The arts are always in season in central Ohio.
As the days are getting warmer, creative fever is also getting hotter for many in the local arts scene.
Join host Christopher Purdy and his guests for a preview of arts and cultural events in and around Columbus.
This week, Purdy and his guests preview the annual Columbus Arts Festival and the Columbus Symphony Picnic with the Pops.
Host:
- Christopher Purdy, Classical 101 Morning Host
Guests:
- Jami Goldstein, chief strategy officer, Greater Columbus Arts Council
- Jonathan Parrish, vice president of artistic planning and programs, Columbus Symphony
- Bill Cohen, Central Ohio Folk Festival
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Christopher Purdy: Good morning, I'm Christopher Purdy, delighted to welcome you all to All Sides Weekend. This is the time of month that we talk about arts and culture goings on in Columbus. And it's a good problem to have, choosing who to talk to because there is so much arts and culture in central Ohio, largely because of my three guests today.
A good friend from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, GCAC, Jamie Goldstein is Chief Strategy officer She is especially busy these days, planning the Columbus Arts Festival, which opens June 12th. We'll hear more about that from Jamie, and all the wonderful things. There are arts organizations in this listening area because of GCAC, and we're gonna talk about that as we proceed.
Bill Cohen, you know Bill Cohen from his many years at the Ohio State House News Bureau. Bill Cohen is a musician and an impresario, I don't mind tell you, he's a producer. Bill Cohen gives regular concerts in our listening area at various churches and venues. We're going to talk about one coming up in a couple of weeks and a festival he's involved with. But here's a tip if you ever want to go to a Bill Cohen concert and you should go early because there is not a seat to be had by about 30 minutes before he comes on stage.
So welcome Bill Cohen and we have a brand new friend to welcome to the community and to this program Jonathan Parrish. Is the newly appointed vice president of artistic planning for the Columbus Symphony. That organization certainly is a much loved and appreciated partner by Classical 101 and WOSU. Jonathan comes to us from a tenure at the Buffalo Philharmonic, and we will have lots to talk about with Jonathan Parrish, including the upcoming Picnic with the Pops. But I want to begin with Jami Goldstein and the Greater Columbus Arts Council, GCAC. And the arts festival which runs on the riverfront June 12th and 14th and that's something a lot of people look forward to.
Jami Goldstein: We really, I think it's sort of the welcome to summer event in Columbus. Three days of the downtown riverfront being turned into a stunning outdoor art gallery.
Purdy: Who comes to the Arts Festival and when you have those tents on the bridge.
Goldstein: Who are those people? So we have about 230 juried exhibiting artists. Those folks come from 32 states and three countries this year. We have an artist from Hungary and we have an artists from Canada. About 60 artists from Ohio. And then we have also this year a 19 artist class of our emerging festival artists. And these are folks who just want to see if. If this is for them. And so we give them a little bit of support and they're all Franklin and surrounding county artists.
Purdy: And you have poetry slams, and you have dance festivals, and you have music, and you have food vendors, and you name it, it's there.
Goldstein: And hands-on activities for kids and families, and pretty much you name it, it's there. We have four stages of entertainment. The one under the Rich Street Bridge is just music all the time, and these are all central Ohio-based performers. We have dance, music, and theater on both the Bicentennial Park stage and the Genoa Park stage. The Columbus Jazz is going to be with us at noon on Sunday this year for a little jazz brunch. And then we have our Fashion as Art show that's back on Friday night. In General Park for Columbus based designers showing their various looks and this has really become a festival favorite.
Purdy: I always think of the festival as Columbus celebrating itself. I mean, everybody's there.
Goldstein: It is, it's free, of course, right? And we really just try and make it an incredibly welcoming environment for everyone, safe and fun. And we go rain or shine. I'm saying that because we've all been doing our anti-rain dance, which is clearly not working for weeks now. So fingers crossed, but we'll be down there. And people come out.
I mean, Columbus people love the arts and they buy art. We have really great. Visual arts patrons here and appreciators of all forms of art. And so, you know, Friday is a big day for sales, even if it's raining, you see people out with umbrellas and they're getting the first pass at all of the wonderful, there's 15 different mediums, glass, music, jewelry, ceramics, painting, sculpture, really everything. So
Purdy: And as our conversation continues this morning, we're going to come back to Jamie Goldstein and talk more about the Arts Festival and the work of the Greater Columbus Arts Council that goes on every day of the year. So there's more for that. Bill Cohen is here. Bill Cohen, uh, is very much involved with the Central Ohio Folk Festival. That is June 6th through 7th. I understand you were in a new venue this year.
