The Kranzberg Family has changed the art scene throughout the region

by Grayling Holmes / Photographs courtesy of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation      

For Ken and Nancy Kranzberg, past is prologue. Both of them are well versed on the St. Louis region, and they take that knowledge into the present, and propel it into the future. The past of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation began with Nancy’s love of art. “The arts nourish the soul,” Ken Kranzberg says. “In St. Louis, art is the depth and breadth of our culture.” On that foundation, the Kranzbergs started a legacy that impacts our community and through their descendants will have lasting import well into the future.

Recently, Forbes.com published an article giving credence to the commitment St. Louis has to the arts. Entitled “America’s Most Exciting Emerging Arts District Is In… St. Louis. Kranzberg Arts Foundation Executive Director Chris Hansen is quoted in the article as saying, “The Grand Arts District has been one of our most important arts and entertainment destinations for many, many years; it had the anchor institutions, but it also had a lot of vacancy around it.” How the union of Chris, Ken and Nancy created the wind beneath the wings of the Grand Arts Center by helping fill those vacancies is a story only Ken can tell.

“It all began in the late ‘70s, when Nancy and I went to the basement gallery of Carol Shapiro,” Ken recalls. “Nancy convinced me to spend $90 on a painting by the late Jerry Wilkerson, a prominent St. Louis artist. I came home, and I broke out in a cold sweat because back then, $90 was a lot of money to us. This was before my bottle distributing business took off. But it was well worth it because of Nancy’s passion for art. It was the first piece that we collected.”

That was just the beginning of many such finds for Ken and Nancy. “We’ve been art collectors for more than 45 years now, and our collection grew and grew until we had more art than walls in our home on which to hang it.”  He then began to search for a place to display and share their extensive collection with the community. At the time, he was on the board of Grand Center, as it was called in the early 2000’s.

Three-time Mayor Vince Schomehl was also involved with the Center and was looking for someone to buy the old Woolworth’s building which sat at the entrance to what is now the Grand Arts District. Schomehl was also looking for a new space for Big Brothers & Big Sisters. Telling Ken that there was not enough capital to buy the building, he asked if he would contribute. “I hadn’t really planned on spending that much money, but since we needed a space for our collection and the charity also needed space, I said, ‘I’ll do it!’”

The Kranzbergs used part of the building for their gallery and the Black Box Theater, which hosts creative and artistic endeavors including plays, concerts, fashion shows, and studio and rehearsal spaces for artists.

It was during this time that Ken met Chris. “He was in the music business and was doing things around Grand Center. Had he not been doing that at the same time, we might never have met.”

Their collaboration resulted in the creation of more 16 Arts facilities across all disciplines, which are home to over 60 arts and creative businesses, including several restaurants and cafes, an affordable home ownership initiative for artists, and free community programs that have changed the landscape of the arts community in the St. Louis region.

Ken recounts how he continued to expand beyond Grand Boulevard. Eventually, even the gallery at the Woolworth building and Black Box Theater were not enough. I was looking for another property to build a new black box theater and heard of a building that had been sold but the deal fell through,” Kranzberg says. “It was on Samuel Shephard Drive. We took over a fourth of the building and leased the rest to a wine and arts storage company.”  Thus, was born the Marcelle Theater, which is named after Ken’s beloved mother.

“As my business grew, I was simultaneously, slowly able to give back and also grow through the arts and be a part of the cultural and economic engine that drives St. Louis,” Kranzberg says. “Nancy and I only buy St. Louis art. We love our city and believe in it. I wonder how many people know that more people patronize the arts in St. Louis than go to all the sports venues combined.”

“Back when I was a nobody in St. Louis 50 or 60 years ago, a Grand Center Renaissance took place,” Kranzberg says. “Saint Louis University’s former chancellor, Father Reinert was instrumental in bringing back our storied theater district. He had vision and said ‘If the city’s going to survive, the universities need to stay in the city and grow there.’”

A stone’s throw from Grand Center, Inc., SLU’s students could explore the richness of the arts in their front yard. From 1949-1974, when Reinert was the school’s president, the old Missouri Theater, the Fox Theatre, Powell Symphony Hall, and more, were landmarks.

Through it all, Ken keeps honoring his family when he names theaters and art venues – the Marcelle is named in honor of his mother and two of his granddaughters; Sophie’s Artist Lounge is named for his granddaughter Sophie Marcelle. “One day my grandson Zack came to me and said, ‘What about me, Grandpa?’ So, when I bought the historic Cadillac building, I named it the .ZACK in his honor and to make it sound fresh for the new age that we are in.”

But it’s not all about the theaters. Today, through the support and guidance of the team of Chris, Ken, and Nancy, the foundation has developed and currently operates venues, galleries, studio, and office spaces for a plethora of organizations.

“I’m proud that my daughter Mary Ann Srenco created the Mural Walk at The Walls Off Washington. The artwork of national and international artists is literally painted on the walls. It’s truly a sight to see.”

The Kranzberg impact has ventured beyond the borders of the Grand Arts District. “We have stretched out somewhat from the city arts district. We have a few things in old North St. Louis. We even founded the St. Louis Arts Initiative in the heart of South City in Dutchtown,” Ken said.

Today, Hansen leads the expansion. He is putting St. Louis on the map by continually stoking the arts fires that burn in our city, bringing the past that Ken and Nancy envisioned in the ‘70s into the present, and positioning it for the future. Using the model that started with the Woolworth building, the organization has grown into an arts behemoth unlike any city its size.

“We’re talking everything from attracting talent to the city and region to keeping it,” Hansen says. “Most cities our size sell the same things – affordability, sports, etc. But they don’t sell the things that have been our tradition and soul in St. Louis. They don’t sell the sexy, the weird, the eclectic, the social amenities and cultural that make us uniquely us.”

“We have capacity and infrastructure for the arts,” he explains. “Our region’s legacy for music, theater, dance, and the literary arts is so profound with unusual and gifted artists.”

”Nancy and I are always out in the community. She writes. She does a weekly program on KDHX, and a monthly call up for the Jewish Light. My wife never sits still for long. She loves the arts in all its forms. Like I said, that’s how it all began. It began with her passion for the arts,” Ken espoused.

The engine will keep churning. Ken’s daughters Lily Dulan and Mary Ann Srenco, and son-in-law Andrew Srenco, and eldest grandchild Sophie Srenco now sit on the board sit on the Kranzberg Arts Foundation board. My grandson Zack, who just turned 18 is our newest board member,” Ken said.

Ken and Nancy’s progeny help helm the ship now and will continue to after them. Past is prologue for the Kranzberg family. And the prologue foretold the future.

“I’m certain that Sophie and Zack’s kids, and their kid’s children, and so on, will keep the spokes of the wheel turning for multitudes of generations to come,” Kranzberg says. “And it’s all because of the matriarch of our family, my dear Nancy, and my belief in her passion for the arts that fuels our city and feeds our souls.”

For more information on the Kranzberg Foundation’s ever-expanding footprint on the St. Louis metropolitan area, please visit kranzbergartsfoundation.org.