Monday, December 10, 2007

Artistic Development

New look at downtown arts
Link (JG)

"As Harrison Square rises with promise of rejuvenating the southwest side of downtown, city arts and cultural advocates are planting seeds that could lead to improvements on the east side.

Arts United is in the preliminary stages of weighing the building needs of the organization and its members. It’s a process that could range from improving some buildings to reviving a plan nearly five decades old for an arts campus. Any improvement plan would be designed to fit in with the Downtown Blueprint plans that emphasize the arts and cultural district on the east side."
[...]
"While an arts campus may or may not be on the horizon, “We started the preliminary design of what would an arts campus look like now, and is it feasible,” said Jim Sparrow, Arts United’s executive director. “It may be a building, or a series of buildings.”

The Hall Community Center, home to Cinema Center and other organizations, has room for expansion. Some arts community leaders would like to see the Fort Wayne Ballet part of the downtown arts scene. The nearby History Center will, at some point, be due for a renovation.

The study will most likely not begin in earnest until fundraising for an expansion of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art reaches its goal sometime next year.

At the very least, the Arts United effort will coordinate the various building needs of its member organizations.

At best, the organization’s plans could lead to a wider scale infusion of construction and excitement on the “other” side of downtown. "

1 comments:

Scott Bryson said...

It would be great to have an arts community downtown. I hope they continue to think about doing this. Maybe a campus that included a space for an opera and an expanded History Center. It should also include space to increase the size of the African-American History Museum and the Cathedral Museum; two gems in town that have almost no space.