Bill Cohen: Yes, Bank Run Metro Park. Now this is a park way on the south side of Franklin County near the little town of Lockbourne and it's a the metro parks took the old Hoover Y Park and added to it and we are the first major event that's going to happen at Bank Run. Bank Run is an unusual park. It's not like another, all the other parks, High Banks and Blacklix. Where you can go anytime you want. It's just for special events. And this is the Central Ohio Folk Festival. They've chosen to be the very first event there.
Purdy: So does that mean it's set up to accommodate with sound stages and equipment and port-a-potties and everything you might need?
Cohen: Yes, yes, and some covers, you know, some buildings, which we didn't have a lot of when we did it at High Banks for more than a decade. So yes, it's opening up a lot possibilities for our main stage and for all the other stages we're going to have. Bill, how long have you been playing music in central Ohio? Well, I don't know, six months.
Purdy: 60 maybe.
Cohen: Yeah, I mean when I was a teenager
Purdy: but you know well how about let's talk a little bit about because we'll talk more as the morning goes on about everything but but about the concerts that you and your colleagues do you've been in all kinds of churches in clintonville you've been around and you do themed concerts you do oldies concerts the one in i think the 14th of june is peter paul and mary yeah talk about those concerts a little bit that you can't get a seat to if you don't come well yeah well
Cohen: Yeah, I don't know the people We do with songs from 50 60 70 years ago. Our crowds are often older people But they love the old music that has a lot of meaning and really is heartfelt So and they seem to like the themes we come up with sometimes. It's it's folk music from the 1960s sometimes it's a Peter Paul and Mary tribute Or a Pete Seeger tribute or Woody Guthrie tribute or whatnot. We just did one called time and memory which is kind of esoteric, but all the songs were about how precious time is and what a miracle our memories are.
Purdy: But a lot of the concerts, a lot of the music you were talking about that goes back a number of years was social commentary in troubled times, Vietnam, Watergate, the 60s, MLK, and things like that. A lot of that music was created in very turbulent times. We live in turbulent times now. I'll leave that alone. But do you think after we're gone, our grandchildren will be producing concerts from this era?
Cohen: I don't know. I hope so. Yeah. I mean, the protest music of the 60s is still alive today with our generation and carries a lot of meaning today. And some people say that there's some new protest music coming out. So we can never predict. Maybe in 100 years, people will look back on 2026 as a year when protest music came up again, yes, and had much meaning.
Purdy: We may not be here to hear it, but other people will, so let's look forward to that. Jonathan Parrish, I want to welcome you to WOSU and thank you for coming in. Thank you, Christopher. And tell us a little bit about yourself, beginning with the Buffalo Philharmonic. Also, you are a French horn player. That was your initial musical entree, I guess.
Jonathan Parrish: Yeah, that's right. I was a professional performing musician for many years. The beginning of my career I worked at the Kennedy Center in the Opera House Orchestra. That's where I met my wife. She's a performer as well. She is a dancer. We met on the national tour of Phantom of the Opera when it came to the Kennedy center. Not long after that I won a job in the Honolulu Symphony. I moved to Hawaii. She came along. We got married and lived in Hawaii for about 21 years. But we missed the East Coast. We missed our family back East. So we made a transition and I also transitioned into the administrative side of orchestra business. And I managed the Maryland Symphony and then went to work for the Buffalo Philharmonic.
Purdy: What was that transition like? Why did you feel you wanted to do that? Go from performer to administrator.
Parrish: Well, it was a bit of a necessity. The Honolulu Symphony fell on some hard times. We had to reorganize out there. And as a musician, I was part of the effort to do that reorganization and build a new orchestra. So somebody needed to step in and lead that effort. So that's kind of how it happened. It was an orchestra in a community, orchestra I cared about, community that I cared very deeply about.
So when I was asked to do that, I made the transition. It was a difficult decision giving up full-time professional performing, but I really- Do you still play? I do still play a little bit, yeah, yeah. So, and looking forward to finding opportunities here, but I found that I get a lot of satisfaction out of the, you know, conceiving and planning the concert experience, just as much as I used to by performing it.
Purdy: What your title is, and everybody gets to have a title, I get that, Vice President of Artistic Planning, what does that mean for the Columbus Symphony?
Parrish: Well, it means that I do a lot of the coordination of putting the programs together. I work with our music director, Rossen Milanoff, our Pops conductor, Stuart Chaffetz. Stuart and I have been friends since we were both in the Honolulu Symphony together, and the other artistic staff to conceive of the programs and the artists and guest conductors that we're gonna have. For the for the masterwork series and also for the pop series and for the picnic with the pops and all of that so and then I make those arrangements I work out the contract terms with the each of the artists and work out there their logistics of their coming make sure that they are shown great hospitality so that's kind of how how my job functions I just kind of pull all those pieces together and keep track of, you know. What have we done, what should we do. I try to gather a lot of feedback from the musicians, from the community about what kinds of things people would like to see us do. And I try find a place for us to do it.
