News » Articles
"Combined forces strengthen evolving arts, culture scene"
Thursday, October 19, 2006
New venues open, new alliances form as Springfield's arts groups grow.
Sony Hocklander, News-Leader
Five years ago, the Creamery Arts Center was only a proposal. A new Springfield Art Museum wing was still a dream. And the Gillioz Theatre renovation was far from its predicted completion date.
First Friday Art Walk was two months old. And downtown had yet to see Springfield Hot Glass Studio, Hawthorne and Park Central galleries, Good Girl Art, Skinny Improv Theatre and the Moxie Cinema.
Few would dispute that Springfield's performing and visual arts scene has evolved from wishful what-ifs to a thriving force. Performance organizations are selling out shows, expanding programs and launching educational outreach.
Public art is attracting new interest, as are local filmmaking efforts. Universities are bringing in national exhibits.
And numerous new galleries, art shops and performance venues have joined ranks with those who pioneered a downtown presence.
It can only improve as key construction and renovation projects become reality, many say. Looking ahead five years: The renovated Gillioz Theatre and accompanying art center will host regular events. The art museum will have its new wing. And the Creamery Arts Center, with new classrooms, library and studio space, will be a pivotal player for guided growth in education and collaboration among arts groups.
"Unlike a lot of communities our size, the arts and culture is very much alive in Springfield," said Jim Anderson, president of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.
"There are more venues, and more people enjoying those venues," he said. "How many communities our size have an art museum? And I can't imagine a market of our size with a more vibrant arts council."
All that helps attract new doctors, manufacturers, retirees and more to our community, said Anderson.
"People want to live in a quality community, and certainly a major component of quality is strong arts and culture."
So what's next?
"I think right now we're in the phase of 'Why don't we have more?'" said Kay Logsdon, executive director of the Springfield Regional Arts Council. "Five or 10 years from now, I'd like to think we'll be in the utilization and enjoyment phase, that arts will be an active part of Springfield's quality of life. ... The question of 'Do we have an arts center?' will be answered."
The Creamery
The Creamery Arts Center has become synonymous with its governing body -- the arts council. It's already become a catalyst for growth:
For arts organizations by providing a home. For educational outreach by piloting or supporting new programs. And for artists by partnering new endeavors.
One colorful example is Vincent Van Goat, the arts center's newest resident. The life-size sculpture houses an interactive computer arts program for kids and has already been scheduled for visits by 25 schools. The brainchild of Drury University's Tom Russo and created by many hands, its one example of creative partnership projects at the Creamery -- many funded through grants from Community Foundation of the Ozarks.
The arts council and Creamery also provide a protective umbrella for startups like the First Friday Art Walk group and Missouri Film Alliance of Springfield. It's become a clearinghouse for large and small ideas.
"They're just this really great kind of place to go and talk and bounce these ideas," said pottery artist Nathan Falter who with his wife, Jennifer, owns Springfield Pottery.
"The arts council becomes a hub for people who want to do things."
That includes the Falters, who proposed to launch a "claymobile" educational outreach program -- like a pottery studio on wheels -- under SRAC.
"Our target is different public schools and park board programs -- anybody that wants to learn about clay," said Falter.
Establishing the city-owned Creamery -- an increasingly prominent presence in Jordan Valley Park -- provides a home base for the arts, said Logsdon: "When a community arts program has a building, it has a focus."
Today it's home to several groups with perhaps more to come. The arts council moved there in 2002. Springfield Regional Opera followed in 2004, with Springfield Ballet -- and its studio classes -- in 2005. The symphony may join them if the space seems right, bringing together three entities already discussing collaborations.
The Creamery has only one interior classroom but two more could be completed by the end of next year.
They might be done sooner if the 4-year-old building plan didn't require an update.
"We want to make sure the success of the building doesn't get ahead of us," said Logsdon. "When we first discussed (the building), it was conjecture. We didn't know if the groups would come here. Now we have a more specific vision."
As spelled out in the Cultural Plan, a blueprint for arts growth, that vision includes an arts library, coordinated with the Springfield-Greene County Library District; art studios to provide space for a rotating artist in residence and space for the symphony (should it choose to move in).
