Rose Safran: About The Arts
A new Arts Center proposal...
The bond proposal for a new high school arts wing, widely promoted as an arts center for York, was voted down. But there are other ways to fund an arts center "for all." A few thoughts...There are various kinds of arts centers. People who live in a metropolis; i.e., a major American city, don't need an arts center; the city is, by itself, one great cultural center with innumerable options to see, learn, experience, appreciate, participate in a daily arts adventure. However, those who reside in "outer" suburbia or in outlying communities in transition from small town to ersatz suburb (a growing pains process to which York is currently subject) do not have the cultural advantages available to those living in or relatively near to urban centers. Such places benefit from their own arts centers. Increasingly, they are building them.
With modern technology; i.e., VCRs, DVDs, the Internet, etc., it is true that residents of such non-urban areas can and do select programs suitable to their particular arts palette from an array of offerings. But in so doing, they and their children are generally relatively unguided, frequently using a helter-skelter process of selecting from "canned" works. Also, nothing replaces the live performance, or involvement with it. So lacking arts centers, these residents tend to build their little creative corners - a piece here and one there - such as The Players' Ring or Pontine Movement Theater in Portsmouth, N.H. - some successful, but most fragile, teeter-tottering, dependent upon private funding from local businesses, benevolent deep-pocketed arts buffs, and the occasional prize or grant money offered with specific stipulations. Talent (not to be confused with self-propelling genius) tends to struggle to emerge from this system.
To appreciate and nurture talent, what do we have? What do we need? Yes, we do need adequate creative space in which to direct students to something beyond the drab and all-too-violent offerings of the commercial world. Yes, it's advisable for young learners to benefit from the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher in developing "arts know-how" - be it as spectator or participant in drama, dance, music, literature, art, and this includes the application of multi-media (with all its high-tech frou-frou) to the traditional art forms. Yes, guided student theater production is a good idea. Yes, the entire community will benefit from programs held in a major arts facility. No, the entire assembly of 700 or 800 high school students doesn't have to be gathered together in one place, even on occasion - although it would be nice. York voters just said "no" to "nice."
What do we have? One big versatile facility? No, not a proper public space. St. Christopher's Church on Route 1A accommodates large attendance local productions. But, it's private and its parking lot is inadequate for the numbers attending recent events held there - attendance reaching "standing room only" proportions. On Route 1, the Ogunquit Playhouse, where parking seems plentiful, is a large capacity auditorium which functions during the season, but has never been winterized - probably for economic reasons. Along with other problems, it is a specialized facility, not a true arts center containing spaces for diverse creative purposes.
Fact: Arts centers are built to service the community; without funding, they generally can't operate. They rarely turn a profit. Commercially, they are difficult, in fact, impossible to justify. Can York afford one? Probably not. Does use justify cost? Hard to say.
Fact: Three growing communities connect along the southern Maine coast: York,
Kittery and Ogunquit. Not one has an arts center. Nor, without a generous granddaddy (or two) can any one of these communities support an arts center.
But suppose they combined resources?
Let's start with York. The area is arts-minded with successful cultural programs at the York Public Library, at the York Art Association and in our schools. Our immediate neighborhoods where homeowners, including newcomers, expand properties, often adding estate-style elements to older houses in some of the most unpretentious village streets reflect community cash infusion and outlay.
Now, let's look a short few miles northerly to Ogunquit; its established "art-conscious" nature is now over a century old, well-supported by residents, many of them snowbirds or with other homes in urban areas. Ogunquit uses its little Dunaway Center for serious musical performances. There's even a grand piano there. The Barn Gallery uses its generous space for arts movies and a variety of programs. Membership in the Ogunquit Museum of American Art expands each year and an active group of docents helps run the popular museum in the season. There are arts-oriented people; there is money; and above all, there is a generous spirit.
Glancing even closer, in a southerly direction, is Kittery. Yes, we've heard it: "York's affluent. Kittery isn't." Each town has its own unique characteristics. Just as there's change in York, so there's change in Kittery. Drive to beautiful Seapoint Beach. See the new architecture there. Or on Gerrish Island. Kittery Point seems to be moving more and more from summer colony to a year-round neighborhood of fairly affluent residents. Anyone attending the excellent musicals at the Kittery Art Association has met these informed culture-hungry residents.
Here's the "What might be..." Suppose, just suppose, a few private citizen-residents of the three towns - York, Ogunquit, Kittery - believed that a Southern Maine Arts Center might serve all three communities, enrich this coastal area through a mix of locally created events and imported programming. Suppose these citizens decided to raise private funds (let's avoid those tasteless terms "appropriation" and "expenditure" for the present!) to help support this relatively broad concept. Suppose that among these forward-thinking, community-minded citizens, there was a leader (a potent personality who makes things happen!) whose "Avery Fisher" signature might live on the Southern Maine Arts Center's interior chambers - or maybe on the Arts Center itself. Suppose, too, this leader had contacts and cash, as well as a strong business and visionary sense and presented a superb plan that voters in all three towns couldn't refuse.
Is there anyone out there listening?