Purdy: So Jonathan Parrish is the newly appointed, I guess it's as of March, Vice President of Artistic Planning for the Columbus Symphony. We will talk about picnic with the Pops as our morning together continues. I do know, you told me you came to us from an administrative job with the Buffalo Philharmonic. That general manager, Dan Hart, was the general manager at the Columbus symphony for a number of years. He was greatly respected and liked in his community. What did he, come on, what did he tell you? Come on, come on.
Parrish: Tell you come on come on what did he tell you? Well Dan has just announced his retirement after more than 20 years as the CEO of the the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Kleinhans Music Hall. So he actually does both jobs. He does both jobs he is actually the CEO. Of the venue because that's a that's a great venue. It's a wonderful concert hall yeah beautiful concert hall if you if you go to Buffalo check it out built in 1940. Still looks like 4000 seats. Isn't it huge? It was originally over 3,000. It's been reconfigured now to about 2400 Okay, but when you walk into it and you imagine 1940 Buffalo, they must have thought a spaceship landed Because it really was a head of its time. It was a gorgeous hall
Purdy: Well, we will look forward to hearing more about Picnic with the Pops and the new Masterwork Season and it is the 75th anniversary of the Columbus Symphony which we'll talk about. We're going to take a quick break and come on back with our guests. I'm Christopher Purdy, this is All Sides Weekend, don't go away.
We are back with All Sides Weekend. I'm Christopher Purdy. My guests are Bill Cohen, Jonathan Parrish, and Jamie Goldstein. Jamie is the Chief Strategy Officer for the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Jamie Goldsteen, what is GCAC?
Goldstein: The Greater Columbus Arts Council is Columbus's local arts agency. There are local arts agencies all across the country. Generally, like we are, they are funding organizations.
Purdy: You served the city, not the state.
Goldstein: Sure. We serve the greater Columbus area. Yeah. So basically Columbus and Franklin County. Where does the money come from? Primarily, we are funded through the city of Columbus from two dedicated taxes. One of them is the admissions tax, which was passed in 2019, thanks to Columbus City Council. And then the other is the Hotel Motto bed tax.
So we have, we have a nice mix of locally generated funds that go back out to support the arts. And and we have folks coming into town. Using our facilities, being drawn by our arts organizations, and a part of what they pay for the hotel room goes back out the door to support local arts.
Purdy: We have been talking about the Columbus Arts Festival. That is part of what you do, but it's a big deal. But there's a lot more going on. Would you describe, is it fair to say that the Arts Festival is the, at least, economic or public relations engine for the organization?
Goldstein: I think it's a very visible and palpable way for GCAC to bring the vibrancy and excitement and joy of the arts to the community. And so people often ask me what my favorite part of the festival is, and it's really hard to choose. But the one thing I keep going to is the smiles on people's faces when they're downtown, and when they're with their families, when they are walking along, eating a. Funnel cake, or drinking a beer, or just watching music, listening to music, we making purchases.
We have this great program called the Children's Gallery where our festival artists donate pieces of work and a pint-sized door, no parents allowed. Kids can go in and make a purchase. Everything's priced under $5, so we're really building budding art patrons and art collectors at the festival. And that's probably, after the smiles, that's my second favorite part of the festival
Purdy: Thank you very much. Should we say marginalized audiences, people with disabilities, people of color, underserved populations? How do you reach them? You fund a lot of, do you fund individual...
Goldstein: The Greater Columbus Arts Council, we are one of about 35% of the local arts agencies in the country that funds individual artists through grants and other programs. Which means what? What kind of artists? Artists in all disciplines. So musicians, fashion designers, writers, visual artists, and all of the sub-disciplines, dancers.
We have made a very conscientious effort to invest in the kind of creative talent that Columbus is. Just rich in really. And artists are entrepreneurs, they're business owners as well as being creatives. And all of this is very much a cyclical investment that brings the talent.
Both people want to move here because of our investment in artists and our investment the arts. And it adds to the vibrancy that makes companies and other businesses look at this community to have a strong symphony, to have an offering like the Folk Festival. Those things are important for companies looking to locate or relocate to a community.
Purdy: Jamie Goldstein is the Chief Creative Officer of the Greater Columbus Arts Council. We'll talk more about economic impact of the arts later. I've been up since five, don't bother to go by me. But Bill Cohen, let's talk about the Central Ohio Folk Festival, which is June 6th through 7th at the Bank Run Metro Park. You're going to review again where that is.
