Philly’s Painted Bride Art Center moves, again, as its leader steps down

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The longtime leader of the Painted Bride Art Center, Laurel Raczka, is stepping down after 26 years with the arts-presenting organization.

Raczka said she will stay on until her successor is identified, likely within the next six months.

“I’m 65 and I feel like it’s time for the Bride to have new leadership,” she said.

Raczka is only the second executive director in the Bride’s 56-year history. She took over from founding director Gerry Givnish, who ran the Bride for 30 years.

Raczka started working at the Bride in 1992, selling tickets part time out of the box office. She rose through the ranks to become the executive director in 1999. During her tenure, she prioritized artists and communities.

“She added that caring component that I think sometimes gets lost in running an organization,” said John Barber, board chair. “You’re so overwhelmed with running the organization and making sure you’re meeting the needs of so many different people, but when you’re dealing with the arts, the commitment to the community is really important. She has a very deep commitment. She’s very caring. She’s a listener.”

The Painted Bride has had a reputation of presenting jazz and international music, and fostering new work by emerging performance artists. It has recently focused its attention on bringing performing arts and workshops into neighborhoods around the city.

Controversy over the Bride’s old building

The Painted Bride once occupied an iconic building in Old City whose exterior was covered in extensive tile mosaics by artist Isaiah Zagar. In 2019, Raczka decided to sell the building because the expense of maintaining it compromised the organization’s mission to make art and performance accessible to more neighborhoods.

After a prolonged court fight which pitted neighbor against neighbor, the old Painted Bride building was cleared for sale to a developer with plans to build condominiums. Pieces of the Zagar mosaic were removed in 2023 in anticipation of demolition, but to date, the building still stands.

Raczka moved the Painted Bride offices to a rented storefront at 52nd and Market streets in West Philadelphia, a large open space used for exhibitions, performances and community gatherings. The Bride also presents work in neighborhood spaces around the city, including the Black Squirrel jazz club in Fishtown and the Fallser Club, a former East Falls silent movie theater that opened as a music venue in 2022.

The Bride is on the move

In one of her final acts as director, Raczka is moving the organization again, renting a large building in East Parkside near Fairmount Park. The organization will start occupying its Project Space at 4029 Cambridge St. on July 8.

“It’s a carriage house, but it was kind of abandoned,” she said. “I think maybe it was a speakeasy at one time.”

The new building will serve as both offices and a place for artists to explore new practices and collaborations.

“We did a strategic visioning session last year where we re-focused the Bride on supporting artists. That’s always been our core goal,” Raczka said. “To create a space for artists — which we’re calling the Painted Bride Project Space — where they can create, collaborate and share in a more intimate space just answered all of our questions.”

The board of the Painted Bride began its search for Raczka’s successor this week and expects it to take at least a few months. Barber is looking for a new executive director who will hold onto the values Raczka instilled in the organization while adapting it to future audience needs.

“They’re going to bring a different feel to keep this engine running, going from gas to electric but still staying on the same course,” he said, adding that the organization, after the sale of its Old City building, has stable finances.

“The Bride’s in a good place,” Barber said. “So it allows them to really look at some of our procedures, our operations and the methods we do in our outreach to the community. They have an advantage coming in.”