Jeff Chelesvig, President and CEO of Des Moines Performing Arts

[Henderson] Three decades of bringing Broadway to central Iowa and shining a spotlight on the arts. But the curtain is about to close on Jeff Chelesvig remarkable career. He joins us to reflect on this edition of Iowa Press.

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[Announcer] For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond. Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide Iowa PBS, this is the Friday, July 18th edition of Iowa Press. Here is Kay Henderson.

[Henderson] Our guest on this edition of Iowa Press has been leading the Civic Center and related organizations for 30 years. Just as a reminder, the Des Moines Civic Center opened 46 years ago. So, he has had a big imprint on the organization. Welcome back to Iowa Press to Jeff Chelesvig. He is president and CEO of Des Moines Performing Arts. It's the nonprofit that operates four venues, and that flagship being the Des Moines Civic Center. He will be retiring soon. Welcome back to the program.

[Chelesvig] Thank you. Kay.

[Henderson] Joining our conversation are Michael Morain. He is editor of DSM magazine and a former arts and entertainment reporter for The Des Moines Register. And Erin Murphy is the Des Moines bureau chief for the Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

[Murphy] So, Jeff, as your time winds down here with this organization, we wanted to go back to this very start. How? Tell us how and why you got into this.

[Chelesvig] Well, I started actually, my journey in being the performing arts started in high school. I worked behind the scenes and then happened to be on stage one time in a musical. My senior year.

[Murphy] Playing in a role that some people might know.

[Chelesvig] Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady at Belmont High School in 1976. And so that led me to going to college. I went to a school in Minnesota for a couple of years and worked in the theater department there, and then went to Iowa State, and that was right before the Civic Center was opening. And so Iowa State was kind of getting in. Ames was getting all of the touring shows that used to go to Des Moines. And so had this really great opportunity to work at the Iowa State Center and work on professional touring shows. And then that led to a job in Peoria. After college as a as a theater operations person. And then to Minnesota, then to Florida. And then I was recruited a little over 30 years ago to come here. And the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

[Murphy] And what was it? What was the lay of the land like here in Des Moines and at the Civic Center when you came here for the first time?

[Chelesvig] Well, that's a good question. So, a lot of times for large performing arts facilities there, there is a certain inherent risk to presenting shows, meaning, you know, somebody has to take the financial risk on those shows. And my predecessor was a pretty conservative person, and I think rightfully so. The touring industry was very different at that point in time. And so, a lot of the shows that we were doing were what we call rental events, where we rent the theater to an outside promoter. It's great from a financial standpoint because the organization doesn't take a financial risk in something, but you don't really get to choose what you're bringing. So, it was a very we did not have a season ticket program like we have now. We didn't have a lot of the other things that we are doing, like our dance series or our speaker series. So, it was it was kind of a and the building at that point, as Kay mentioned, was 16 years old. And so, we were just in. Things were starting to wear out and needed to be replaced. And thankfully my predecessor did a capital campaign and got some projects done. But there was still a laundry list of things to do, so we had to kind of pivot quick to figure out how to pay for all of those things that were needed.

[Morain] As the Civic Center started, there was a lot of civic momentum behind it, with some goals As Des Moines Performing Arts has expanded to different venues and more programs. Can you talk just briefly about its impact on the broader community?

[Chelesvig] Yeah, so our mission, is to bring world class entertainment and education and cultural activities to the Midwest. We try to go beyond the borders of Iowa, and that is something that we take very seriously, because we feel like we have this jewel of a 2700 seat venue downtown. We have all the things that you need with parking and restaurants and hotels nearby, and so we are constantly thinking about how to expand what we do in terms of being the presenter. As I mentioned earlier, if you're renting the facility, you don't get to pick what's coming. But if you are the presenter and you take the financial risk on it, you get to choose what you're doing. So, we've expanded to seven different series that we present at the Civic Center. The largest is the Willis Broadway series, but we have a National Geographic Speakers series. We have our dance series, which is one of my favorite things that we do at the Civic Center. And then we have another venue, a 276-seat theater, the Temple Theater, and the temple for Performing Arts that we do a couple of series there. So, to me, I feel like we have a lot to offer from the performance standpoint. And then our education programing is serving tens of thousands of kids from across the state each year.

[Henderson] So, the big question is, why leave now once you've created this vibrant thing.

