Lesher Center for the Arts Celebrates 20 Years as ‘The Soul of the City’

"On Broadway" will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Lesher Center for the Arts on Saturday night with the biggest party to hit the East Bay in a long time.

Can we say the social event of the season? There will be cocktails, a benefit auction, a performance by jazz vocalists Manhattan Transfer, and honors paid to many of the original sponsors and fund raisers.  

Only 20 years?

Many would say that this celebration is absolutely warranted. After all, it seems as though the complex of three theaters and the Bedford Gallery has been there forever, anchoring the northern end of downtown at Civic Drive and Locust Street.

What would the city — and the region — be without it? Downtown might consist of Broadway Plaza, office buildings and retail dribbling off toward the BART station.

As perfect as the development seems now, the $21 million project needed the city's support, a federal grant and the biggest regional fund-raising effort to date to get off the ground. It replaced the building originally rented from the Walnut Growers Association, endearingly called "the nut house," on the same site.

Scott Denison, the Lesher Center's longtime general manager, remembers the 449 wobbly seats at the old theater that the Lesher Center  replaced, and hearing dire warnings that "if we built anything more than 500 seats we were crazy."

Now, of course, the center has more than 1,200 seats in three theaters, and Denison sees an even larger concert hall in Walnut Creek's future.

Arts writer and Walnut Creek Journal columnist Sally Hogarty recalls the struggle to keep the center's amenities intact as the City of Walnut Creek attempted to trim the budget.

"They wanted to cut the number of stalls in the women's bathroom," she says, "but we fought that, knowing we'd need longer intermissions to accommodate all the ladies standing in line."

Steve Lesher is the grandson of Times publisher Dean Lesher, who saw Walnut Creek as the geographic and cultural center of the East Bay suburbs. Dean Lesher was one of the early visionaries who saw that Walnut Creek needed a state-of-the-art venue to present theater, dance, music and visual arts. Lesher, who died in 1993, lived long enough to see the center open.

He also wanted Walnut Creek to host a lecture series, bringing national and international figures to town to discuss politics, the media, the arts and sports.  The Newsmaker lecture series grew out of that idea six years ago. 

On opening night of the the series, "I must have called Scott 20 times" to check on ticket sales, says Steve Lesher, who produces the series. Now, after years of presenting such speakers as Ken Burns and Colin Powell, the series sells out in 20 minutes.

"The Lesher Center made an enormous change in the East Bay Arts scene," says Georgia Rowe, a journalist who covered events at the center for the Contra Costa Times from 1990 to 2007. "Suddenly, audiences had a place to go for theater, orchestra concerts, opera, art exhibitions, all under one roof. It became a focal point for the city."

Saturday night's celebration will focus on the center's three namesake families --the Leshers, Hofmanns and Bedfords -- and many of the original founders. It will also aim for the future as a fund raiser for the center's outreach and educational programming.

When the center opened, Denison hoped to present 200 events a year. Now, the center boasts more than 900 productions and events each year, serving more than 350,000 patrons.

And the arts in Walnut Creek — with the Lesher Center as the centerpiece — pump $54 million a year into the economy, Denison says.

Some Lesher Center patrons may go to see only musicals, or attend orchestral concerts, or visit the Bedford Gallery. But the array of attractions that have blossomed over the past two decades is astonishing, balancing local performers and visiting artists, favorites from the concert repertoire and some avant-garde theater.

Just pull a few colorful brochures from the rack outside the box office. You'll note such offerings as the West Coast premiere of Becoming Britney, described as "a snarky musical adventure," which is on the "off-center" billing of Center Repertory Company, the Lesher Center's in-house theater company. There is also the coming Newsmakers series appearances by TV newsman Tom Brokaw and primatologist Jane Goodall; and chamber music appearances by such international stars as violinist Jaime Laredo and pianist Garrick Ohlsson.

"We just didn't know how big it was going to be," Denison says. "We have six symphony orchestras and a chamber orchestra, an opera company, two dance companies, and regional companies like Philharmonia Baroque, which we're excited to have back."

Other communities have not been so fortunate. They've built performing arts centers and then struggled to find groups to fill them, bolster local artists and compete for touring attractions.

"We had organizations that were alive and doing well — arts groups that were ready to come in and perform," Denison says. "The secret is that we had a ready-made organization. The analogy I make is to a potted plant. The plant was growing really well, and if we transplanted it into a bigger pot, it would grow even bigger. If not, it would die."

In the years to come, the Lesher Center — and a vibrant downtown Walnut Creek— would become a model for other cities.

"The arts are one of the top industries in Walnut Creek," Denison says. "I get calls from all over the country, from Virginia, from Florida. The arts centers in Tracy and Modesto looked here first."

The impetus for the Lesher Center (which has had several names during its relatively brief existence) came in the mid-1970s from Gary Schaub, Walnut Creek's director of cultural services. Business leaders launched the Regional Arts Center Inc. to gauge support, and among the early leaders were banker John Thompson and attorney Bill Armstrong.

Hogarty helped spread the word to Bay Area news organizations and led tours of the old building for prospective donors.

"So many people worked to get others to envision what the space would be like with three gorgeous theaters and an art gallery. It is amazing that all that is on the same footprint as the old 'nut house' and the funky offices we used to have. I'm sure Walnut Creek would not be the vibrant place it is without the Lesher Center," Hogarty says. "The arts center brought so many restaurants and ancillary business to downtown. It's so much more attractive and full of life."

"When I don't have a show going on, I hear about it from the restaurant owners," Denison points out.

What would the city be like without the Lesher Center?

"I don't think we'd be 'alive after 5' as much as we are," Denison says. "It would be a much different town. And I think some arts organizations would not have survived."

Lesher reflected on his grandfather's passion for the arts as well as public discourse — an impetus for the Newsmakers series. "I can't imagine what Walnut Creek would be like without the Lesher Center," he says. "I think in many ways it's the soul of the city."  

The event is co-chaired by Steve Lesher and his wife, Mackenzie. The dinner and auction for 550 guests is sold out, but tickets remain for the Manhattan Transfer performance and the following "encore party" with desserts and dancing. Tickets, at $125, are available through the Diablo Regional Arts Association web site, draa.org/events/on-broadway.