Cohen: Yeah, way on the south side of Franklin County near the town of Lockbourne. It's on Roar Road, R-O-H-R. But head down to the south end. You'll find it there. Google it.
Purdy: I understand this is the 29th year for the festival.
Cohen: 20 not yet started, you know, really small with a hundred people and grow as grown and grown and grown. The last few years, we've gotten more than 11,000 people over the two day period. But our festivals are always intimate because we have so many different stages, so many different events, and it's spread out. So there are 50 people over here, a hundred over there, 200 people over at that tent. It's a really nice, intimate, family-friendly feel.
Purdy: Who performs at the festival? How do you find the artists, or do they find you?
Cohen: Yeah, both, both. And we started 29 years ago with just local people, the best of local people. And we still have local performers. But now these days, we've been able to pay performers more and search nationally. So we have regional acts. And we have people who tour nationally. And these are duos, quartets, solo performers. And it's a whole range of folk music.
I don't know if everybody knows what is folk music, but you know there's there's you know there is bluegrass, there's blues, there is Americana kind of storytelling music, of course there's Celtic and Appalachian singer-songwriters. We continue to have new breed, a new breed of young singer- songwriters coming to the fore and even reggae music is kind of under this big umbrella. So you'll hear a wide variety of folk music. We have three different performing stages where every hour. There's a new act on those stages, a lot of variety.
Is it fair to say this is primarily an acoustic art? Yeah, that's part of folk music, mostly acoustic, banjo, guitar, dulcimer, fiddle, and so forth. You know, stories, it's kind of hard to define folk music. But you know, songs of the average folks, their struggles in life. Some of these are work songs that sailors used to do. Or prison inmates would sing, or farm workers as they pick crops. And not so much commercial music, although we celebrate all kinds of acoustic kind of commercial folk music.
But originally, folk music was just kind of almost anonymous, anonymously written. You wouldn't even know who wrote that song from the West Virginia hills or the inner city of New Orleans with blues music.
Purdy: Okay what if I have a wagon full of kids and I show up? Are there things for kids?
Cohen: Things for kids. We got great stuff for kids we got a special kids village area with its own performing stage where kids will hear music that's right for them and storytelling for them arts and crafts will have for them they'll make all kinds of fun things and then I think there's a highlight I think you would enjoy especially Christopher because you want to encourage kids to get into music.
We've got something called an instrument petting zoo a huge table with all sorts of instruments. So a five or a 10 year old can pick up a guitar, a banjo, a dulcimer, a fiddle, hold it in their arms, their parents and some of our helpers helping them to squeak some music out of that instrument. And if those kids have seen some great joyful performances on the stage and then are able to pick up a violin, a fiddled, a banja, and plunk some music of it, they may say to their mom and dad, Could I, could I take some lessons?
Purdy: Who knows, you know, when you do that to a kid, you know what you do? You turn the lights on. That's, that's what happens. We have the, that petting zoo at the festival.
Goldstein: And it is a huge favorite every year.
Purdy: It's a wonderful thing to put an instrument. How old were you, Jonathan, when somebody put whatever instrument in your hand for the first time? Nine years old. Was it the horn? No, it was the
Parrish: Really? Yes. Did you ask for it or did they just say you're gonna take lessons? I think I asked for that and my brother was five years older than me he was already playing instruments so I wanted to follow along and so that's how and my family had music my mother was was a musician so you know we always had music in the house so it inspired me right away so I played violin for a little while but when I realized there were no violins in the marching band. Let's wish the French horn.
Purdy: Well, that's another question for Bill Cohen. I mean, you said you've been playing concerts for 60 years, so what was your first instrument? Do you remember?
Cohen: Yeah, piano, but you know, it was classical music. Boring, oh no, god. Beethoven and Bach, I didn't like it.
Purdy: I didn't say that, I didn't say that.
Cohen: And then I got a piano teacher who just taught me about chords and improvising and oh you know once I was able to improvise that's what yeah and that's why we do with folk music a lot you know you you only need five chords to ten chords at the most to play a lot of these folk songs and in fact at our our festival we have five jamming tents people can just come with their own banjo guitar fiddle and sit in a circle with other people and and jam or you can just you can just listen. But that's part of the participatory. Folk music's not always just performers. It is, but we also have a lot of participatory things. Just people sitting around, singing, and joyfully enjoying folk music.
Purdy: That is the Central Ohio Folk Festival, now in its 29th year, it is June 6 and 7, so it's coming down soon, rain or shine, I'm sure, write this down, June 6 or 7, here's a question, do I need tickets in advance, can I just get in the car and show up, how do I do that? How do I do that?