[Chelesvig] You know, after I was reflecting as I was coming up on my 30-year anniversary in January, and prior to that, I was thinking I, people would ask me about, when are you going to retire? It's funny, at a certain point, people start asking you why? When are you going to rehire? And then after you announce it, then they say, why are you retiring? So, but I really, I had gone through a life change finding a partner who lives in Utah and wanting to spend more time with her and her daughter. And so, it just seemed like 30 years was a good time to kind of say, we're good. And I think it's good for the organization to I think I've loved so much of what we do, and we have such a great team, and I think it's just time for somebody else to come in and have a new vision. So, I think it's exciting for me and for the organization.

[Murphy] Over the time that you've been here, I'm sure you've run into any number of challenges. Great and small. What are some of the biggest challenges you and the organization face during your time here?

[Chelesvig] Well, the pandemic, of course, was at the top of the list. We had such momentum at that point in time, and then performing arts venues, actually, any kind of performance venues were the first to close and the last to reopen. That was a really hard time. And having to lay off staff and cut salaries and go to donors and having one donor very innocently say, well, what happens if you don't come out of this? I mean, what happens if you have to close down? And so, it was a really that was a really big challenge. I think, you know, early on, it was it was interesting because I don't think the expectations were very high for the Civic Center for a while. When I first got here, I think it was seen as an okay place. I think that there were other venues that were a little more active than the Civic Center. And so, I think trying to kind of convince the community that this could be something was, was a bit of a challenge. But one of the great things that, and I had nothing to do with the timing of this, but we had a long run of The Phantom of the opera five-week engagement of that in 1997, and over 100,000 people came to see that show over five weeks. And to me, that was the beginning of saying there's something here that we can capitalize on. So that was a really wonderful thing to have happen.

[Murphy] You mentioned the pandemic. Not surprising at all. Obviously, to hear that answer is when we talk to other folks in any kind of industry, there's still occasionally talk about we're still bouncing back from that. Things have or things have permanently changed the way we do things. Where is the performing arts in respect to do you feel fully out of the woods on that? Do you feel like there's still lingering effects from that, even though we're five years removed?

[Chelesvig] I think that's a good question. I think from the popular programing that we do, which is concerts and Broadway. I think we are back really well. Our season ticket numbers are back up to over where we were when we when the pandemic hit. So, feel very good about that. Some of the other performance performances we do like our dance series has been a challenge to come back. And the tough thing about the dance program is it's one night only and sometimes people will say, well, gee, I'm not going to get the series because I'm going to be out of town for two of the performances. So that's been a harder one to kind of bring back. But and I think the other thing that we're seeing a little bit, and I don't think this has to do with the pandemic, but we have a major program called applause where we bring in touring shows that are for children, school children during school time and their curriculum-based shows. There's a lot of challenges with schools of trying to find drivers and having busses available. And the, you know, we charge a dollar a student to come, and sometimes even that is something that's tough. So, but I think from as I look at our numbers, I feel very good about where we are after the pandemic.

[Morain] Have there been particular shows that have been challenging because they were controversial or they pushed the envelope a little bit? Do you have examples?

[Chelesvig] Yeah, there are. I mean, it's funny, I think back to the first time that we brought rent to Des Moines, and this was in the early 2000. Like maybe even 1999. And we were very early in our season ticket program. And so we, I remember sending a letter to each of the season ticket holders saying, this is a program that deals with very explicit parts of life in a younger audience. Younger folks in New York City and drug abuse and all these different things. And if you don't want to see it, we'll exchange your tickets for another show. And we had one person reach out and say, I don't want to see it. So, to me, that was the nod to say, I think this audience can take whatever we dish up to them. And so, there were there have been some shows on the Broadway side that other presenters around the country maybe shied away from. I think of shows like Spring Awakening that have some very it's a fabulous show, but there were a lot of presenters that were nervous about that show. August Osage County had a lot of strong language in it. It's a play. It was a Pulitzer Prize winning play, but we presented that. So, I've always kind of joked that we, I tend to gravitate towards those shows that are a little edgier. Those are the easiest ones for me to say yes to, because I think our audience really want to be challenged, and I think that's how you build an audience rather than just delivering stuff that is going to be safe. And we hear constantly from people. That's what they want to see. They want to see the best, and they want to make sure that they are being challenged.

[Murphy] Do you ever get an inbox of the opposite of that? After a show? Emails from people upset about what they just saw?

