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| MT building to house artwork, studios |
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Peter Larkins |
The Appalachian
The Mountain
Times office on Depot Street was sold to the Watauga County
Arts Council for an 8,500-square-foot art studio and gallery. |
by Anna Oakes
Staff
Writer
Downtown Boone may not have enough parking spaces or traffic lanes,
but it does have room for the arts.
The Watauga County Arts Council and others in the community are
busy planning and gathering funds for a new gallery and studios,
tentatively called “Artspace,” in downtown Boone. Artspace
will fill the 8,500-square-feet space on Depot Street recently vacated
by The Mountain Times.
“Real estate in Watauga County is drastically expensive, and
it’s very hard for artists to afford space to have a studio,
especially in a place that is as prominent as [the Artspace location]
is,” Arts Council Executive Director Cherry Johnson said.
Johnson said the Arts Council hopes to open the facility by summer
2004.
The Arts Council has organized five teams that are currently planning
for the new facility, Johnson said. They are the Workshops and Education
Team, the Retail and Consignments Team, the Studios and Gallery
Team, the Renovation and Property Management Team and the Fundraising
Team.
Renovations are expected to cost $125,000, Johnson said. Fundraising
goals include an additional $125,000 to keep the facility running
for two years, at which point it will be self-sufficient, she said.
Chris M. Curtin, an assistant professor of sculpture at Appalachian
State University, initiated the idea of having an Artspace in downtown
Boone.
“Many artists are isolated because there is no central space
[for the arts],” Curtin said. “Artspace allows people
that are interested to have a place to go to sample the arts and
see it in production.
“People can come together and create energy that doesn’t
happen when people are working alone,” he said.
In March, the Watauga County Commissioners unanimously voted in
support of a $50,000 challenge grant to help with renovation expenses,
Johnson said. The Town of Boone subsequently matched this with a
$25,000 grant toward renovation costs, she said.
The project has also received a resolution of support from the Downtown
Boone Development Association, and a similar resolution from the
Boone Area Chamber of Commerce is in the draft stage, Johnson said.
Johnson said the Arts Council is currently seeking additional corporate
support before it opens the fund drive to the general public.
Artspace will feature a 1,500-square-feet gallery and 3500 square
feet in studio space. Studio spaces will be offered for rental by
local artists. About a third to a fourth of that space will be leased
to Appalachian State, Johnson said.
Artspace will also offer workshops and classes to artists and the
general public, including instruction on “the business of
being an artist,” Johnson said.
The facility will be open certain days and times when the public
can come in and watch artists at work, she said.
“Watauga County is already known as an ‘arts Mecca,’”
Johnson said. Artists come to this area to be around other artists,
she said. Johnson said that the local business community is beginning
to recognize the economic benefits of the arts to this area, as
well.
“It was determined last year in a study that the arts contribute
about $26.5 million a year to the local economy,” Boone Area
Chamber of Commerce President Mike A. Wagoner said. “The arts
are really one of our leading industries.
“The arts are good for business, and the study shows that
arts are business,” he said.
Downtown Boone Development Association Director Randy Feimster said
his association is excited about the Artspace addition to downtown.
“[The arts] are just a big part of what we have to offer,”
Feimster said.
Johnson said that a major benefit of Artspace will be increasing
partnerships between the Arts Council and the university, local
schools, businesses and other galleries.
“The Arts Council has grown enormously, and that is largely
due to the partnerships that we’ve built with other groups
in our community,” she said.
Artspace will include small spaces that provide “previews”
of other galleries and arts groups, such as Horn in the West and
the Appalachian Cultural Museum, that hopefully will encourage visitors
to visit those places as well, Johnson said.
“Our mission is to promote and encourage the arts, and that
includes promoting and encouraging the groups that do the arts.”
“Please stress that this is an open discussion,” Johnson
said. “Anyone who is interested in being a part of the discussion,
a part of the planning team or seriously getting involved in the
project…can email me.”
To get involved in the planning for Artspace, email the Arts Council
at wcac@watauga-arts.org or wcac@goboone.net.
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