Cohen: You can get in the car and show up. We're only asking $15 for adults and everybody under 18 is free. You know, you go to these other folk festivals around the country, $100, $75, $50, $15 to get into ours. And I think if you get on our website and you buy a pre-ticket, I think it's $10.
Purdy: Just Google Central Ohio Folk Festival, the site will come right up and give you all the information you need and Bill Cullen will be there and that's reason enough to attend. I want to come back and talk to Jonathan Parrish about the Columbus Symphony, Picnic with the Pops, I believe it's July 10th, June 10th and it runs through August 1st. The last attraction is Generally to Biddle, the best damn band in the land. Who come marching out when it's 95 degrees humidity and they don't care, they literally don't break a sweat and they make a great show for it. But everybody loves the Pops.
Parrish: Well, I'm excited. It's your first time. You don't know that yet. I haven't. You know, really, I've seen some pictures. I've been hearing about it for years because, as I said, I am friends with Stuart Chaffetz, the principal Pops conductor of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. He does most of these concerts and so I've being hearing and following it on social media. So I'm really excited to be a part of it for the first time and we do kick off.
We're on Saturdays beginning June 13th. Okay. And we'll have seven weekends. We're also performing on July 4th for the America 250 Celebration. So that's, and it's similar concept, but it's not specifically a picnic with the pops.
But we opened the season June 13th with Lettucey. And we've got a lineup of stellar artists, Grammy award-winning artists throughout the summer. But I think the thing that we've really have strived to achieve in the past and have really... Nailed this summer is the variety. The variety of artists, there's something for everybody. You know, not everybody's going to come every Saturday for our seven Saturdays, but there is a concert there that's going be at the top of the list for almost anybody.
So Letticee is one of the most accomplished singers in the business right now. She is a trained opera singer. She studied opera at Berkeley. And she sings jazz, some of her first recordings were jazz, but she's made her name as an R&B singer, but she can, she's one of these people can do it all. She can really do it, yeah. Yeah, I mean, her instrument, four and a half octave range, it's amazing.
We follow up the next week on the 20th with Wyclef Jean. Wycleff was here in 2018 for an indoor show, So this is going to be a terrific. Return to have him. He's a hip-hop artist, but also influenced by jazz and reggae. So he's got an eclectic background that goes into his distinctive sound. So looking forward to that. With Stuart Chaffetz on the podium, these things are going to be a lot of fun.
After that we've got a tribute to Tom Petty, we've had this group, Windborne Music. Does a series of tributes and uh... This is a new show they put together uh... Tribute to tom petty so the late great artist uh... But with uh... Symphonic backing but with full band and singer up front uh... So i worked with these guys in hawaii and buffalo elsewhere they are total pros the only thing they do are tribute shows with orchestra This is their specialty. After the July 4th, which I mentioned we're going to be doing the American 250, and that's going to a spectacular program.
Purdy: Is that a separate concert? Is it also in the Commons? It is also in Commons on the same stage. It's on the actual day.
Parrish: It's on the actual day, is that correct? That's right, on July 4th, yeah. And it's more of a collaboration with the Commons and with CAPA and with the group organizing like all-day events at the State House and then moving over to the concert and then finishing with fireworks. So I had a hand in putting that program together. I'm really proud of it, so I think it's going to be a great experience.
After that... A little more contemporary group, Guster, a group that was formed at Tufts University, made their name basically touring the college circuit. So they've got this huge following that they developed from sort of the 90s and early 2000s. Their influencers go back to folk music and we were talking about protest music earlier and that kind of thing. I think you can draw their influences all the way back into the 60s. So a lot of fun, a little bit unconventional approach to their music making too.
Then the iconic country artist, although, again, she's capable of so much more. She does jazz and everything. But Leanne Rimes, she's celebrating the 30th anniversary of her first breakout hit album, Blue, which came out when she was 14 years old and won a Grammy. So just a spectacular talent. And we'll have her on the 18th of July. And then the 25th, Alan Parsons live project. We have Alan Parson's, I mean, a legendary alternative rock artist coming right here to play with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. So we are very excited about that.
And then we wrap up, as you said, with the OSU marching band, as I've learned. The best band, best damn band in the land. That's right. Or Tabittle. Tabittle, yeah. Tabittle Okay, I didn't know you could say it for short. That's great. See, I'm learning, I am still learning, so much about. There are T-shirts, I'll get you one, yes. Thank you for helping me become, you know, to.
Purdy: Indoctrinated now. Now you can have dinner there, you can bring your own picnic, hence picnic with the Pops.