[Chelesvig] I very rarely yeah, we very rarely do. And you know, I think we're also we are good about the first when the Book of Mormon went out, we were very early in that. And years later, the general manager of the show in New York said, you know, you were kind of the test market. We wanted to see how it would work in Iowa. And I said, did we pass? He said, yeah, you passed really well. We were very, very clear to our again, to our audience members to say these have some very strong adult themes and I believe if you just give the warning and do some research and it's going to be fine. So yeah.

[Morain] Have there been ways with, with controversial shows we live in polarized times where people have lots of opinions and lots of ways to post those opinions and express them online. Have there been ways that those shows have opened up space for community conversations, or has the has Des Moines Performing Arts built in Q&A's or Talkbacks? How have some of those shows opened up space to talk about stuff that is difficult?

[Chelesvig] I think our team, particularly Janet Carson, who's on our team, who does that kind of work, has done a fantastic job of really trying to find ways for the audience to participate. For every show that we do, we will do at least one performance where there's a Q&A with members of the company and we will routinely have for a Broadway show. If we have over 2000 people there, we will routinely have 2 to 300 that stay for that. And depending on the show, you know, there can't there. I'm trying to think there was one show that we had a few years ago where we had a Q&A after every performance. It may have been one of the plays, like The Humans or one of those So we find that people love to have that kind of dialog. You still have people that want to ask, where do you eat when you're staying here in Des Moines But a lot of times they do want to have that. And so, we are we are working on ways to enlarge that all the time. We have a musical parade coming up, which is it's a very serious musical written about the lynching of a white man in Atlanta in the 20s. And we've already started to have some community engagement with that. We brought one of the producers of the show in to have a discussion with anybody that wanted to come about those topics of anti-Semitism and things that are in this, in this musical. And so, we find people really love to have that kind of dialogue.

[Henderson] You have started the Iowa High School Musical Theater Awards at the Civic Center. So, I'm wondering what your view is of the civic centers and the organization that you lead its role in fostering high school performance? And then what sort of role you would like to see the organization have statewide?

[Chelesvig] Well, we started the High School Musical Theater Awards. It was it was something that was started. The first of these were started in Pittsburgh about 20 years ago, and then there was a decision made to see if they could find regional programs around the country to kind of feed into what are called the Jimmy Awards in New York City. We our team actually did a lot of research as to how to do that. Awards program. There's two ways to do it. One is to do it kind of like the Tony Awards, where there's the funnel in. And so, schools are competing against each other the way that we have chosen to do it, which I give credit to our team for adopting this, is that we send adjudicators to see musicals in the schools when they are being performed, and provide feedback to the schools that the directors and the students get from us, because it's oftentimes the most objective feedback that they're going to get, you know, the parents are going to say, that is the best musical that I've ever seen. And it may be true, but providing quality feedback helps the directors and the students understand where they can start to look for doing something different. We so we started very small. When we started that, we did. We had nine schools participating in the first year, and we're now in year 12. I think, and we have this year, 105 schools that were participating statewide. In addition to the adjudication. Then we provide workshops for directing and lighting design and scenic design and things like that, so that schools teachers and students can learn more about that. Then we have a showcase that we just had about a month and a half ago that Iowa PBS live streams, which we're happy about, and that is at the Civic Center, where we have performers. We had about 500 performers on stage, but we also show videos of the behind-the-scenes stuff where a costume designer in a small school somewhere in Iowa did something that we really liked, and we showcased that. So, to me, this is one of the best things that we do, and it has raised the level. There was nobody else. The thing that I always think about with the musicals at high school level is especially I went to a small school in northern Iowa and it becomes a melting pot because there are a lot of kids that are involved in the musical, you know, and it's the jocks and it's the arts kids and it's and so it is really a unique thing that schools have that I think deserve to be honored. And we're very happy to be part of that.

[Murphy] We are in a time right now where communities, a lot of local governments are making tough decisions about their budgets. And when that happens, invariably one of the things that seems to be on the chopping block, so to speak, is arts funding. The funding program right now is an example of that. With some of the communities in the metro area. How big of a concern is that for you right now? And what is your elevator pitch to? Why? Arts funding for the arts is important?

