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Performing Arts Center?

Our Larry Childrey
Supports Building An Opera House/Performing Arts Center
in Downtown Lancaster.

Posted by: Crabby in Lancaster Issues

Source of Article: (Here)


Winter in Lancaster, 2007

Here is the body of a brochure that is circulating in Lancaster:

"The 'Palace', 'Broad', 'Liberty' or 'Lyric' Center for Performing Arts and Entertainment. How does that sound to you? I think this is just what our city needs for the revitalization of downtown Lancaster.

With a new parking garage planned for the downtown area and a possible plan for charter bus parking should make this exciting idea both feasible and a fantastic success. The site at West Main Street and South Columbus Street is now up for sale and would make a great location for this project.

The two opposite corners where Mannequin’s and the Antique Emporium used to be would be great areas for first-class restaurants. I don’t think there would be any problem filling current downtown rental/lease properties. The old Fairfield County Recycling Center on West Mulberry Street could be redesigned to accommodate charter bus parking for the entire downtown area.

Newark has the very successful Midland Theater, and draws “top notch” entertainment and other variety shows all year long. The building with three stores for sale on West Main Street would need to be totally renovated inside and out, but I believe that the future of our downtown would “explode” with possibilities. The downtown area would become a magnet for new businesses, rehab building projects and attract visitors for all over the central and southern Ohio area.

It would take money, but I believe there would be enough support from community businesses, financial organizations and local individuals to “pull this off”. There could be federal, state and other local funds available to defray the costs of establishing a Performing Arts project. New jobs created would be an added benefit. The time and money invested now would be looked at in the future as one of the best investments the city has ever made. What do you think? Your comments of support can get the ball rolling sooner than later."

Larry Childrey
Lancaster, Ohio
Phone 654-0243
Fax 654-7055

Lancaster Eagle-Gazette Article, September, 2007: (Here)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Lancaster Issues.

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31 Responses to “Performing Arts Center?”

  1. whatsforlunch says:
    August 7th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

  1. You know, this isn’t really that much of a stretch, who would have predicted that the Festival would be around this long, or that Charlie Horse could attract big names like they did? I wonder if there is funding available for this sort of thing, maybe if classes or something were offered? I personally would like to see it have some activities for the tween and teen members of the community, there is nothing else for them right now and the children’s museum is for 7 and under.

  2. There are grants out there. Re.: Ohio Arts Council.

    Competition is fierce, but they often do not go to those who are the most organized, but those who are deemed to have had the roughest time of it….

    Midland is a wonderful theatre, but they had a lot of private and corporate backing, and the Newark Downtown is not a good comparison.

    Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville would be a better example. Unfortunately the Lancaster Downtown has more in common with that of Nelsonville than Newark. Newark has always had a fairly vital downtown, covering a much larger area than Lancaster’s.

    You’d be surprised at the number of local groups of donors available outside of the normal government grants, but to make a downtown revitalization project work, all of these local organizations have to be on the same page.

    Tim Peacock, manager of Stuart’s is an expert at coordinating different kinds of grand recipients and has had a major role in the successful comeback of a dead Downtown.

  3. Tsu Do Nimh says:
    August 7th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

    I’d be more than glad to serve on a committee that would start looking into an opera house.

  4. Ask yourself the following: would you, and people from your street, go to any more cultural events than there already are? On weekends when there’s OSU football?

    The Lancaster Festival involved very little initial capital investment: there wasn’t even an orchestra for the first few years, and all the space and performances were essentially donated. But renovated theater space is notoriously expensive, and without a wealthy base of support (Nelsonville is supported by the Ohio University arts community from Athens, Newark by a lot of old money from families like Lancaster doesn’t have) there’s no way to support the damn things. You can get grant money to do the restoration work, but you cannot get grant money for maintenance and program development. What you wind up with is a lot of half-finished projects and far too many arts administrators for any small city to handle.

    What you’ve got here is a lot of buildings that you want tenants for. But the cultural atmosphere of this city is unlikely to change, and there aren’t a lot of performers desperate for space hereabouts. You’d have better luck turning these places into large night clubs, with liquor licenses.

  5. I REALLY hate to say this, but 2n3055 is basically right. “… the cultural atmosphere of this city is unlikely to change.”

    A theatre would be a risky project UNTIL we actually have other revitalization taking place. Part of this is the higher education along with very focused fundraising in Athens and Nelsonville, and a lot of support from individual donors from the Athens area. I don’t know enough about the Newark theatre funding, but I am sure that they had a lot of large individual donors.

    Another reason is that Lancaster is (and we can argue this all day, but it is TRUE), compared to Athens, and even Nelsonville and Newark, culturally behind the times. Part of this is the higher education in Athens, and in Nelsonville, very focused fundraising, and a lot of support from individual donors from the Athens area. I don’t know enough about the Newark community theatre funding, but I am sure that they had a lot of large individual donors.

