A rising czar

Story and photographs by

MICHAEL RYAN

The Capital-Journal

MOSCOW --- Ask anyone on either side of the Atlantic Ocean who knows her: Betty Simecka delivers.

Six business partners --- two from Fort Collins, Colo., two from Memphis, Tenn., and two from Topeka --- found that out firsthand while accompanying the Topeka woman on a weeklong trip to Moscow on Sept. 23. Simecka had promised them unparalleled access in their trek to finalize plans for a world-class exhibition of artifacts from Russia's Romanov dynasty, planned for Fort Collins and Memphis.

Well, OK, it was just dumb luck that, on the

first day at the Kremlin, the group was touring Cathedral Square and came within about 15 feet of meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Simecka hadn't arranged that.

But the extraordinary Kremlin access that was to follow --- several days of pivotal negotiations, light meals, stunning and rare tours, contract signings and handshakes and hugs and champagne at the highest levels of the Kremlin Museums --- was no accident. It was, rather, the culmination of years of hard work and honest international dealings on Simecka's part.

It seems the woman behind the fondly remembered Treasures of the Czars exhibition that visited Topeka for the last five months of 1995 --- and only one other U.S. city, St. Petersburg, Fla. --- hasn't quit arranging multimillion-dollar spectacles. Why, the Czars exhibit was just the start.

Having formed Cultural Exhibitions and Events Inc. with partners Eric and Susan Davis, of Topeka, Simecka, former head of the Topeka Convention and Visitors Bureau, is aiming to top the Treasures of the Czars extravaganza. On the recent trip to Moscow, her partners watched intently in a smallish conference room at the Kremlin as Simecka signed contracts to stage a more comprehensive and historically significant exhibition of Romanov artifacts, starting in Fort Collins next September and moving to Memphis the following spring.

Steve Masler, chief curator at "Wonders: The Memphis International Cultural Series," said the upcoming exhibit will be world class.

"You're going to be seeing in this exhibit the finest work of the finest craftsmen anywhere in the world," Masler said. "So many objects that it's, in a way, going to be dazzling. One visit through the exhibit isn't going to be enough."

The exhibit Simecka is delivering to Fort Collins and Memphis is a 263-artifact show detailing the czars' lives in a historical chronology that the first czars exhibit didn't even attempt. About 60 percent of the as-yet untitled exhibit will feature new items, some of which haven't even been out of storage.

They include such show-stoppers as the complete coronation outfit of Emperor Alexander II, and that of Paul, son of Catherine the Great; an ark for holy gifts; the pectoral cross of Mikhail Fedorovich, the first Romanov czar; a collection of "Life at Court in the 18th and 19th centuries" --- a unique look into the private lives of the czars, including their passion for hunting; and a brilliant bejeweled pendant in the form of the two-headed eagle, the symbol of Russia.

Fort Collins entrepreneurs Bill Neal and Bill Sears --- affectionately dubbed "da Bills" by the others on the trip --- say the exhibit will not only attract several hundred thousand visitors, but also help lead to a permanent international museum in Fort Collins that they plan to make the "key anchor" of a $500 million restoration of the historic portion of Fort Collins' riverfront. The project will include an IMAX, an American Indian cultural center and residential lofts.

Memphis is more used to such exhibits, and it won't have to build. Indeed, its Wonders series has been the leader in such exhibits since hosting "Ramses the Great" in 1987. Still, Wonders executive director Glen Campbell, who accompanied Masler and the others to Moscow, says Simecka "has put together a cultural exposition that is on a par with any that have ever been put together in the world." And the exhibition will be the premiere event in an $80 million expansion of the city's convention center when it arrives in spring 2002.

Why not here?

Topekans who recall the life-changing exhibition here --- the more than 500,000 visitors, the nearly 2,000 volunteers, the expanded hours by downtown merchants and the lingering educational effect on area schoolchildren --- might wonder, why not Topeka again?

