Charleston’s Lustrous Cultural Hub

Since the president and CEO of the Charleston Gaillard Center landed in town in 2021, she has surmounted each new hurdle and reached every new goal that the nonprofit, state-of-the-art facility has presented with marked agility, all without breaking her easygoing smile.  

 A Boston native who came to Charleston by way of high-profile arts roles in New York City, Lissa Frenkel maneuvers the Gaillard “campus” with an unpretentious demeanor that aligns less with her serious art world bona fides and more with her passion for the great outdoors.

Campus animated

One minute, Frenkel is greeting the audience from the stage of the sumptuous, salmon-colored Martha and John M. Rivers Performance Hall, the crown jewel of the center, resplendent from its 2015 renovation.

 Charleston Symphony primed to play, she introduces the world premiere of “Dark Water,” a commissioned ballet with a score by Charleston composer Edward Hart and choreography by New York City’s Complexions Ballet. Its evocative, rhapsodic sound and stirring movement mine Charleston’s mysterious waterways.

 Another minute, the nimble administrator might be peering into that same hall, this time electric with 1,800 schoolchildren joining a call-and-response with Grammy-winning Ranky Tanky, after having joyously descended from yellow buses hailing from across the tri-county area to take part in the extensive Education and Community Program.

 You might also spot her convivially working a donor reception in the luxuriously appointed Martha Rivers Ingram Founders Lounge or a gala in the 16,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom. Or perhaps she is navigating a crowd on the Gaillard front lawn in full-on razzle-dazzle from the Spiegeltent, the mirrored 1930s-inspired circus tent that transforms the space each December, as a cheeky British cabaret brings down the house.

How it started

All that is to say, the Gaillard team has grown many of the initiatives that were mapped out when the center reopened 11 years ago following a $142 million renovation.

 For decades, locals knew the venue sandwiched between Calhoun and George streets as the Charleston Municipal Auditorium. Opening in 1968, it became a central venue for the Charleston Symphony, Spoleto Festival USA, and seminal events like the 1970 production “Porgy and Bess,” the first integrated audience in Charleston.

 The idea for a new Gaillard Center sprung from a conversation between philanthropist Martha Rivers Ingram and Mayor Joe Riley, who agreed that the City of Charleston needed a world-class cultural institution to support and elevate its artistic community.

 Today, the Gaillard is a fully emergent cultural hub that has created a distinct experience in Charleston for its audience.

 “When you come to the Gaillard you know you're going to engage in a musical experience that is going to be different and sort of magical in its own way, because the acoustics of the building are so fabulous that the artist is going to feel and sound different there,” she says. 

These state-of-the-art bells and whistles help attract the best and brightest talent, too.

 “Top-tier artists know that their work is going to be produced and presented in a manner of excellence,” she says, noting Trey Anastasio, lead guitarist for the band Phish, deemed it the ‘Carnegie Hall of the South.’

Frenkel landing

Brought on in July, 2021, Frenkel led the team through a stage-darkening pandemic that was ominous for the arts. Since then, she has launched a top-tier dance initiative boasting companies of international caliber that at times delve into local themes, among them Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Mark Morris Dance Group’s “Pepperland,” as well as the Gaillard’s first dance commission, “Sounds of Hazel” by Dance Theatre of Harlem.

 “When I got here, the board wanted to define the institution’s identity. That was really interesting to me, to figure out who we were,” she says. “One of the things that I knew from the start was that Charleston is this really arts-forward, culturally strong town.”

 Since then, the Gaillard has inked new commissions celebrating Charleston culture, including the recent “Dark Water” ballet as well as an original production inspired by Robert Smalls, the enslaved maritime pilot who escaped captivity and ultimately served in the U.S. House of Representatives, that the Gaillard is planning on touring in a future season.

 A particular point of pride at the Gaillard is its Education and Community Program, which last year surpassed 200,000 students served across the tri-county area. Upcoming shows like “Black Violin” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which will take place in the Spiegeltent, have been so popular with educators that the whole program sold 20,000 tickets on the first day they were made available.

 “It almost broke our website,” Frenkel exclaims.

For Frenkel, such interest is both a boon and a challenge. 

“The demand for education programming is insane,” she says. “We are struggling to accommodate all the students and teachers that want to participate. We are out of available dates in the main performance hall, so we are working on ideas to meet this need outside the building by using the tent. We are also going to Summerville to help expand the program. The last thing we want to do is to turn any kid away.”  

 And if you follow the money, these programs have come together to create a powerful economic impact for the region, $76.5 million annually, according to an independent study conducted by the College of Charleston Office of Tourism Analysis.

On the horizon

Recently, a new initiative called Boundless has enabled the Gaillard to extend its footprint to venues of various scale throughout the city. These include, among others, the acclaimed Irish theater company Druid’s production of “Macbeth” at College of Charleston’s Sottile Theatre, Trisha Brown Dance Company at the Gibbes Museum of Art, and “So Percussion” at Beeple Studios.

 Particularly meaningful for a center committed to fostering community, the Gaillard Center has deepened its engagement with Charleston partners, working regularly with other cultural and local organizations.

 There have been longstanding partnerships with Spoleto Festival USA, while new alliances include the International African American Museum, the College of Charleston, PURE Theater, as well as independent bookstores including Buxton Books and Blue Bicycle Books. When Jane Goodall spoke at the Gaillard Center, they partnered with Charleston’s Birds of Prey organization.

 For Frenkel, the evolution of the current Gaillard hinges upon how deliberately it curates its season, blending national tours with those presented intentionally for the community and the region.

 “I feel like after five years, we’re sort of getting there, and people are starting to understand that. We’ve been shifting our focus to be more thoughtful about what we include, what we return to each year, and which stories we make sure are on the stage because they’re relevant to the South,” she says.

 For Frenkel, this staggering achievement is just the beginning. Her next aim is to see Charleston’s public spaces reflect this same spirit of high-level, regionally relevant art. With her clear vision and unflappable commitment, it’s bound to happen.