The Shubert's Next Stage

And that was a big reason why Artspace made its entrance. In late 1998, it purchased the Shubert from the city for $1. Artspace already owned the Hennepin Center for the Arts at the corner of Sixth Street and Hennepin. Built as a Masonic temple in 1888, the Hennepin Center now is home to almost 20 theater, dance, music, and other arts organizations. By moving the Shubert next to the Hennepin Center, Artspace envisioned the creation of an architecturally historic yet contemporary performing-arts complex in which the groups officing and rehearsing in the Hennepin Center could use the Shubert space for performances.

But what kind of performances? Before its deal with the city, Artspace and the Minneapolis Community Development Agency (since folded into the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development Department) commissioned nine separate studies that looked at a variety of issues, including the need for another theater, whether the Shubert could be moved, and whether audiences would come to performances on Hennepin Avenue. All the studies reported that a midsize performing arts theater of 750 to 1,000 seats would fill an empty niche for local and touring dance, theater, and classical music productions. This suggested the Shubert was an ideal fit, given its double-balcony configuration and the intimacy of its space. The Shubert originally had about 1,500 seats, and had been reconfigured for 1,200 seats as the Alvin and 800 seats for the Academy.

To realize its vision, Artspace would need to raise the money to connect the buildings, restore the Shubert, and rebuild the theater’s stage house—the enclosed space behind the stage—and floor. (The damaged originals had been left behind on Block E and demolished.) Artspace had three years to secure the approximately $22.5 million then needed to complete construction and restoration; if it were unsuccessful, Butler Properties, which owned the land underneath the Shubert, could demolish the theater.

In 2000, Artspace went to the legislature for $10 million with visual aids in hand: a stunning design by Minneapolis architectural firm Hammel Green and Abrahamson for an atrium and lobby featuring a shimmering glass-fronted structure with long, curved, glass fins soaring in the space that connected the Hennepin Center and the Shubert. But then-Governor Jesse Ventura vowed not to fund any arts-related projects. And while some legislators liked the “swoopy” design, as they called it, others thought it ostentatious and costly. “It was a pretty rough way for us to start,” acknowledges Kelley Lindquist, Artspace’s president.

Motes began by securing the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, which had expressed interest in a downtown Minneapolis venue, as an anchor tenant. She also began building a steering committee, attracting more private funding, strengthening relationships with city leaders, and developing an education program. “It was a start-up, so we were building everything from scratch,” Motes recalls. About the same time, Lindquist hired Stacey Mickelson as Artspace’s director of government relations to help Motes lobby for the Shubert. A former Republican state legislator from North Dakota, Mickelson had many connections with Minnesota legislators, including now-Governor Tim Pawlenty and current Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum. Mickelson thus was well positioned to lobby for funds.