They aren't alone in wondering.

"How come Topeka isn't doing this?" asks Fort Collins' Sears. "They're crazy to let (Simecka) get away. This is like landing a big fish and not hanging onto it. She's giving her talents and her connections and her potential to other cities. Where's Topeka in all this? I think they're making a major error here."

But neither he nor the other Bill is complaining. After being involved in building about 20 percent of Fort Collins over the past 30-some years, Bill Neal is more than happy to import Simecka's expertise and access.

"Maybe it's the old axiom 'you can't be an expert in your own hometown,'" Neal says. "She's absolutely considered an expert in Fort Collins. She's extraordinary.

"Maybe what could happen --- and I hope it does --- is if success happens in Fort Collins and Memphis and in other places, maybe Topeka will re-embrace this native daughter and say, 'Hey, do it for your own hometown. We're ready this time.'"

Whatever the feeling is in Topeka, the trip made believers out of Sears and Neal and Memphis' Campbell and Masler.

For instance, as they were led into the off-limits basement of the Kremlin's Armory Museum for a personal viewing of artifacts by its head curator, they noticed that a large red banner hanging in the doorway advertised the Treasures of the Czars --- in Topeka.

"We've seen it with our own eyes," Neal said of Simecka's access and Topeka's presence at the Kremlin. "The affection is legitimate. You can just see that people love Betty here. And they trust her."

"How else would you ever get inside the Kremlin?" asked a delighted and wide-eyed Sears. "We spent three days in the bowels of the Kremlin looking at these art treasures that are just priceless."

Even so, the extent of their access might not have dawned on them until they were treated to some of the best seats in the house for a performance of the legendary Bolshoi Ballet, as guests of the Kremlin. Neal joked that in contrast, the White House has never sent him "to a skybox at a Redskins game."

Lifetime fascination

So how did Simecka, this native of little St. Marys, get to the point where she is clinking champagne glasses and rubbing elbows with the top officials of the Kremlin Museums --- and arranging multimillion-dollar exhibitions that will lead to the building of multimillion-dollar museums (the goal is four to five museums in the immediate future, and ultimately a dozen or more)?

Growing up, Simecka always had a fascination with Russia --- a feeling shared, perhaps surprisingly, by many in the breadbasket of the United States, which has Russia to thank for its red winter wheat imported by the many Russians who settled in Kansas and nearby in the last century and whose descendants have never forgotten Mother Russia. But Simecka also saw through the iron facade of the Cold War.

"All through the years of communism, in my mind I always kept it separated --- communism and the people," she said. "I always felt the Russian people were not all communists. I felt there was something there that was so strong with their Russian heritage."

She accumulated conclusive proof of that when, at the request of then-Kansas Gov. Joan Finney in the early 1990s, Simecka was asked to help entertain a Russian governor who was in Topeka on a trade mission from Leningrad. He noticed the World War II posters at the Kansas Museum of History and said they had similar ones back home. The two began talking about a cultural exchange --- and a Russian festival ultimately was arranged. On very short notice, Simecka and such others as Don Lambert and Tish Rogers put together a 110-member Russian dance tour in 39 Kansas communities.

"You could tell the Russian soul had never left during those years of communism," Simecka says now.

Through contacts developed in the Russian festival, Simecka learned of an exhibition of czar artifacts headed for St. Petersburg, Fla., in early 1995. Simecka flew there and began a complicated process of selling the Russians --- and Topeka --- on bringing the "Treasures of the Czars" to town.

She says two things were key in helping Topeka beat out such cities as San Diego, Montreal, Nashville, Tenn., and Dallas as the second czars city:

- Simecka was the first to fly to Florida and begin wooing the Russians in person.

- The package Topeka put together had a strong educational component for schoolchildren, which Simecka said helped win over Madame Irina Alexandrovna Rodimtseva, head of the Kremlin Museums.

