'We Are Changing Perceptions': An Interview with Shelton Stanfill, President and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center

Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center is one of the anchors of Georgia's campaign to boost cultural tourism. In November 2005, the center's High Museum of Art opened a $130 million expansion that more than doubled its gallery space. The Arts Center is now trying to raise $300 million for a symphony hall designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Shelton g. Stanfill is the Arts Center's president and chief executive officer.

EconSouth: Is it a new idea to consider economic development as part of running an arts organization?

Shelton Stanfill: Some portion of it came into fashion when the Rockefeller family got together and created this thing in New York City called Lincoln Center. That [experiment] did not pay off in terms of real estate development as quickly as they first expected. But anyone who looks at what that area--the west side of New York City--was like before 1960 and what it is today sees that it just took longer for it to develop. …

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