Springfield Regional Arts Council

Creamery events nurture artists of the future

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Creamery events nurture artists of the future

Sony Hocklander
News-Leader
Published October 29, 2006

As an intern for Springfield Regional Arts Council in 2002, Addy McCord had no idea she would become part of something so big.
Today, the Creamery Arts Center is a bustling hub for arts activity thanks in part to McCord. At 28, she is the educational director and interim co-executive director for SRAC.

In early 2002, the arts council was still located in a small office space on McDaniel Street. McCord, studying art history at Drury University, was interested in learning more about the business of art. She learned that and so much more.

It wasn't long before McCord was sweeping floors and moving furniture with executive director Kay Logsdon into the dusty old Creamery building in Jordan Valley Park.

Back then, she recalls, "no one bought into the idea of the Creamery. We had to sell it."

And they had to sell the arts council as a program to help grow and support the arts community.

"Now we're busting at the seams," McCord says.

McCord has changed, too. Coming from a family of teachers, it's not surprising perhaps that she discovered a passion for working with children. She became a certified art teacher and is working on her master's degree.

It was McCord who developed the curriculum for a summer-long arts program for Community Center children that's improved with each year. The program features numerous arts organizations that come in to work with the children.

"I think that's the most important thing about the Creamery," says Ron Spigelman, music director for the Springfield Symphony, which has participated in the program. "You walk in there, and the place is exploding with energy."

For the ballet, the summer program has been a springboard for introducing new children to dance, says artistic director Marsha Warnke.

Several students continue into the school year through a grant-funded, once-a-week program.

Warnke says she would like to develop a scholarship that allows talented, interested children to study more intensively.

McCord also coordinates the arts council's enrichment partnership with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board to bring art to children in after-school programs.

Often she leads the activity herself. She also hires arts groups, including Springfield Little Theatre and the ballet, to work with children.

Pottery artists Nathan and Jennifer Falter are among visual artists who foster the arts among children. They recently launched the grant-funded Claymobile, now a program of SRAC that participates in the enrichment program.

"Through a lot of the work that Addy is doing, instead of kids being passive observers, they are becoming participants," says Nathan Falter. "And through participating, they become invested in something."

McCord says they are growing the audiences and artists of the future.

Arts enhance the quality of life in Springfield, she says, particularly for children.

"A lot of them," she says, "do find their voice in the arts."