New classrooms are necessary to expand on Art in the Park, a summer children's art program currently limited to kids who attend the Community Center. That way a similar program could be offered to the general public. A pilot program may be launched as early as this summer.
Arts education is vital for the future growth of the arts, Logsdon said: "So much of what the arts is about is education. To say it's important is really an understatement."
Gillioz
After more than a dozen years, renovation at the Gillioz is nearly complete, with the grand opening celebration slated for October. Inquiries for booking the theater are rolling in, said Nancy Brown Dornan, and tenants for the Jim D. Morris Arts Center are in the works.
In addition to business and private events, she expects the Gillioz will be the scene of numerous cultural events, said Dornan, president of the Springfield Landmark Preservation Trust.
Many are interested. Dan and Nicole Chilton, owners of the Moxie Cinema, may team up with the Gillioz to show high-interest movies in the larger space. It could also be a venue for film festivals.
Music groups are interested, too, including the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Symphony leaders would like to start daytime chamber concerts in the future, said Ron Spigelman, symphony music director.
"We're never going to leave Juanita K. (Hammons Hall). That's our home," he said. "But I would love to start a series downtown that gives us a presence there. The Gillioz is something that will be magnificent."
Dornan hopes the attached Jim D. Morris Art Center will be the scene of visual arts, too. One concept proposal: To establish third-floor studios so artists can create and sell their work. A retail shop that features fine Missouri crafts might find a home on the first floor.
"In this age of mass-produced things, art becomes more important," said Dornan. "Living in an area where art is produced, you know the local artist and can watch their work over a period of time."
Art museum
By late spring, the Springfield Art Museum should have an architect selected and break ground on its $2 million expansion, said director Jerry Berger. The project includes a larger art library, office space, a new entry and four new climate-controlled galleries (including a case gallery to hold 3-dimensional pieces).
The expansion, which also includes adding climate control to the existing large gallery, should raise the museum's profile and expand exhibit options.
New galleries will provide more space to display permanent collection pieces. They also will allow the museum to pursue currently out-of-reach large exhibits that require climate control, now only available in the Musgrave Wing.
"The bigger and better you become, the more desirable it is for artists to have their work displayed there," said Berger. "There should be more possibilities for private loans as well."
A larger museum also makes it more attractive to donors -- imperative for building the permanent collection.
"As the museum gains in stature, it becomes more important to donors and becomes more important for visitors from outside to come and see it," Berger said.
Collaboration
The addition of new and improved venues is only one key to growth. Partnership and collaboration is another. That's one reason why the symphony is considering a move to the Creamery, said Spigelman.
"One of the things we pledged is to collaborate more with arts groups. And what better way than being down the hall with them?" he said.
Symphony, ballet and opera collaborations make sense, he said. Already in the works: an evening of music with the opera. They've also talked about collaborating with the ballet on "The Nutcracker."
"It's the only way for us, and for all the arts groups," said Spigelman. "To work together."
And why limit collaboration to other art groups? Expanding the arts means working with all sorts of community groups, he said: "I would like to do something with the zoo and the Discovery Center. I don't want to leave any stone unturned."
Facilitating collaboration -- often with others' proposals -- has become a significant focus for SRAC at the Creamery. A few projects in the works:
Exploring an Artsfest move to Jordan Valley Park where there's more room to grow. They'll ask artists and patrons to fill out surveys at this year's Artsfest.
A new grant-funded film challenge event in April.
A Watercolor Festival to coordinate with Springfield Art Museum's Watercolor USA exhibit this summer.
Incorporating more public art in new construction and renovation projects downtown -- a cooperative effort with Urban Districts Alliance.
"All of this is very exciting," said Spigelman, "And people are getting a sense that something is really happening here. And that is a phenomenal thing."
"Five or 10 years from now, I'd like to think we'll be in the utilization and enjoyment phase, that arts will be an active part of Springfield's quality of life."
-- Kay Logsdon, executive director of the Springfield Regional Arts Council
