[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 22, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5262-S5264]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO ANDREA ROGERS
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today I honor Andrea Rogers, the CEO and
founding executive director of the Flynn Center for the Performing
Arts. I have had the privilege to congratulate Andrea over the years on
her many accomplishments within the arts community, including her most
recent award from the Vermont Arts Council, the Walter Cerf Lifetime
Achievement in the Arts award. Today, I once again recognize her
decades of invaluable service to Vermonters and I wish her future
success as she retires from her executive director position at the
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts after 30 years of dedicated
service.
In 1980, Andrea led a campaign to purchase an old movie house in
downtown Burlington, with the hope of turning it into a home for
performing arts groups. She was successful, and the old building became
an independent theatre. Andrea organized many fundraising efforts to
restore the antiquated space, and within the next 5 years, the Flynn
succeeded in hosting over 350 performances presented by 50 different
organizations. Today, 30 years
[[Page S5263]]
later, the Flynn Theatre is known as the Flynn Center for the
Performing Arts and is firmly embedded into Chittenden County and
Vermont's cultural landscape.
Since its founding, the Flynn has expanded and renovated its space,
hosted thousands of diverse performances, opened an art gallery and
created many educational programs. Because of Andrea's leadership, the
Flynn has received several awards across the state, the country, and
even the world. It was the only organization honored by both the Ford
Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in 2000. The
Flynn's educational program has also been recognized by the Dana
Foundation as one of eight outstanding arts programs in the country,
and has recently received the Outstanding Historic American Theatre
Award at a national conference put on by the League of Historic
American Theatres.
I am proud to say that all of these accomplishments happened under
Andrea's tenure. She is widely recognized for her passion for
performing arts and community development, and her dedication has had
an extraordinary impact on the arts in Vermont. Marcelle and I have
spent some of our most memorable evenings at the Flynn, and Andrea's
enthusiasm for her work and for her colleagues will be dearly missed. I
ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the following
article to permanently recognize Andrea's contribution to the State of
Vermont.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Burlington Free Press]
Flynn Center Director Exits, Stage Right
(By Sally Pollak)
A monoprint of a jazz trombone quartet hangs above Andrea
Rogers' desk in her office at the Flynn Center for the
Performing Arts. The piece is alive with color--golds and
purple--and appears at first to be an abstract work. But a
second look reveals players, instruments, music stands: art
and music in vibrant harmony. ``I love the alive feeling of
it,'' Rogers said. ``I have all this artwork, and no place at
home to put it.''
Rogers has until the end of the month to find wall space in
her Burlington house. The last day of June will be the final
day of Rogers' tenure as executive director of the Flynn. She
will be succeeded by John Killacky, who has been manager of
the arts and culture program for the San Francisco
Foundation. Rogers, who will turn 70 on July 14, has guided
the Flynn since before its creation--when she and other
community members recognized potential in a dilapidated Main
Street theater being used as a cinema. ``The Flynn was of
interest to me--the potential of the theater to serve as a
performing-arts center,'' Rogers said. She was intrigued by
the idea of preserving a historic building, one whose
existence was threatened, and adapting it to community use.
``It's something that I saw that needed to be done. I never
dreamed I'd be the director. . . . ``Burlington was my home,
and I could see there was a need. If people want something,
and there's a reasonable chance that they can come together
to make it happen, it can happen. There were many times when
I cried, and wondered if we could pull it off. But I went to
the public: Every step forward we made, it was because the
community was behind us. It was very organic.'' Thirty years
after accepting the job she never dreamed of, Rogers is
stepping down as the only executive director the Flynn has
had.
She has both envisioned the nonprofit performing-arts
center, and guided its growth: The Flynn has a $6 million
endowment, an education department that presents student
matinees, offers classes and develops and implements arts
curriculums in local schools.