[Chelesvig] Well, I think that's a good question. I think the first thing to say is that for performing arts, we raise about $3.5 million a year in unearned revenue. So, donations and grants, the vast majority to about 2.9 million of that comes from individuals and families. So, it is the corporate is smaller. The public funding is smaller. Still important, but the vast majority comes from individuals who donate tax deductible donations to us. I think what really the thing that I have heard over the years that is so important is about quality of life, and I think that when we, you know, I'm a I love to bicycle, I love the trails that we have in central Iowa. I love a lot of the park amenities that we have. The arts, I think, give us a way to look at the world in a different way And cultural activities, whether it's coming to us or to the Playhouse or Des Moines Metro Opera, all of those things make Des Moines a very unique place and a place that people want to come and live or visit. And I think that's something you can't turn your back on.

[Morain] What's on your wish list for Des Moines Performing Arts for the next five or 10 or 20 years Well, we have we have had our sights for about ten years on an education space, because trying to do all of the things that we do with young people, we are in the midst of summer camps right now, which we do in our temple theater, but we don't have a lot of rehearsal space in that area.

[Chelesvig] And the Civic Center doesn't have any rehearsal space at all. So, we have been very open about our desire to have an education space in downtown that would help us to do a lot of the things that we're doing, plus more. A year ago, we made an offer. We made a proposal to the city of Des Moines to repurpose the Argonne Armory. We did that not really knowing what it would cost to renovate that building and how much it would cost to operate it. We asked the city for a year to look at that, and once we did that, we realized that it was going to be over $20 million to renovate. Operating costs were going to be very high. And so, we withdrew that proposal. And we it was they were great about it. We have offered them all of our drawings that we did to kind of come up with the work that we had. But we have two sites in downtown that we are looking at right now that we would repurpose. These would be existing buildings. So that is probably the primary thing that we're trying to work on. And I think just we're always trying to look at how we can expand programing. The Temple Theater has now three series in it that two of them are live music, and one of them is called Made in the Midwest. It's a new series that we just launched, and I'm very excited about that because we're showcasing Iowa artists for the first time in our series, and it's really been well received.

[Henderson] Just a couple of minutes left, I've got four quick questions, and then I'll turn it over to these folks. But favorite show?

[Chelesvig] Oh gosh, the upcoming one. We have no, you know, I have, I’m asked that all the time, but I love The Music Man. I just love everything about it.

[Henderson] Biggest miss.

[Chelesvig] In terms of shows that we didn't bring here? Boy, I can't think of any.

[Henderson] Okay, you are often in the room where it happens. Tell me what earworm is stuck in your head.

[Chelesvig] In terms of music?

[Henderson] Music.

[Chelesvig] Oh, boy. You know what's so interesting is, as I'm working on booking the next season, if I'm talking about a specific show, I start getting a song in my ear and then I go, I'll go say, walk through the office and I'm humming that song and I tell the staff, you know, if you just listen to me, you'll be able to figure out what's on next season.

[Henderson] Yes or no? Are there too many jukebox musicals?

[Chelesvig] Yes. Yes, but you know. Yeah, there's a caveat --  

[Henderson] About 90 seconds left.

[Murphy] Yeah. And just in our last minute or so, what is next for you after you move on from this position? And one thing we've been wondering, like, will you still continue to go to shows now, just as a fan, or do you need a break from the whole scene for a while?

[Chelesvig] Well, next for me is spending more time in Utah with Angela and Claudia and you know, I'm actually going to be, I'm a lifetime Tony voter, so I will still be able to go and see shows in New York. But I am kind of looking forward to going and sitting in a show and not wondering, why is that light on right there and things like that. But that's my short-term plan.

[Henderson] With 30 seconds left, is there a life lesson that you learned from the stage that you are implementing?

[Chelesvig] You know, I think the main thing is theater in any sort, any kind of performing arts. It's a collaborative thing and I love that about it, that it takes so many people to work. It's very labor intensive, but I love the collaboration and working, and it's something that I will miss, I'm sure.

[Henderson] Well, thank you for joining us on this edition of Iowa Press.

[Chelesvig] Thank you, Kay. 

[Henderson] Speaking of labor intensive, Iowa Press is going on hiatus for a few weeks. The crew here will be working hard to bring you the state softball tournament. And then after that, preparing for the once-a-year Iowa State Fair and the extensive coverage that is provided of that event. And we'll be back with you at the Iowa Press table at the end of August. For everyone here at Iowa PBS, thanks for watching today.

[Announcer] Funding for Iowa Press was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation.

The Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway

bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs, and help local businesses. Iowa banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.