Cultural center committee looking for space
01/01/10 04:44PM
By Ben Gellman
WCHL Reporter
John Delconte, chair of the Cultural Center Committee, says the several performing arts groups that make up the committee don’t have adequate spaces to showcase their work.
The consortium is seeking a building in northern Orange County, preferably Hillsborough. One idea floated was the Whitted Building, which until recently helped house the Orange County Public Library. However, Delconte says the Whitted Building could only be a temporary home as currently structured.
The demands of theater and arts groups can often require a specialized style of architecture and design. Delconte says the incentives to create such a space aren’t just aesthetic.
For more information on the Cultural Center Committee, you can visit their blog called “Cultural Center Comments.” Click here to hear excerpts from the interview.
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Cultural committee searches for center
By Josh Kastrinsky
Whitted Building among locations that could host temporary performance site .
John Delconte thinks the Whitted Building, recently vacated by the public library, would be perfect for a temporary performing arts space. But he has his sights set on a larger goal for an arts center in northern Orange County.
Delconte is part of a multi-agency task force, the Cultural Center Committee, which has brought together members of Hillsborough’s performing arts and events-hosting bodies in a shared vision of a centralized center for local artists.
That vision became a mission in late 2007, after artist groups held an unofficial “arts summit” for the public to discuss where they felt a site was needed for artists and art consumers in northern Orange County.
There have been multiple incarnations of a cultural center committee since the fall of 2005. Various groups with an interest in a performance space, including the Hillsborough Arts Council, the Burwell School and the Orange County Historical Museum, are at the heart of the most recent effort to find a multi-use space for the town’s performing and visual artists.
The space would optimally include an auditorium for performances that would sit about 300 people, Delconte said.
Many of the county’s 1,400 or so writers, artists and performers — a number committee members cite from arts commission records — have been supportive of the project from the beginning.
“There’s a potential for people writing plays here,” he said. “There could be productions in town, with the wealth of literary talent we have in town.”
The perfect location wouldn’t just be a performance space, Delconte said — the cultural center would include educational and gallery space as well.
“We want to be interactive with the public as opposed to just being a stage,” he said.
In addition to historical interests, non-profits like the Hillsborough-based Music Maker Relief Foundation would have space for their performers, he said. Similar to The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough, Delconte said the cultural committee would combine the interests of seven or eight non-profits and at-large representatives.
“We’re not proposing this as a Hillsborough attraction, but as a county attraction, because we know this area is underserved,” he said.
The committee has asked local governments to support its search for a 35,000-square-foot facility, and the group recently inquired about the Whitted Building on West Tryon Street, about 13,000 square feet of which are being vacated as the main branch of the Orange County Public Library moves to West Margaret Lane. The former high school auditorium that housed the library’s main room would serve well as a performance space, but Delconte said it lacks all of the space they would want in a cultural center.
“[We] asked for the highest and best use of the property given its historic significance,” he said of their appeals to the county. “It could be better used than as sheer office space.”
Still, the Whitted Building has other suitors. A letter from County Manager Frank Clifton in November said the Orange County Schools system also requested use of the building once it was vacated. Any use other than by government bodies has not formally been discussed, Clifton said.
“Even though the County has built several new facilities and is in the process of relocating several County functions, a large percentage of the Whitted Building remains committed to some county governmental function,” he wrote.
The cultural center committee also has explicit support from the town government.
Margo Pinkerton, a member of the committee, told town board members this month government support would greatly help them achieve their goals.
“There are lots of arts centers, but none of them serve the whole of Orange County,” she said.
Town board members said they support the committee’s initiative, a sentiment they plan to make official with a resolution next month.
Despite the Whitted Building’s limitations, it would be a good place to start, Declonte said. It’s useful in the short term, especially with another option — a brand new facility sketched out for the Collins property, near where a train station is being envisioned — opening in the coming years.
“If it was cheap, easy and available, why not use [the space]?” he said.
A train station can provide regional access to an arts center, he said.
“A hospital, Durham Tech and arts center as economic engines makes sense compared to other counties,” he said. “I’m amazed at poorer counties with an arts center. For a county that’s third wealthiest in the state, there seems to be a gap in the recognition of the value of an arts center.”
Another potential space was West Hillsborough’s Bellevue Mill, which has 100,000 square feet but is being used as a condo project.
Funding a study next goal in the process
The committee has not figured out its funding stream yet, and Delconte said he is not sure of what start-up costs will be. Committee members envision a completed center would have an operating budget of about $500,000, but getting started likely involves a series of grants.
Their plan is to fund a feasibility study, which would cost the committee about $10,000, through grants and then pursue additional funding once they know what they need.
“If something like Whitted is available, and it’s a couple of thousand dollars, maybe,” he said of the short-term prospect of the property. “It would be well within the non-profits’ budget to pull together and get shows going.”
Having some operating space would give the cultural committee project visibility, he said, and likely gather more support.
“There’s a strong need for arts education opportunities for both adults and children, and the Carrboro Arts Center is too far for some people,” he said. “We’re a smaller population, but northern Orange County is not taken care of for those [needs].
“You could make the argument this county is the cultural capital of the state.”
Training artists in creativity as a discipline is important to creating careers, he said.
“It’s not just having fun and entertainment,” he said. “It’s looking forward to how you’re going to align yourself with the economy.”
Committee member Tinka Jordy, in a statement to county commissioners requesting support in October, said visitor spending in Orange County in 2007 was almost $130 million, an increasing number that could be helped by the presence of a centralized arts center.
“Arts and historical attractions bring these visitors and help to express what is different about our area,” the statement said. “Visitors come to Orange County looking for authenticity, for the character of a place, for unique attractions. Our county is a blossoming cultural destination for those from near and far. A vibrant cultural center would serve as yet another magnet for visitors.”
Two years after the “arts summit,” Delconte said he feels there has been progress.
“I think we’re progressing as we need to,” he said. “Two years ago, we had no idea about a train station. Sometimes you have to let the tumblers fall into place with us.”
Reprinted from ACONews.com.