The theater presents its own season of shows, commissions
work and plays host to artists' residencies. The Flynn's own
programming has grown from about three shows a year to 50 to
60 annual performances, Rogers said. It serves as a
performance space for other organizations, such as the
Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Theatre. The smaller
FlynnSpace is a venue for more experimental pieces, where
about 40 percent of the shows are Flynn presentations.
``I love the Flynn,'' said Jaime Laredo of Guilford, VSO
music director and a violinist and conductor who performs
around the world. ``It's one of the most vibrant arts centers
anywhere, not just in the state of Vermont. ``It's so amazing
what goes on there, the range of things--from symphonies to
country music to Broadway shows to recitals to jazz. I don't
know many places like that. I think it's fantastic. And I
think what Andrea has done is miraculous.''
Bob Dylan and Phish played at the Flynn in the 1990s;
Mikhail Baryshnikov has performed on its main stage three
times; the World Saxophone Quartet blew free jazz on a
winter's night in the late '80s. The contemporary dancer/
choreographer Bill T. Jones presented his first full version
of ``Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land,''
outside of New York City, at the Flynn. The major work, co-
commissioned by the Flynn and addressing hot-button issues,
included workshops with Jones and dozens of community members
naked on stage as part of the performance.
Art and community
The Jones piece could serve as Exhibit A in what people say
is Rogers' most important contribution to Burlington:
bringing together art and community, with each step of the
building of the Flynn a commitment to that ideal.
``Andrea has allowed her life to be defined by the mission
of what the Flynn Center is all about,'' guitarist Paul
Asbell said. ``You do it out of love and a sense of mission.
It is her vision that has been implemented.'' Asbell knows
the Flynn as a performer and an audience member, and he knows
Burlington before the Flynn existed.
``The contribution to Burlington is too deep to even count
it all,'' Asbell said. ``It's been remarked thousands of
times that for the size of the city, it's incredible the type
of cultural events and musical events and artistic awareness
in Burlington. It's unbelievable what we've grown accustomed
to.''
Along the way, the Flynn has earned a national reputation
among arts organizations and arts funders for its
programming, its audience-building and its community
engagement.
``To this day, the Flynn stands as model of how to do it
right, how to have a strong artistic program and at the same
time be a central node for community,'' said Philip Bither,
senior curator of performing arts at the Walker Art Center in
Minneapolis. He is the former Flynn director of programming/
artistic director of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival.
``We talk about attempting to create cultural commons,
places that a diverse range of audiences can gather and
celebrate live performing arts,'' Bither said. ``The Flynn is
that. It's really a remarkable success story. Andrea has been
there from Day 1, and has really had the vision to see how to
get to that place.''
The audience ranges from wealthy patrons who attend
frequent performances to children in Burlington's Old North
End. Kids not only attend shows, but also participate in
mini-artist workshops: Third-graders at the Integrated Arts
Academy recently had a song swap with singers in the African
Children's Choir--trading and singing songs together.
``For many children, the only time they walk down Church
Street is when they go with their class to the Flynn,'' said
Joyce Irvine, principal of IAA.
Active till her exit
With retirement three weeks away, Rogers has little time to
think about her exit. In fact, pending retirement never
looked so active. She tracks jazz festival ticket sales every
day, comparing numbers with last year and the year before--an
activity that shows Rogers takes nothing for granted,
including next season's existence.
``It takes a lot to keep this going,'' Rogers said. ``It's
not a shoo-in. We start from scratch every year, raising an
operating budget.'' Rogers is immersed in putting together
next season's sponsorship, and then comes the budget for
fiscal 2011. ``The biggest part of what I do is supporting
everybody else,'' Rogers said. She has evening jazz festival
events and shows to attend. ``That part never felt like
work,'' Rogers said. She notes a particular change that will
come with retirement: ``I have to pay now. I'm going to be a
good patron.''
A community organizer
Rogers came to her work at the Flynn through community
organizing. She grew up in New Britain, Conn., and attended
college at the University of Michigan, where she studied
history, history of art and French. After college, Rogers
moved to New York City, where she lived for almost 10 years.
