Fall 2010 - Lehman College

Lehman Center Turns
By Tom Stoelker (‘09, B.A.)
There are moments when the limestone
façade of Lehman Center reflects the late
afternoon sun, while catching shadows of
gothic finials cast by the Music Building.
From across the quad, the building looks like
a Modernist church. But the Center, celebrating
its thirtieth anniversary season this year,
is perhaps more akin to a cathedral. For her
part, Eva Bornstein, its executive director,
speaks of the Center in religious metaphors.
“On one night you have to capture twentythree-hundred
souls,” she said of her mission.
In a borough often eclipsed by Manhattan’s well-endowed art
scene, Bornstein and her predecessors strove to fill the Center’s
twenty-three hundred seats in boom times and bust. For years, the
calendar lineup attempted to attract audiences from nearby Riverdale
with mostly highbrow performances, but a programming shift
in the 1990s sought to draw crowds from throughout the borough
and beyond.
Today, Lehman Center is running longer, fuller seasons, offering
more than thirty shows with a mix of both popular and classical
artists. Despite the difficult economy, it attracts often-record
audiences, including a growing number of both families and
returning visitors. As beleaguered arts centers across the country
have struggled to stay afloat, Lehman Center has managed to
stay on an even keel, financially as well as artistically, drawing on a
12 Lehman Today/Fall 2010 – Winter 2011
Photo by Jason Green
Executive Director
Eva Bornstein.
‘There’s an earthiness, an ease. It’s not a
staid audience, and the performers love that.’
small but dedicated staff, a valued group of corporate sponsors,
and an aggressive marketing campaign that features discounted
ticket packages.
Investments in upgraded and expanded facilities promise future
audiences an even more rewarding cultural experience. With
a new $450,000 sound system already in place, thanks to an
allocation from Assemblyman Jose Rivera, the Center looks forward
to a new lighting system, audiovisual equipment, and other
improvements made possible by a recent $850,000 allocation
from Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz, Jr. A timeline will be
established shortly for a much-needed two-story addition, funded
earlier through a $3.2 million allocation from the previous borough
president, Adolfo Carrión, Jr., and City Council members Annabel
Palma and James Vacca.
Striving for Artistic Excellence Despite
Financial Challenges
The ongoing search for funding is nothing new in the
Center’s history.
A performing arts center was always considered integral to the
College’s master plan. As far back as 1927, even before the campus
was built for Hunter-in-the-Bronx, architects Pope and Baum
proposed a theater and arts complex for $15 million (the equivalent
of more than $188 million today). The Depression put a stop
to that element of the building project.