Parrish: Yeah, there's lawn seats. We've got a great capacity on the lawn and the lawn seats, depending on the event, run from about 30-some dollars up to about 50. For children, it's about like 15 to 20. And there are table seats, premium seating up front, tables, and you can bring your own or you can buy something there. We have food trucks and there'll baby. You know, beer and drinks and refreshments and activities and the merry-go-round will be gone and, you know all the things that will make it a great evening for a family or for an outing.
Purdy: Yeah, bring the kids. They're a lot of fun. And just go to the Columbus Symphony website. Everything you need to know is there for ticket orders and scheduling and.
Parrish: Or Kappa.com.
Purdy: Or kappa.com that's right or that's easier to remember kappa dot com will give you all the information you need to know about the columbus symphony's picnic with the pops we're going to take another break right now and come on back and talk more about festivals and the greater columbia's arts council don't go away We are back for the final segment in today's All Sides Weekend. We're talking about arts and culture with three leaders in the arts and cultural business here in central Ohio, here in Columbus.
I'm Christopher Purdy. I am not one of them, but I am the host of the show. Jamie Goldstein is here. She is the chief strategy officer for the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Bill Cohen is a musician and impresario and producer. He is here, he's talking about the Central Ohio Folk Festival. And Jonathan Parrish, who was the Vice President for Artistic Planning at the Columbus Symphony, has just been telling us about Picnic with the Pops. All you have to do is go to the Columbus Symphony's website for all the information. You also have the 75th anniversary season of the orchestra coming up starting in the fall with what they call the Masterwork Series in the Ohio Theater. We'll just let people know that that exists. And that's part of what they should look at when they go to their website.
Parrish: Yeah, absolutely. We're celebrating an enormous milestone here with the 75th anniversary, 75 years of serving the orchestra, the community with great orchestral music. And I'll just call out one program in October that we'll be performing. It's the big work on the program is Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony, but we'll also be doing this new piece by Devon Tynes. And that's a program that we're also going to be performing at Carnegie Hall. So.
Purdy: Yes you are and the 50th anniversary we went we went to Carnegie Hall we broadcast it back live to Columbus it was very very exciting. In fact part of what we did for the 50 at the WSU is we talked to original orchestra members who were they've all gone to heaven since but they were still very much around back then including George Hardesty the very first conductor so I'm looking forward to celebrating more the 75th anniversary. Jamie I just want to ask you a couple of things about the greater Columbus Arts Council. Talk a bit about the economic impact of the arts in central Ohio, either specific to the arts festival or in general.
Goldstein: Yeah, I can do a little bit of both, thanks, Christopher. So we know that a vibrant arts community has a positive impact on tourism, on economic development, I touched on that a little earlier, on the cultural vitality and quality of life, and also on education. Symphony, in fact, has an amazing education program. Most of our arts organizations work with Columbus City Schools and other school districts to help support arts education in our schools.
So in general, Our research has shown that we have $13.64 return on investment for every public dollar invested. Say that again. That's important. $13 and 64 cents for every single public dollar or tax dollar that is invested back into the arts community. Our arts organizations support more than two million free and low cost opportunities for central Ohioans. And that equates to about $6 million that stays in people's pockets. And they still get to enjoy a vibrant arts community.
So on the front of the festival, we know that artists who come in town sell about $2.5 million worth of work. So that generates local and state sales tax for our community. We invest in our volunteer beverage servers. They get around $70,000 each year. The 15 or so groups that volunteer to serve beverages get a portion of their sales. So that's why the singing Buckeyes are singing so hard down there. And the CAPAs are always really great for us and they get also the tips for the booths.
And then we invest, the Arts Festival is almost entirely self-supported. There is a little bit of public money in it, but our sponsors, we couldn't do it without them. And that allows us to invest nearly 200,000 in performers, dollars each year in performers and local creative services. So businesses like AEP Ohio Foundation, we could not do it without them, Battelle sponsors, our hands-on activity area. We have media partners like WOSU who are so amazing and we just, we couldn't do it without the businesses or the volunteers that come on site to help us.
We're a very small staff, but we have about a hundred people that you work year round on our coordinating committee to organize, help us organize all of the aspects of the festival. I want to give a big shout out to them. And then our 300 or so of on site volunteers, we are still accepting volunteers. Help us make the festival run for the three days that we're on site. We work really hard to make everything accessible to people, however they want to plug into the festival.
And we've made great strides in accessibility, you asked about that earlier, I just want to touch on it really quickly. We work with Ohioans, accessibility options for Ohioans with disabilities and momentum refresh. We have an adult changing station on site for folks who have caregivers who need that kind of support. We have two sensory tense if the. Smells and the sounds and the sights get just a little bit too much. You can step outside the melee of the festival.
