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Participants: Jennifer Johnston, Paul Lundquist, Deborra Zukowski
Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010
Discussion Topic: Understanding potential uses for the Arts
History
- Jennifer Johnston participated with the charettes and all meetings, along with other representatives of the cultural arts.
Understood that Plymouth was designated as a performing arts center.
- Focus was on performing arts center (year round). Much less so on outside venue. She is unaware of how the focus on an arts center has morphed into what appears to be only an outdoor bandstand.
Status Quo
- Mission: Support the arts in Newtown, includes helping local non-profits. Manage an arts calendar – with budget of $2000 per year.
- Cultural Arts Commission arose as a “byproduct” of the involvement with FFH. At the time, other area towns were studied, re: organizations to support the arts.
- Current costs prohibitive, in part due to conflicts with movies. It costs $3200 per day on weekends and $2500 per evening on weekday evenings.
- Size is inadequate, both stage and seating
- Infrastructure (electrical, lighting) insufficient
- Timing difficult, given Edmond is highly utilized
- Third year of existence for the Cultural Arts Commission
Discussion
Two potential scenarios for the arts at FFH were discussed:
- An Arts Campus that would include Plymouth (or a replacement building), Stratford, the duplexes for “artists in residence” and an outdoor area extending into West Meadow.
- A Performance Arts Center that would include Plymouth (or a replacement building). An adjacent town green (where Shelton currently sits), could include a place for outdoor performances.
The rest of this discussion is based on option 2.
The model envisioned for the Performance Arts Center is based on the Ridgefield Playhouse, both in terms of audience (regional) and economics (ticket sales). Jennifer will gather more information on the current revenue model and amount that the Ridgefield Playhouse garners. This revenue is expected to offset costs in a very short time period (5 years), though we need confirmation of this – see next steps.
Current arts groups that would likely be interested in participating include:
- Friends of Music
- Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN)
- Flagpole Photographers
- Perhaps, Town Players (already have venue, though)
From an Arts perspective, the money identified for the bandstand in the FHA CIP request is better used for the Performing Arts Center, because of both its ability to operate year round and its support of a wider array of arts, including performance, classes, galleries, etc. Other funding sources would include state/federal grants, and local fundraising – though the cost of local venues typically takes a big bite out of fundraising profits.
Needs
- 800-1000 seats
- Large stage
- Theater as opposed to an “auditorium.” I.e., architecture, esthetics, infrastructure
- Access to highway, given regional focus
- Parking
- Quiet location (away from Wasserman), for both the Arts Center and the outdoor venue
- Full time person to manage scheduling
Pros
- Potentially long-term revenue generation
Improves access of community to wide assortment of arts
- Local artists
- Music
- Dance
- Organic Farmers
- Recycled arts contest
- Fireworks
- Synergistic with other uses, re: space, schedules, etc.
Cons
- Needs a full-time person to manage scheduling (potentially new function of Parks and Recreation?)
- Need to work out the numbers, re: costs and expected income
Next Steps
- Paul to meet with FHA to understand what happened re: Performance Arts Center at Plymouth
- Jennifer to confer with Ridgefield Playhouse to better understand economics
- Jennifer to work with regional arts organizations to understand and document arts needs, given existing venues, for the region as a whole.
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