W-B nonprofit arts center encouraged
4/28/2005
From the Times-Leader
Official with firm in charge of creating similar facilities gives advice at forums held at Wilkes.
JERRY LYNOTT jlynott@leader.net
"I think there are a number of assets and a number of challenges that you have going for you." Chris Velasco Vice president, Artspace Projects, Inc.
WILKES-BARRE – Duluth did over a high school. Reno renovated a casino. And St. Paul polished up abandoned buildings to make room for artists in the community, said a vice president with the organization responsible for those makeovers.
Chris Velasco of the Minneapolis-based Artspace Projects, Inc. liked what he heard and saw about the interest in creating a nonprofit arts center in the downtown.
"I think there are a number of assets and a number of challenges that you have going for you," Velasco said at one of the forums on the project held Wednesday at Wilkes University.
The willingness of a variety of people and groups to roll up their sleeves to work toward a common goal impressed the outsider brought in to conduct a feasibility study.
"That gets rid of one obstacle which is often an inferiority complex" that such projects can only be done in big cities, said Velasco.
The Cultural Council of Luzerne County, which brought in Artspace, has advocated the creation of a center with space for performances, galleries and education. Four possible locations include the Sterling Hotel Annex, the Wachovia building on West Market Street, the Irem Temple building and the Studio Café on Public Square. Velasco advised the crowd of approximately 50 people at the forum not to get hung up on a particular spot.
"Don’t ever let the building drive your project. Always let the vision drive" it, he said.
In the 25 years Artspace has been doing such projects, they’ve paid off by not only creating space for artists to live and work, but also by bringing dollars into the communities. A 2001 study showed nonprofit arts have a $134 billion economic impact in the United States, said Velasco.
As for challenges the project faces, the most evident is the rivalry with Scranton, which also asked Artspace to look into creating a community for artists to live and work. The two projects are not competing with one another, he said.
"Forget it. It’s gone," Velasco said of the perceived rivalry. Instead, he said, the two communities should talk about cooperating to make the region a mecca for artists rather than fighting over the scarce resources available for the projects.