And then we just, you know, all of the streets are accessible through, for folks in wheelchairs. We just, we really want everyone to come down and enjoy the festival and our partners like Nationwide Children's Hospital and Momentum Refresh help make that happen. There are no barriers. There are no barriers. There really are no barrier. It's free. We want to see everyone at the festival come down, enjoy. We've got the instrument petting zoo as well and a couple dozen different activities supported by nonprofits in our hands-on activity village.
Purdy: Right on the riverfront, June 12th through the 14th, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Columbus Arts Festival.
Goldstein: Columbus Arts.
Purdy: Thank you. For all of your information. Thank you, yeah. ColumbusArchFestival.org. There you go. Bill Cohen, let's just make sure everybody understands the Central Ohio Folk Festival June 6th and 7th at the Bank Run Met.
Cohen: Park which is where way on the south side of Franklin County near the town of Lockbourne and just get you can Google it up you'll find it a beautiful site
Purdy: Now, you mentioned earlier there's lots of different genres of folk music. Talk about a few of them. Separate a few out for us. Well, uh...
Cohen: Bluegrass music they have separate
Purdy: They have separate festivals too, Poop. Oh, they do, sure.
Cohen: Oh, they do, sure, yeah, yeah. They're just one part of ours. We have people sing in blues. We've got a lot of singer-songwriters. You know, we think of the singer- songwriter, you know, John Denver back in the 60s, 70s, but over the decade there have been new, many, many new singer-songwriters coming to the fore. They deal with personal issues and with social issues and some protest. Americana is another, it's kind of hard to define, A lot of stories being told, personal stories and stories of people's lives, just their struggles. There's a little bit of country influence in there. And Irish and Appalachian songs, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Some of those are in our hearts and memories from decades ago. It's just a huge variety.
Purdy: What about the songs that were never written down, but they were passed from...
Cohen: You'll see a little bit of, you'll see some of that because that's the real definite, that's the purity definition of folk music. So yes, you will hear some of that and one of our jam things is, one of our jam tenses is going to be old-time music and a lot of that is kind of Appalachian foothills and you don't even sing, it's all instruments, all instruments.
You know, a couple other things I want to make a point about. We're going to have 30 educational workshops on how to play beginning guitar, banjo, a penny whistle, a tin whistle, how to participate in an open mic session, the history of bluegrass music in Columbus. So we've got workshops going on, also a drum circle each day where you can bring your own drum or just we'll provide some drums and rhythm instruments. Everybody sits around in a big circle, parents and kids alike. And we just bang the heck out of everything in a mesmerizing rhythm. And it's always a fun, there's so much joy in that.
Purdy: That is the Central Ohio Folk Festival and I have to ask you about the musical tribute to Peter, Paul and Mary that's coming and let's talk a little bit more about that. That's Bill Colwood in front.
Cohen: Yeah, that's that's something separate from the festival. But yeah, we did it last year and we had an overflow crowd. So we got a little bigger site this year, the Unitarian Church in Clintonville, 93 West Weisheimer. And it's going to be on June 14th, 4 p.m. That's a Sunday. 4 p,m. Yeah, I've got two people I sing with. Joanne Blum and Joe Lambert. They're just amazing. So we get some pretty good three part harmony.
Purdy: Listen, it's at four o'clock. Be in that parking lot at 2.30. I'm telling you right now, if you want a seat for this. And that's a beautiful facility and a good size facility.
Cohen: Very nice.
Purdy: Get there early because there are no empty seats at a Bill Cohen concert. There's so much going on in the arts.
Goldstein: Like the festival and and bills and just everything. It's so great.
Purdy: And we have Pride coming up, which is going to be, that's a huge deal, that's huge economic engine as well. We have Picnic with the Pops. And I have to ask Jonathan Parrish, and he's gonna love this, because I'm gonna put it on the spot for this one. There are plans for a new concert hall. Where are we with that? And what can you tell us about how that will configure, if we even know yet? I think two or three designs have come and gone, but...
Parrish: It's very early still in the process but we've been working to gather feedback from stakeholders, the board, patrons, the musicians, our artistic leadership, and to make sure that we we have a concept and a vision that aligns with our mission and that will serve the community into the future maybe for the next 75 years. We've been having conversations with our artistic partners. About how this works in to our relationship.
And so those, it's very exciting, but it's very early and I would say like nothing is written in stone yet or any ground has been broken, but we are having a very exciting conversation and really focusing now on the qualities of the, and scale of the facility. Particularly the acoustic qualities, because that's the number one consideration if you're building an orchestra hall, is how does it deliver a world-class concert experience? Our musicians are playing at such a high level. How do we make sure that the venue enhances and supports the level of musician music-making that they're capable of?
