Sunday, January 15, 2012

Arts Coucil petitioning village for office space

[updated]

YSAC moving out of Oten Gallery,
looking for downtown gallery space


The Yellow Springs Arts Council has asked the village for permission to use the Arts Room at the Bryan Center 9-5, Mon. - Fri. for office space on a permanent basis. In exchange for getting the space for no rental fee, YSAC proposes to manage the gallery space on the second floor. According to YSAC Arts and Cultural Manager Joanne Caputo in her response to written questions from Council Member Karen Wintrow, "This is a request for In-Kind Support from our local government, due to the village-wide effort we're making (now in its fifth year) to promote YS as a culturally rich community of choice, and strengthen Village economic vitality through the arts."

The request will come up at the Village Council meeting this Tuesday. All the relevant documents can be found in the packet of materials Council has posted on its website for the meeting. Included in the packet are the request from YSAC with supporting materials and opinions from the Village Manager and Village Attorney. Click here to view a PDF of the packet.

According to Caputo in an email to the Blog, YSAC is looking at several downtown locations for potential gallery space. We previously reported that they had a gallery in Dolbeer's, but Caputo points out that they do not have a lease agreement for that space.

2 comments:

Jean Payne said...

The Art Council has been great in bring public art to town and I know they would like to have permanent office and gallery space as well as they should. We pride ourselves as an art community with fine arts, theater, music, murals, etc. However space at the Bryan Center is already limited for government record storage and some nights have every room occupied by community activities and village committees.
The Yellow Springs Center for the Arts was formed in 2007 to research the possibility of a theater at the request of Lee Morgan. After a survey they concluded that an art center was unneeded (http://www.yscenterforthearts.org/). But today there is a increasing need by the YS Historical Society, Channel 5, and assorted community theaters and music groups, for permanent offices and public areas.
Can we as a community focus together and create a place that will identify those things that the whole town values and can participant in? A museum, a stage, a gallery, that will draw in visitors, students, and villagers alike? The small town of Cedarville has their own Opera House (http://www.cedarvilleoperahouse.com/) and even the neighborhood of St. Anne's Hill has parks and tours. Perhaps we (or those who support those values) should revisit the goals of the defunct YS Center for the Arts and take a fresher look.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that no one is willing to share....