New Torpedo Factory CEO Sets Sights on New Targets

The number of questions that race around Eric Wallner’s brain is impressive as is his quest to answer them.

The new Torpedo Factory Art Center Board CEO doesn’t really bring to mind Auguste Rodin’s "The Thinker" though, probably because he doesn’t have the luxury of sitting still that long — there’s that pile of grant applications sitting on his desk and all those meetings to attend.

“The world has changed a lot since the Torpedo Factory first opened,” he said in an interview in his tiny office on the first floor of the art center. “There have been demographic shifts, new technologies and new ways to look at things that create new challenges for relevancy. We need to strengthen our mission. We’re figuring out what does it mean to be an art center in 2013 – and beyond.”

The Torpedo Factory is part of the fabric of Alexandria with an international reputation, notes Wallner, who recently left Ventura, Calif., to manage the factory’s operations, assist the board with planning and work to expand its reach.

Thinking Like a Creative Economy Specialist

On the West Coast, Wallner worked for the City of Ventura as a creative economy specialist — an uncommon title for the Washington, DC metro area.

In that role he was responsible for “promoting creative businesses of all kinds,” he said and started initiatives such as Ventura Music Week, a major craft festival and Film Ventura.

In Ventura, Wallner said he “worked on bringing new businesses into the area, economic gardening, cultivating existing businesses, working with creative entrepreneurs as well as helping young folks starting out and working with the city as an ombudsman to help them navigate the permit process.”

The Torpedo Factory Art Center Board reviewed 80 candidates for the CEO position, according to board President Rosemary Covey.

Covey, who co-chaired the CEO search committee with Alexandria Director of General Services Jeremy McPike, told Patch she was intrigued by Wallner’s ability to “look at the larger picture” as well as his arts management, strategic planning background along with his “enthusiasm and energy.”

Plus, he understands artists and the arts and showed an immediate understanding and connection of what the Torpedo Factory is and could be. …We’ve been the gold standard in many ways. We need to maintain that and move forward,” she said.

Working a Typical Day at the Torpedo Factory

Wallner describes a typical day at the Torpedo Factory as “a lot of meetings,” along with getting out to talk to folks in the community, other nonprofits, talking to artists, working with staff and the factory board along with writing grants and getting into the strategic planning process.

The Torpedo Factory attracts upward of 400,000 visitors annually. In 2010, it provided more than $16.2 million in direct revenues, according to an outside study of the arts center.

Wallner said the Torpedo Factory seeks to grow its attendance figures.

“We have an international reputation. You hear languages from all over the world here,” he said. “We interested in connecting to the local community as well as to the larger artist community and the way we’re going to continue to grow is through innovative programming.”

The center will continue to reach out to diverse communities as well as strengthen its children’s programming and working on “bringing more vibrancy to the center," he said.

Addressing the Center's Strengths, Opportunities and Challenges

One of the center’s greatest strengths, according to Wallner, is its artistic workforce.

“We have incredibly diverse artists doing high quality work. We also have a deep connection to the community and a long history which is vital for an arts organization.”

And he sees the city’s waterfront plan as a big opportunity “to connect the goals of the Torpedo Factory to the larger economic development of Old Town and Alexandria. We see the arts as a major economic driver.”

As for challenges, he said he considers how the center can grow in a thoughtful way. “How do we become more diverse? How do we push programming to the highest quality it can be and how can we continue to be relevant and responsive to the community?”

The center is embarking on strategic planning with a planning committee, the artists at the factory, citizens, business community and the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association.

The ACVA’s Patricia Washington told Patch that her group, which promotes tourism for the city among other things.,” “We’re going to put arts and culture out front as part of Alexandria brand. The arts drive business.”

Wallner hopes to have a set of concrete strategies for growing the organization completed by the end of the year.

“We’re open to new ideas, new energy,” he said “We are in the process of reflection and planning and we look forward to have the community engage with us. My goals would be every time someone walks in the door there’s a new experience.”

Editor's Note: This article has been corrected to reflect that the direct revenues of the Torpedo Factory was $16.2 million in 2010.