Then-Mayor Butch Felker remembers one other clincher --- the mere fact that Simecka invited Madame Rodimtseva into her home. It touched her deeply, Felker said. That night, Rodimtseva announced with a dramatic "da" her willingness to bring the Treasures of the Czars to Topeka. To this day, Felker gets emotional recalling the warmth of the moment.

And Felker looks back fondly on the exhibition.

"It was one of the most exciting times we've ever had --- and probably the single most significant event we've ever had in the city of Topeka," he said.

Likewise, Madame Rodimtseva smiles when recalling her people's treatment by Topeka. In an interview in her Kremlin office, Rodimtseva prominently mentioned the Topeka volunteers who helped interpret her culture for the 520,000 Treasures of the Czars visitors in Topeka.

"I liked tremendously the way the volunteers of the exhibition behaved," she said through an interpreter. "They showed much love and sympathy while talking about our treasures."

Rodimtseva recalled other images of Topeka as well --- cowboys driving motorcycles; depictions of "The Wizard of Oz" (which she called "the fairy tale which all of us read in our childhood"); how well city and state officials treated her; and the homey atmosphere created by the fire in the fireplace and the basket of apples in the lobby at the Clubhouse Inn.

And she noted the friendships, which she said help further world peace.

"I deeply think that such exhibits bring people and countries much closer to each other," she said. "It was a great event for relations between our two countries."

But such events can't occur without the kind of trust that Simecka has engendered.

"We know her as a person of great integrity," Rodimtseva said. "She is a person of her word. And this is very, very important."

"I've never promised anything I haven't been able to deliver," says Simecka. "That's very important for them."

Start of something big

Moments after the group's contract signing with Rodimtseva, Neal said Simecka's exhibit is a high-class start for Fort Collins' entry into international exhibitions.

"We're going right to the most elegant, global thing you can imagine," he said.

Memphis' Campbell has accumulated more than a decade of experience in such matters, but said Simecka's perseverance stands out.

"I thought this would be a great opportunity, but I didn't think we'd really be able to pull it off," Campbell said. "It's only through her efforts that this has happened. Lots of people come to talk to us (about staging exhibits). Very few are able to do the job Betty has done to actually bring these to fruition. She's shown a lot of patience, a lot of stick-to-itiveness, whereas a lot of people fall out.

"We've worked on many exhibitions before (in Memphis), and this is going to be a terrific exhibit. I hate to use the word 'blockbuster,' but I'm sure it will be. The objects are extraordinary, and just working with the Kremlin Museums is a great opportunity for all of us."

For Eric and Susan Davis, who started as some of the most dedicated volunteers for the 1995 exhibit and in 1999 became Simecka's partners in Cultural Exhibitions and Events Inc., the exhibit has already meant 16-hour days --- and "the work that's ahead over the next 11 months is a little daunting," he says. But experiencing the contract signing at the Kremlin was worth it all.

"All of a sudden you realize we're putting our names on not only a lot of money, but on a lot of prestige," he said.

And, even if by accident, Simecka delivered them to within earshot of the Russian president.

ABOVE: After their contract signing, Betty Simecka, second from left, was toasted by Kremlin Museums director Madame Irina Alexandrovna Rodimtseva, right.

RIGHT: One of the artifacts to be on display in the new exhibition is a bejeweled pendant in the form of a two-headed eagle, symbol of Russia.

Armoury Museum curator Aleksey Levykin, right, and Memphis, Tenn., curator Steve Masler awaited the final agreement on the exhibition that will be going to Fort Collins, Colo., and Memphis.

Though more open than ever, the Kremlin is still a mighty fortress; yet for a week in late September, Topekan Betty Simecka was warmly greeted while finalizing contracts for a followup exhibition to the "Treasures of the Czars" exhibit that graced Topeka for the last five months of 1995.

Simecka's Kremlin access was on royal view during a rare private tour of the Grand Palace, residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Copyright 2000
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