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cultural activities
An area rich in culture, the University Hill is noted for the exceptional talent and abundance of offerings within its community.
Every year, Syracuse Stage produces seven plays and one children's touring production, and provides community and educational outreach services. The season embraces a wide range of drama from classics to new plays. Its plays have included world premiers and have consistently received critical acclaim. Several have toured nationally.
As Central New York's only professional theater, Syracuse Stage recruits actors, designers and technicians who are full-time theater practitioners from highly respected regional companies across the country, as well as from Broadway. Syracuse Stage is able to attract the highest caliber of theater professionals.
Syracuse Stage seeks to enrich and challenge the Central New York community. Each season attracts 80,000 patrons, representing a diverse cross-section of the community. Generous discounts are available to students, senior citizens and groups of 20 or more. The theater is wheelchair accessible and there are signed performances for the hearing impaired. The Regent Theater complex where Syracuse Stage is located houses the 499-seat John D. Archbold Theatre and is the home of the Storch Theater, the Syracuse University Drama Department's stage; After Ours, a late night cabaret series in the Sutton Pavilion; the Black Box, which offers student thesis and other productions; and the Coyne Lobby, a gallery space for artists. The Box Office is open weekdays noon to 6:00 p.m., and two hours before performance time.
The New York State Council on the Arts estimates that for every dollar spent by an arts organization, $4 is returned to the community. Syracuse Stage thus returns approximately $10 million to the local economy and directly purchases $750,000 in goods, supplies and services from more than 150 Central New York vendors each year. Approximately 50 percent of operating income is derived from ticket sales and other earned income. For the remaining 50 percent, Syracuse Stage relies on individuals, government agencies, corporations and foundations.
The Syracuse University Department of Drama shares both physical space and a unique relationship with Syracuse Stage. Located on the corner of East Genesee Street and Irving Avenue, the Regent Theater Complex includes the Arthur Storch Theater, which features theatrical productions by S.U. drama students. Drama students also tour area elementary schools, introducing youngsters to the theater and increasing cultural awareness. The department also enjoys a cooperative relationship with the S.U. School of Music.
The College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University makes many contributions to the community art scene. In all areas of the visual and performing arts, the college displays the outstanding talents of its faculty and students. The college comprises four areas: the School of Art and Design, the Department of Drama, the School of Music, and the Department of Speech Communication.
Faculty and students in the School of Art and Design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts exhibit work around the Syracuse University campus throughout the academic year. Attracting more than 13,000 visitors annually to its broad spectrum of exhibits and programs, the Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, located in the Shaffer Art Building, is the primary exhibition space of the School of Art and Design. In addition to student and faculty work, the Lowe Art Gallery showcases traveling exhibits and works from the University's permanent art collections. Students in the School of Art and Design also exhibit work at the University in spaces at Crouse College, Smith Hall, the Shaffer Art Building, and the Sarah A. Coyne Gallery in Comstock Art Facility.
The Lowe Art Gallery is handicapped accessible, and exhibitions are free. The gallery closes for major national and regional holidays and during installations. For hours and more information, please call 443-3127.
Each year, graduate students in the School of Music's Orchestral Assistantship Program perform regularly with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, one of only 32 major symphonies in the nation. The Syracuse University Crouse Concert Series runs throughout the academic year. The series features a wide range of solo and ensemble performances by faculty, students and guest performers.
Crouse College, with administrative offices, classrooms and studios, is home to Crouse Auditorium, which features a magnificent timber-framed ceiling, 3,823-pipe Holtkamp organ and is the site for student, faculty and guest recitals and concerts. Built in 1888, Crouse College is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Tuesday Night Concert Series, which runs weekly in Crouse throughout the academic year, features a wide range of solo and ensemble performances by faculty and guest performers.
Salt City Center for the Performing Arts is best known as the home of the original Salt City Playhouse. The playhouse was incorporated in 1968 and its theatrical output has grown from a first year three play season to a subscriber season of seven dramas and musicals, an annual production of Jesus Christ Superstar, productions by the center's Youth Theatre, and experimental and original works.
Salt City Center for the Performing Arts
The playhouse's formal beginning was preceded by five years of works with youth, primarily from the inner city. The Playhouse's first headquarters was a warehouse on Peat Street. In 1973, the program had grown so large that a move was made to its present location at the corner of Harrison Street and South Crouse Avenue. At that point, the name was changed to more accurately reflect the center's broad community involvement and many-faceted programs. Today, audiences come regularly from a five-county area and frequently from many parts of New York State and out of state as well to view the center's outstanding performances.
In addition to theater, work with youth and formal theater and allied arts instruction, Salt City engages in a broad program of human services. Thousands of tickets are given away each year to senior citizens, the disabled, low-income persons, patients of nursing homes and hospitals, clients of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, schools, agencies, and churches are offered monitored volunteer opportunities and training, often onstage and backstage.
A professional staff, managerial and artistic, directs the affairs of the center. Performers range from longtime professionals to newcomers. At the time of its authorization by Onondaga County as an arts agency, Salt City was officially recognized by the Legislature as "Number One" in the delivery of theater services to the broad community. Salt City has also been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as "an institution of national significance."
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