Purdy: I'm going to ask you an opinion. This is just an opinion I'm asking you as a musician and an administrator. In terms of sitting in a place and hearing acoustic music in an orchestra, what's the optimal size of the hall in terms of seating?
Parrish: Yeah, I mean the general wisdom, conventional wisdom today is that the ideal is around fifteen to sixteen hundred seats. We have doubled that in Ohio Theater almost. It's about twenty seven hundred, yeah. Now there are some great halls, University of Michigan has a hall that's over three thousand. That's huge, yeah!
So, there are exceptions to this rule, but, you know, smaller than $1,500 gets... It can work down to 12 maybe, but it starts to get kind of intimate, and the sound of a 70-piece orchestra can overwhelm a space that's too small. But at the same time, it can be kind of lost in a big space. So we're aiming for that sweet spot, but these are all conversations that we're having.
And we've got some great advisors who work in this area, like conceiving of and designing. World-class venues around the world, in Asia, in South America, in the U.S., in Europe. And so it's an exciting time. That's one of the things that attracted me to come to Columbus, because it is such an exciting time, not just the hall, but it's a exciting time for the orchestra. And as I'm learning in my months here and today at this table, there is so much going on that's really making Columbus a vibrant... Place for the arts. It makes me glad that I'm here, glad that I'm bringing my family to live in Columbus.
Purdy: We're glad you're here, too. This is a great town for collaboration, and that's really the purpose of this program, as far as I'm concerned, as the host of the program, is to bring arts leaders together and share with the greater audience what you're all doing separately and together. So I wish you a long and successful and happy tenure for you and your family here in Columbus, Jonathan Parrish, with the Columbus Symphony. Also, Jamie Goldstein. We will see you at the arts festival. Three weeks to the day. That's right, and all the program. And by the way, if I wanted to- I'm okay. Let's play devil's advocate. I'm a poet and I want to apply for a grant from GCAC. What would I do?
Goldstein: Well, in fact, our funds for artists grants open on June 1st, so that's a very well-timed question. You can get up to $750 to support your art making no matter what discipline you're in. If you are an artist, a poet, a dancer, a musician, a visual artist, apply for supplies or to support rehearsal space or to marketing your artistic business.
And GCAC.org is the place to go for all of our grant opportunities. We also have a great legal grant program now and lawyer referral service. We connect artists who need lease review or contract assistance or intellectual property rights assistance to professional lawyers here in Columbus.
Purdy: One stop shopping. It's wonderful. That's incredible.
Goldstein: Gcac.org for all things about us and you can get to the festival from there too.
Purdy: Thank you, JB Goldstein. By the way, just the name of your, you have a new executive director. I know he's been on the show with Amy Juravich, but just reintroduce him for us.
Goldstein: Mitch Menchaca is our new president and CEO. He's fabulous. He came from Phoenix where he ran the local arts council there. And he's just six months in and he's super excited for his first festival too. We keep telling him he's not going to believe until he sees it.
Purdy: We'll see him in the golf cart. Bill Cohen brought his guitar, and Bill Cohen is gonna sing and play for us. Go for it.
Cohen: I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning, Hammer in the evening, all over this land. I'd a hammer out danger, I've hammer out a warning, I had to hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters all over the land. If I had a bell, I'd ring it in the morning, ring it in the evening, all over this land. I'd a ring out danger, I ring out a warning, I'll ring out love between my brothers and my sisters. All over this land. Ooh, I had a song. I'd sing it in the morning. Sing it in evening, all over this land, I'd sing out danger, I'd sing out a warning, I had to sing out love between brothers and my sisters all over this land.
Purdy: Bill Cohen, that's all you get for free, for the rest go to the Central Ohio Folk Festival June 6th and 7th, Jamie Goldstein, thank you very much from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, GCAC, the Arts Festival at the Riverfront June 12th for the 14th, Jonathan Parrish, thank you for coming in, I hope we haven't scared you away, come on back, Picnic with the Pops downtown from June 13th to the 1st of August at the Columbus Commons. And the 75th anniversary season of the Columbus Symphony is about to happen. Look forward to that with what they call the Masterworks Theories, everything at the Columbus Symphony website that you need to know.
I'm Christopher Purdy. I am proudly the broadcast producer and host of the Columbia Symphony Broadcast Series, which is heard on Classical 101 Sundays at one o'clock, and this week we have a new work by a wonderful Vietnamese-American composer called Viet Quang. And Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, all conducted by Rusin Milanov with the Columbus Symphony. My thanks to our producer Marcus Charleston, my thanks to Chris Johnston, who keeps us all on the radio, and thank you all for listening. Go out and celebrate the arts in central Ohio. I'm Christopher Purdy, this is All Sides Weekend on 89.7 NPR News.