The Center for the Arts Steering Committee and its subcommittees represent a lot of people who have been working very hard for a long time. To some it may seem like they are spinning their wheels. To others it may seem like they are making progress, but at a snail's pace. To their credit, they have been very deliberate and careful in their efforts in the face of major setbacks, such as the closing of Antioch College and the downturn in the economy.
As they face the prospect of raising funds, they must realize that they are competing with other major fund raising efforts in the village such as the the revival of Antioch College, the Friends Care senior apartment project, building a new facility for the Wright State Physicians, and a senior citizens facility, - just to mention a few. At the same time, businesses are leaving town and large facilities lay vacant. Unfortunately, these facilities apparently are not what the committee is looking for. The Vernay building has been razed, and Wright State plans to demolish its building. The Antioch Company building is up for lease.
Last night, as the Arts Center meeting was about to break out into groups, Christine Roberts asked to speak. She told the gathering that its only goal for the present should be the recruitment of students for Antioch College. The statement seemed inappropriate and a bit bizarre, given the purpose of the meeting. But, as I listened to the brainstorming that was going on in my group (the others) and heard the results of the other sessions, I began to get Roberts' point.
Yellow Springs is what it is because of Antioch College. If there had never been an Antioch, Yellow Springs would be just like any other small Ohio town. Without a revived college, we will inevitably drift in that direction. The village's entire focus needs to be on bringing about the successful revival of the college. The Steering Committee's role in this should be an outright collaboration with the new college as it begins to open buildings and assess its situation. As renovations are being made, they need to be done with an eye toward how both the student body and the village's arts community will benefit from them. This can be accomplished over the next two years that AC3 has set as its goal for opening with its first class.
A college that is also a center for the arts would be a great selling point for potential students. A new Antioch College that has first class performance spaces and galleries would, in turn, be a great attraction for those who would like to take a day trip or go somewhere for the weekend.
All talk of any kind of a standalone center for the arts should be tabled for now and the Steering Committee should ask AC3, "What can we do to help?" Unless I misunderstand what I have been hearing from AC3, the offer will be gladly accepted.
I am not alone in this opinion. There are two letters in the YS News today, that express similar opinions, one from Billie Eastman and a joint letter from Barrie Dallas Grenell, Jessica Langton Andrews and Paula A. Treichler. The latter was read at the close of last night's meeting by Louise Smith. Unfortunately, that happened at a point where there was little time left for discussion.
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5 comments:
My feeling is that it would be prudent to relocate the current ac office/gallery into a more prominent location on ground floor downtown. It could serve as a conduit (providing brochures, artists business cards, art maps, workshops, resources etc) to direct downtown visitors to arts events, as well as venues at Antioch that are part of the Arts Council collaboration with Antioch.
We just don't have the tax base, population base, donation base, business base to build an art center.
And like so many have pointed out, we already have buildings that could serve the needs for an art center.
Just my humble opinion.
Who can say the new College will have a dance, art or theatre department? With an asset like Glen Helen, it makes more sense for the new college to take a science or enviromental approach. That's unique. Art, dance and theatre, sorry to say, isn't. Xenia has a theatre. It started in the corner of a thrift store. Smile if you want, but it's getting a lot of grants and really looks nice now.
well sometimes Kay keeping it humble is the best approach :)
I don't have much of an opinion on what Antioch should or shouldn't do, or what is best. I don't have the means to judge that. I do however feel that the arts council could work with them (no matter what academic path they choose) in utilizing some of the buildings for an art center. Is that not a possibility?
I don't accept the premise that putting all our eggs into the saving Antioch basket is the best strategy for helping Yellow Springs prosper.
By the time the vision described became visible to the outside world, village residents' taxes and living costs will (have to) be much higher than they are today. Because without more Village income, cuts in funding for the discretionary services or infrastructure or higher property taxes or both, are inevitable.
Our town is already less attractive to businesses and residents because of the cost of living. Adding new costs associated with creating and sustaining an arts center will only speed of our decline by taking money away from other projects other people care about.
I don't believe Yellow Springs has the tax base, population base, or the attention span to preserve or sustain the village we have right now. Take an open-minded look at municipal financial projections on both the local and regional level and you'll see why I believe that. Do you see money for new, expensive, discretionary spending in those economic projections?
I don't think this small village can afford to support the kind of art center talked about at that meeting on Wednesday. Let's not fool ourselves into supposing we can.
I especially like Sue's observation about our "attention span."
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