By
The Durham Performing Arts Center may best symbolize former Mayor Bill Bell’s impact on Durham, North Carolina.
Famed musicians, Broadway shows, and even world leaders make their way regularly to the arts center, which has pumped new life into Durham’s downtown since opening in 2008. Every year, more than 600,000 patrons travel from local destinations like Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Greensboro – and up and down the East Coast – to enjoy the cultural hub, which has generated $1.2 billion in economic impact during its existence. The experience goes beyond the stage to the restaurants, bars, retail, and other entertainment options that comprise Durham’s thriving theater district.
As Bell says, it’s a far cry from the “ghost town” that Durham had become. Today, the revitalization during Bell’s 16 years in office is considered a model for other cities experiencing various degrees of urban decay.
While he retired from mayor in 2017, Bell continues to create positive change as president and CEO of UDI Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the economic welfare, education, and social levels of Durham’s low-income and underprivileged residents.
Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Winston-Salem, NC, Bell had little thought of returning to the Tar Heel State after graduating from Howard University’s engineering school, and serving in the military. Fate had other ideas.
An engineering job at IBM brought the future mayor to Durham in 1968, the same week Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Back then, tobacco and textiles powered the local economy – but not for much longer.
Over the course of the next two decades, Durham nearly lost it all. Tobacco and textiles no longer sustained the region, and stores on Main Street and beyond were closed and boarded up. Even the beloved Durham Bulls nearly left town despite the fame brought by the Kevin Costner film.
Durham was seemingly left behind as fellow Research Triangle communities were thriving.
“Downtown represents the living room of a person’s home,” said Bell. “Our living room was beginning to hurt because of the transitions that were taking place.”
While no individual could turn Durham around by themself, community activists such as Bell were able to push through the dark times. For his part, Bell first engaged in local leadership through the Emory Woods Community Association. Then in 1972, he was elected to the Durham County Board of Commissioners, where he served for 26 years and was chairman from 1982 to 1994.
From his seat on the commission, Bell witnessed the successful campaign to keep the Bulls in town by building a new stadium. “That was a catalyst,” he says of the Bulls stadium. It also laid the groundwork for the impending renaissance.
While he won the seat by a mere 500 votes, Bell united the community with his vision of what Durham could become. A year later, tangible progress became visible through the revitalization of the American Tobacco Campus. Capitol Broadcasting Company, a group that took ownership of the Bulls in the early 1990s, partnered with the City to turn the 16-acre space into a home for innovation, sparked by Duke University’s investment and involvement in the project. The university still has a major presence on the campus.
Meanwhile, Bell helped merge two school systems into one strong education system, continuing the city’s commitment to higher learning.
After the new stadium and Tobacco Campus projects, the final, and perhaps most consequential, part of Durham’s triple play came into focus: Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Bell saw better jobs and changing demographics as an opportunity to enrich the community through the arts. “We were trying to find something that would be attractive and unique that did not exist in the area,” he explained.
Image Source: Huth Photo
He took the idea to the United States Conference of Mayors, which earmarked the project for assistance. City planners and architects worked with Durham to help find a site and partners who could run the theater. Locally, Bell encouraged the General Assembly to implement a hotel and motel tax to pay specifically for a cultural center – and he held the line on using additional local funds.
Perhaps more challenging than winning approval on the tax was convincing the community that land across from a jail was an ideal home for the arts center. However, because the property was owned by the city, Bell and others felt that it was the best path for the project.
16 years later, Bell could easily take a curtain call for the results: DPAC – run by national theater operators Nederlander and Professional Facilities Management (PFM) – is ranked among the top 5 theaters in most sales categories for venues of its size, which Bell attributes to outstanding partners. “It was like the ball team. We didn’t know anything about running the ball team,” said Bell. “It was the same thing for theater. We didn’t know anything about operating the theater. We knew how to get the money and build it. But in terms of operating and bringing in performances, that’s a whole different story.”
Moreover, new hotels, restaurants, and other developments that support the center’s success have turned Durham into one of the country’s most desired cities to live among younger generations.
Bell is reluctant to take credit for the changing perception of Durham. However, the pride he feels in his city is clear when talking about its evolution. “To be able to ride through downtown Durham and be able to see what has happened, and be able to ride through some of the neighborhoods that had been depressed for a long time and see some of the affordable housing that we’ve been able to construct, and has created a catalyst for other things to happen, and to know that you were a part of that, not necessarily the person who did it, but a part of it… It’s enjoyable.”
Bell credits his success to his training as an engineer. “You look at problems and figure out how you’re going to solve them,” he said. “You need to know how to bring people together to make things happen.”
