A church-funded arts center

More on Deep Ellum Live in Dallas.

Dallas Morning News, 1/26/07 - Deep Ellum is getting a sonic boost, too: "Onstage opened last Saturday in a drab-green 26,000-square-foot warehouse space at 2803 Taylor St., just south of Canton Street (about a block south of the now-closed Deep Ellum Live building). The music venue is part of Life in Deep Ellum, a $3 million community project funded by Deep Ellum Church that also includes a coffee shop, adult learning center, child-care facility and art gallery.

It's well-funded as an arm of the nonprofit, nondenominational church.

The rectangular, low-ceilinged hall can hold 1,100 people and boasts an all-new, 25,000-watt sound system and industrial-grade air conditioning. Bookings are solid through mid-March and feature young emo-rock bands and local indie standouts such as Salim Nourallah and Nate Bolling.

Yes, Christian acts such as John Reuben are part of the schedule, and some people are automatically skeptical of the quality and nature of music acts that would be booked at a place with a spiritual foundation. But Ellum: Onstage's approach isn't faith-centered; it's community-centered.

'It's a new idea, and this is a community that needs new ideas,' says artistic director Rocky Presley. 'This is a diverse community, and I want to partner with everything that makes sense for our community.'

Besides, Ellum: Onstage's first major concert event should offer a rebuttal to any naysayers. The Ellum: Music Festival will bring in dozens of national bands on their way to Austin for South by Southwest in March. Big names already on board include the Polyphonic Spree on March 10, Mates of State on March 12 and Snowden on March 13."

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Dallas sees new venues opening

Four new, middle-sized venues will open in Dallas. I thought this one in particular looked interesting.

Club revival: "1. Ellum: Onstage

Phone: 214-651-0633

Web site: www.lifeindeepellum.com

Opening: Saturday night

Capacity: Variable, between 600 and 1,100

What's the deal: This all-ages venue is part of a nonprofit cultural center that also includes a coffeehouse, clothing store and art gallery. Although it's affiliated with Deep Ellum Church and doesn't serve alcohol, artistic director Rocky Presley says it's not specifically a Christian facility and will be showcasing various types of performers. Expect to see a mixture of touring and local acts.

'We want it to be a Deep Ellum cultural center, and not the center for one culture,' he says. 'We're partnering with other people to maintain that diversity. We do plan on bringing in some hip-hop shows, and we also have a group of people who will be concentrating on Hispanic culture....But we'll still be doing shows that appeal to the Uptown crowd and the Deep Ellum crowd.'"

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