Monday night, the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts announced a $45 million campaign that will create a third venue in addition to Sarofim and Zilkha halls, establish more elegant seatings in that new space, reconfigure the ticket lobbies and bring in a wider range of artists from the United States and internationally.
When it opened in 2002, the Hobby Center was conceived of as a new world class home for musical theater. Which it was from day one, said Mark Folkes, Hobby president and CEO in a meeting with the Houston Press last week. But for the past several years, since Folkes came over after being managing director at Stages theater, the Hobby board of directors and administrative staff have been thinking of the Hobby Center as more than a building, he said.
“About four years ago now, we began a strategic process really evaluating why does the Hobby Center exist? What is the role of this organization? I would say that the majority of the discussion at that time was really thinking about the Hobby Center being a building. And really thinking about ourselves as a venue.
“What is it that audiences in Houston are interested in? What gaps currently exist and how do we work to fill those,” said a very enthusiastic Folkes. Besides the enthusiasm, Folkes’ experience leading a $35.8 million capital campaign to build Stages’ new theater The Gordy which opened in January 2020, made him a natural to head up the Hobby Center at this time in its existence.
This is the first philanthropy-driven fundraiser for the Hobby. They have already raised $31 million for the project, which includes three lead $5 million gifts from the Hamill Foundation, the Ken and Mady Kades Foundation, and the Sarofim Foundation. Lesha and Tom Elsenbrook chair the effort with Honorary Co-Chairs Marc Shapiro and Bill Wise, who led the original campaign to build the Hobby Center.
In recent years, unofficial word throughout the Houston theater community has been that Theatre Under the Stars which mounts its productions at the Hobby Center, is planning to leave and open up its own theater elsewhere.
“Theatre Under the Stars has absolutely shared plans for a vision for a new home at the Ion District [ a Midtown 16-acre hub developed by Rice University] that would include education, administrative rehearsal production and performance space,” Folkes said. “Their plan they have been working on for six or seven years.”
“The Hobby Center ultimately exists in large part because of Theatre Under the Stars,” Folkes said. TUTS moving to a new and different type of location and venue is nothing but good for musical theater in Houston and on the national landscape, he added. “We are supportive of whatever pathway Theatre Under the Stars takes.”
Folkes discounted the notion that TUTS’ departure would create financial problems for the Hobby Center. “All the work that we have been doing in diversifying and expanding programming would absolutely benefit the Hobby Center if we had more time in the calendar. The key is, we’re going to have lots of time to plan this. “
He and Lise Bohn — Vice President of Advancement for the Hobby Center, who was also at Stages during its capital campaign — pointed to the success of the “Beyond Broadway” series that now in its fourth year has seen audiences more than double from its initial offerings. Folkes said their projections show that Hobby’s changes will be financially sustainable.
In these shows, audiences have a chance to see artists not as the characters they’ve portrayed, but as themselves. “There is a hunger I think that is actually growing – there is a hunger for personal connection. That is exactly what that series creates. A sense of connection and shared humanity. Getting to see an artist as a person,” Bohn said.
Right now the space that will become the third venue is used for the Founders Club which in the last three years has been used to present its “Live at the Founders Club” music series. The idea is to present artists in a more up close and personal setting, Folkes said. And, he pointed out, the design of the new venue still keeps a clear view of the Houston skyline from the area designed for 160 seats.
There will be dressing rooms and green rooms and more production space, he said. There have already been reconfigurations of the office space in the administrative part of the building.
There will even be a balcony.
Patrons can watch a show from club-style seating, order drinks from a full bar, and enjoy “elevated” dining. The venue is located directly above the Diana restaurant that shares the Bagby location with the Hobby Center.
“It’s ultimately about an elevated food and beverage experience paired with world class performance all in one easily accessible experience for an audience member,” Folkes said. “So you don’t think about where am I going to go to dinner or where am I going to go to see the performance.
Construction is scheduled to begin in public spaces in late 2026 with construction on the third venue slated to begin in summer 2027.
Another area that the Hobby Center has concentrated and expanded upon is education outreach.
An educational series called the ExxonMobil Discovery Series started in 2023 in its current form. It was serving about 10,000 students with free matinee performances. The Hobby created partnerships with school districts. And it helped local organizations with the messages they wanted to reach out with to students.
“We started with three school districts and 10,000 students and this season there were 50,000 students and 23 districts and schools,” Bohn said. Their goal over the next three years is to expand that to be able to serve 90,000 students “which is all of the 5th graders within our region.”
Folkes and Bohn also discounted the idea that in some sense the Hobby Center’s programming expansion might be replicating what Performing Arts Houston already does. Pointing to the intimate nature with limited seating in the new club setting, Folkes said he wasn’t aware of Performing Arts Houston putting on productions in that kind of environment.
While readily conceding that overlaps could occur, Folkes added “We’ve really been intentionally trying to find the voids that exist in the marketplace.”
