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Jim Zarnowiecki, vice president of the board of the Kennedy Heights Arts Center, says art is “the engine that pulls the community together.” And local trends show he’s right on track.
Many arts centers have found a niche in the neighborhoods outside of downtown hot spots in Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky. Take, for example, the Carnegie Visual + Performing Arts Center in Covington, the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton or the Fairfield Community Arts Center. All strive to create or show off public art to the community.
“It makes sense, as the population disperses over a wider geographical area, for the arts to do that as well,” says Nancy Henry Chadwick, executive director of the Carnegie. “You have to be where the people are.”
The mission of most community centers is not to compete with the big dogs such as the Aronoff Center, the Contemporary Arts Center or Playhouse in the Park. They’re filling in the gaps those major organizations might miss. Community centers are built with community support — either with their hands, their time or their checkbooks. They brighten up an area and hope to catch the eye of their neighbors.
Take Zarnowiecki. This 30-year Kennedy Heights resident was part of an initial grassroots organization that came together to save a 129-year-old mansion from being demolished.
“We’re unique because the center was purchased with community money,” he says. “(Cincinnati City Council member) Jim Tarbell said, ‘We’ll help you. Let’s see what type of community support you can get.’ And people came out of the woodwork to put themselves on the line for this place.”
Residents from Kennedy Heights, Amberley, Pleasant Ridge, Silverton, Ridgewood and other surrounding neighborhoods formed a nonprofit corporation to generate support. The city of Cincinnati contributed $50,000, and 40 local residents put up personal collateral to purchase the land. In 2003, the corporation bought the 21-room mansion with 2.2 acres of land.
The center opened June 19, 2004. Now it’s home to three classrooms, three artist studios, a guild shop, an outdoor performance area and six gallery rooms for local art work.
“It’s as if someone built a soccer field and people naturally came to play soccer,” Zarnowiecki says. “Well, we built an art field. People in the neighborhood know, if they want to see art, they can walk to our building on a Saturday afternoon. Kids come here on their skateboards and bikes. Moms come to drop off their kids after school and head upstairs to take a knitting class. It’s the local people saying, ‘I want art.’ ”
The center hosts five to six shows per year as well as many art education programs. There’s no official staff; volunteers help with administrative duties, exhibitions and events. A local scout troop built the outdoor amphitheatre performance area.
Farther north, the Fitton Center serves residents of Hamilton. A 1990 city cultural plan showed the need for an arts center, and the community confirmed its interest and support. The center opened in January 1993 to showcase exhibitions, education and entertainment.
In Covington, the Carnegie (once a public library) now reaches out to local residents with arts, classes and performances.
“Our location is really who we are,” Chadwick says. “We see ourselves as the anchor of a struggling neighborhood.”
The center is home to the Eva G. Farris Education Center, a theater and five galleries totaling 6,000 square feet of exhibition space. More than 28,000 visitors push through the center’s doors annually; some come for the art, some for multimedia presentations in the theater and some head to school.
A popular attraction at the center is ArtStop, an after-school art program that immerses kids in art, 3-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
“I think the gap that needs to be filled is for the children in the schools,” Chadwick says. “That’s the outreach we’re concerned about. If you don’t have arts in schools, you’re at a disadvantage no matter how wealthy you are.”
The newest arts center in the region is the Fairfield Community Arts Center. On May 7, the 40,000-square-foot space opened its doors to citizens who visited the arts and crafts studio, dance and fitness studio, children’s room, senior lounge, classroom, community/banquet room, art gallery and theater.
The center hosts music and art performances, arts programs for all age groups, community theater, movies and other events. Since it was planned and built by the city of Fairfield, the center also holds the city parks department’s health and fitness classes for children.
There are more arts centers on the horizon. Three local performers — Ed Cohen, Dee Ann Bryll and Dan Dermody — are working to create an affordable neighborhood arts center in Madisonville. They have $139,000 in hand so far, with $75,000 from a grant from Tarbell’s Cincinnati Arts and Culture Committee. The rest is local grant money and individual donations.
Equally important, they have the space. The former Madisonville Senior Center has been leased to the group for $1 per year for the next 50 years.
“We envision the place as a year-round venue for art and music,” Cohen says. “We have a good partnership with the city of Madisonville; this will help revitalize the neighborhood. This space offers easy accessibility and an opportunity for smaller or specialty acts to perform in an inexpensive place.”
Cohen expects the center to open in January 2006. It will include a first-floor art gallery managed by Litsa Spanos. The theater is planned for the second floor, and the third floor is envisioned for classrooms as well as dance and rehearsal space. CCM’s preparatory department plans to offer classes on voice, acting, dancing and music in the rooms.
“We’re not competing with other venues like Playhouse in the Park,” Cohen says. “We’re more of a complementary venue. We’re able to take more chances and fill some of the gaps the Playhouse isn’t able to cover.”
Cohen says it’s obvious that there’s a need for more arts in the suburbs, citing the new center in Fairfield and one proposed for Blue Ash as two examples.
Marvin Thompson, city manager in Blue Ash, agrees. He’s studying the feasibility of building a center there to fill even more gaps.
“We started looking at a professional arts center to have year-round music and arts venues, but we didn’t want to compete with the Aronoff,” Thompson says. “So we started asking people in the arts community what was needed. Outside of educational venues, we learned that Cincinnati doesn’t have a professional arts venue between the 1,000- and 1,300-seat capacity.”
Thompson says Blue Ash was encouraged to pursue this size of venue, so they started researching other such centers in the Midwest. Hunter Interests Inc. in Annapolis, Md., is currently doing a cost-benefit analysis of building such a structure. More details will be known in September, but for now plans call for a 1,300-seat theater and attached conference center and offices.
“There’s a lot of interest expressed in this type of venue,” Thompson says. “Cincinnati Ballet and Cincinnati Opera have interest in using it as a second home. We’re finding it’s pretty common, maybe not in southwest Ohio, but we’ve seen similar centers in Detroit suburbs.”
If built, the center would operate as a break-even venture. Some sites being looked at are on Cooper Road or in the central Blue Ash area adjacent to the Towne Square complex.
The idea of neighborhood arts centers is catching on in the Cincinnati area. If this trend continues, a new one could soon be opening near you. ©
This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 6, 2005.
