of the world renowned Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and then most recently served as president and CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
He spoke with WYSO about his first few months in Dayton. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Gabriel van Aalst: My journey to come to Dayton is not the most usual one. As you can tell from my accent, I'm definitely (not) a native Daytonian. I'm originally from Sydney, Australia, and I left Australia close to 14 years ago actually. And I first moved to London and ran an orchestra in London called the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. And then I moved to New Jersey in 2016 to run the New Jersey Symphony, and I joke that I'm sort of slowly making my way around the globe in order to eventually, at some point move back to Australia.
But I was really attracted to come to Dayton because when I started sort of researching and understanding more about what Dayton Live is and who we serve, I saw an organization that has 400,000 people coming through its campus every year in a city that is roughly 800,000 people. And that speaks to an incredibly high arts engagement in this community. And as an arts leader who loves all sorts of artistic disciplines, that's a really amazing, fun sandbox to play in and think about how we can nurture and support and even still grow this arts community and service it in new, exciting, inventive ways.
We have been deeply planning for the Broadway season for next year, and whilst I would love to share and give you an exclusive on what that will be, you'll have to check back in in late March. But it's a really exciting season that takes everything that we've been doing over the last couple of years and sort of expands it and grows on it. We've been seeing such a great audience appreciation for that Broadway series. We just had SIX a couple of weeks ago, and that sold the most number of tickets in a week of any show for the last 10 years. So we're looking forward to bringing a lot more exciting Broadway for next season.
And then the other thing that's really been defining a lot of my time here is making plans for NATO's Parliamentary Assembly, which is coming to our campus in May. NATO PA is a huge privilege for us to be hosting this sort of international event on our campus. But we wanted to make sure that there was a way for the community to get involved and celebrate this moment as well, because the NATO Parliamentary Assembly by its nature is not a public event, but it's so important to the people of the Miami Valley to mark this moment. And so we're looking forward to doing that in a really exciting, artistic way as well.
Jerry Kenney: Dayton has always kind of had the abundance of the arts, (it's) really something that people have held on to and valued over the years, and so do you get a sense of that with the people you're working with today?
van Aalst: Absolutely. I mean even from outside, when I was not here versus when I'm now here, you feel the take up of the arts. And, you know, I have a dog and every morning I'm out in my neighborhood walking the dog and I will be surprised sometimes at 6:30 in the morning, which is a little too early to be asked these questions, but how often people come up and ask a question about something that's coming up. And there's a real passion for and love of everything that takes place on our campuses, but also beyond that and seeing the commitment to The Contemporary or the Levitt (Pavillion), it's really exciting to see the breadth of what's happening, whether it's grassroots artists or giant productions like the Broadway that we're bringing.
And you do get that feeling that the arts are really integrated into the daily life of Dayton. That is something to be really proud of and to cherish and to nurture, because it isn't everywhere. There are lots of communities in this country that don't celebrate the arts anywhere near to the level that we do. And I say this with respect and not as a derogatory way, but we're really punching above our weight in terms of the art making that happens here, the artistry that happens here.
Kenney: Just given the climate today, people are worried about finances. Are you concerned about federal funding, NEA funding?
van Aalst: Funding is always a challenge in the arts, and we are very blessed here at the moment that our finances are in good state at Dayton Live. Over the last couple of years, we have contributed about $3 million to our endowment and we've run small surpluses over the last couple of years. At the moment we're projecting a small surplus for this year, which is everything that you want as an arts institution at this moment, because it's an incredibly challenging time for all sorts of arts organizations coming out of COVID. And that's a national thing in terms of the sort of national and international positioning of all of this. We don't get direct funding from the federal government. We do get some indirect funding from the Ohio Arts Council, who I believe receives NEA funding. It's always challenging. And obviously we want to make sure that the arts are recognized for the vital place they play in society.
I wouldn't do this work if I didn't believe that it was integral to the daily life of every citizen, that the arts should be thriving and funded. It's also worth saying, as an Australian, I come from an environment where arts is funded, and it was the same in the U.K. So this is something that is more ordinary to me than it can be for some Americans as well. And I appreciate that that's a different lens that I'm coming from. We're always anxious. Obviously, there's a new government federally at the moment, and everyone is trying to understand what is the impact of the changes that are being made right now and how it's going to be impacting us as individuals and the institutions that we work for. And the reality is we're not going to really know that for a couple of months, and that would be for any government. It's not this government in particular.
Obviously, the president has made it known how he feels about NATO a couple of times. I have been reassured by almost everyone involved in this process that NATO Parliamentary Assembly will continue to go forward. You know, it's only around the corner. It's in May and a lot of the work has already been done in order to make sure that this is a huge success. So being an arts leader is always precarious. It's particularly more precarious now in a post-COVID landscape where all our habits are changed. But from my particular lens, I am hopeful we're in a good financial position at the moment, and hopefully we can continue to steer and to continue to to be in that position going forward. And hopefully all these changes that are happening in our environments don't impact us too much.
Kenney: Bringing it back down to the micro, local level then, what were some of the challenges you're dealing with stepping into your position? Obviously, as you mentioned, funding, but what other kind of things were you looking at?
van Aalst: So one of the big things that we're looking at at the moment is how can we be a placemaker in our community? So obviously, we have a really large campus and we're one of the largest real estate holders, activator real estate holders in downtown Dayton. And so one of the things that I'm really intrigued about is how can we partner with the organizations around us to continue to encourage people to come back to downtown.
Obviously, 2008 had a huge impact on this city, and then the pandemic had a huge impact globally about the way that we engage in downtowns. And that's everywhere, not just in Dayton.
And so one of the things that I'm thinking a lot about and we're trying to tackle is how can we be good neighbors? How can we take those 400,000 people who are coming into downtown to come to our campus to see a show, to make sure that they're dining at a local restaurant or going to do something around the activity? And how can we build structures and build partnerships and collaborations to be a really engaged anchor institution? And whether that's partnering with the Downtown Dayton Partnership or simply the new hotel that's opening and the new restaurant going in there, or Table 33 that just reopened. How can we be a good neighbor and a good anchor institution? And that is long term work. That's very boots on the ground, work that's trying to make sure that we understand that we're part of an ecosystem. We’re not by ourselves, and so that's complicated. But it's really exciting work because that, again, goes to everything that's come before me here. My predecessor did a great job of growing audiences and getting people were coming back to the center after COVID. Now how can we share that bounty? I get to play in that sandbox. That's fun.