She worked for the American Field Service, doing community-
service work with teenagers.
She moved here in 1970, interested in living in a small
city and drawn to Burlington by a beloved great aunt and
uncle who lived here, and by her love for skiing and sailing.
Soon after arriving, Rogers started working in community-
based drug-prevention efforts. The job combined her interests
in community organization and working with young people. She
liked the community involvement, setting up and organizing
systems--but the core issue was not where her true interests
lay, Rogers said.
After four years working in drug-abuse prevention, Rogers
became founding director of the Church Street Center for
Community Education, a university-affiliated center that
preceded the Firehouse Center for Visual Arts. Her
involvement with a community effort, spearheaded by Lyric
Theatre, to purchase and renovate the Flynn led to her hiring
as its first director. She was writing grants for the project
and doing other organizational work when Rogers was asked if
she'd open an office, she recalled.
``Well,'' she replied, ``you have to pay me.'' It was only
a ``pittance,'' she said, but it was enough to persuade her
to devote herself to the Flynn effort. Syndi Zook, executive
director of Lyric Theatre, was a Lyric performer when the
company endeavored to return the theater--then owned by
Merrill Jarvis--to a live performance space. ``We wanted to
put on plays,'' Zook said. ``We didn't want to be engaged in
the multimillion-dollar campaign that it would take to bring
that
[[Page S5264]]
beautiful building back to its historic stature.'' That was
left to the newly created Flynn board, and to Rogers.
``What we were trying to do was save it from the wrecking
ball,'' Zook said. ``What Andrea has done is save this
beautiful historic landmark that is just a jewel in the
center of the city.''
During her years at the Flynn, Rogers said her artistic
sensibility grew to include an appreciation for contemporary
dance. She had always enjoyed music--listening, singing and
playing piano--and contemporary art. ``I found the merging of
music and movement and abstract ideas to be really eye-
opening and exciting,'' Rogers said. ``I came to really
appreciate it, and not to feel the need to totally understand
it.''
Courage and ambition
Ambiguity and complex, challenging works would become part
of the Flynn's programming. Although Rogers said she had the
authority to manage programming, she chose not to exercise
it. This is the purview of artistic director Arnie Malina and
Bither, his predecessor.
Bither came to the Flynn in 1988 from the Brooklyn Academy
of Music, where he curated experimental music and avante-
garde jazz. Conversations with Rogers before he was hired
indicated the direction she wanted to take the theater. It
was not necessarily what one might have predicted, given the
Flynn's previous programming, Bither said.
``She said she wanted the kind of new thinking, and
sometimes provocative programming,'' Bither said. ``She
wanted the freshest, most interesting artists that are
happening, not just in New York City but around the world.''
The notion that this kind of programming would work in a
city the size of Burlington was ``a leap of faith, to say the
least,'' Bither said. In those days, management would pin up
fliers for Flynn shows on trips to the supermarket, part of
the effort to fill the house, Bither recalled.
A fund to honor Rogers, Andrea's Legacy Fund, was created
by the Flynn board to raise money for programming and
education, initiatives the board identified as key to Rogers'
tenure. Board chairman Fred ``Chico'' Lager said the goal of
raising $1.5 million in cash is nearly met. With deferred
donations, Andrea's Legacy Fund totals almost $2 million, he
said.
``Andrea is fiercely committed that we not retreat in any
way, as is the board,'' Lager said. ``She's leaving us in
great shape. The legacy fund will ensure that we will be able
to sustain everything that we are doing, and actually
continue to grow.''
Rogers has her own ideas about her legacy, which she
believes is centered on connecting themes: artistic
excellence and community involvement. ``You never had one
without the other,'' she said. And though events are planned
around her retirement, including a free evening of
entertainment June 26 at the Flynn, called ``Exit Laughing,''
Rogers has her own ideas about how she'd like to leave:
``Personally,'' she said, ``I would've put a barrel on my
head and snuck out the door.''
____________________