    Take a look at the list of acts brought in to both Newark and the Nelsonville theatres. Face it, people in Lancaster will spend $50 a pop to go see Toby Keith from the back row in Columbus, but they won’t get out of the easy chair and walk across the street and pay $10 or $20 to see someone more talented. So why would the theatre work here?

    I run into people from Columbus and Newark at the shows in Nelsonville all the time. Very few from Lancaster, and those have some connection to OU.

    It’s plain: Red-necks don’t support art. Of any kind. And a large portion of the Lancaster population is….?

    Too bad.

  6. A performing Arts Center does NOT have to just be used for high-brow music but could also be used for country, comedy, jazz, blues, etc, etc.

  7. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 2:25 pm

    So get in the performers they will go watch. mix that up with some more upscale events, some classes and so forth to involve the community, and i think it has possiblilties. i know we wouldn’t be talking the capacity to carry toby keith and that ilk, but we could certainly get some of the classic rockers and moldy oldies and so forth that play to the smaller houses and still draw a good crowd. Not everything shown there would have to be a highly cultural event, let people just go have a good time. Even some movie classics etc. Gear the shows to the audience, instead of trying to convert the audience all at once.

  8. How about a youth center upstairs?

  9. I love the idea of the movie classics! How about Rocky Horror Picture Show?

  10. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 2:35 pm

    ooh - jazz, now that would be fun! how about swing music and room enough for dancers? i can think of a lot of fun things to do.

  11. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    when i was a kid our local theater always showed matinee halloween movies for the kids - always The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and a couple other not very scary movies in a decorated theater. More corny than anything, but the kids loved it and we packed the place. In the evening the more adult classic horror movies could show, for the young adult. Mix it up, make it fun. A youth theater group, perhaps, with a couple shows annually. Sci Fi weekend. Gone With the Wind on the big screen.

  12. Stuart’s in Nelsonville puts on all of these shows, including the movie classics. And I wasn’t talking about “high-brow” music, Crabby.

    I would love to see a Theatre set-up here. BUT, it’s not gonna happen without other revitalization of Down-town.

  13. Revitalization has got to start somewhere and a project like this would seem to be an excellent first step.

  14. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 3:02 pm

    Revitalization has to start somewhere! If you don’t plan a focal point because there is nothing to support it what is the incentive to open the supporting businesses? If I was looking to locate a restaurant and knew that there was a performing arts center opening soon I would definitly look at that area. Something has to be first.

  15. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    crabby, we are echoing each other!

  16. Lancaster is not as diverse as Nerk or Athens.

    Athens, obviously, has the University
    Newark has Rt.70 going right thru it and I believe COTA access.

    The “redneck” comment unfortunatly is correct. Lancaster is trying to see beyond it’s cultural blinders by having the Festival but look who they keep geeting?? Too many country acts as the headliners….

    This is on a side-note- Lancaster really needs to meet with COTA and get bus lines running between here and Cols. Geesh…how hard would it be to make a connection at Eastland mall???? (if your not afraid of getting stabbed!)

  17. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    You’re missing the point. If the locals want country, give them country.

  18. Don’t tell 43130 that!! He’ll be wanting strip shows!!!

  19. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

    burlesque? ziefried follies? LOL!

  20. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 3:12 pm

    ziegfried, sorry!

  21. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    actually, i think it was ziegfield.

  22. Are you talking about burlesque or a tiger act?

  23. whatsforlunch says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

    burlesque of course!

  24. Tsu Do Nimh says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 6:48 pm

    I think this is such an exciting idea! I’d really like to get involved in this project, and I can think of so many ways that this could bring serious money into the downtown.

  25. Ok. What kind of shows to you envision “selling out” a theatre in Lancaster?

    The biggest show that Stuart’s in Nelsonville has had was a sold out show featuring Steve Earle. The next was probably the Avett Brothers and The Everybodyfields. Both topped out at 800+, with the cheapest seat at $25.

    Billy Joe Shaver was close, as was Bruce Cockburn.

    Can Lancaster float that?

    Btw, has anybody on this board heard of any of the artists that I just mentioned?

  26. Cherryholmes sold out at Stuart’s for the past two years, too. (And I’ve heard of Steve Earle.)

    How about some downtown retail? I’d like to see something that was open every day (REAL hours, not 4 PM and closed weekends), not only for special events. A place that sold something NEW, not antiques. Or a place to get a cup of coffee on a Friday night…

  27. noneofyourbeeswax says:
    August 9th, 2007 at 8:02 am

    I worked at a great little bead shop downtown for over a year. We tried staying open later for months, but no one came in. It is the catch 22 of downtown.

    I know a lot of people thought we were a little hippy store, but we really had a lot of nice beading supplies, stuff that you can not get of the big box retailers. It is too bad she had to close up shop because business dropped off so bad.

    I think a performing arts center would be great. I strongly feel that it would have to offer space for more than just performances though. Space for lessons to be taught by independent contractors types (music, dance, voice, acting) and maybe even some rental space for small groups to use.

    I love downtown, I despertly miss working down there, and I would love to see good things happen.

  28. whatsforlunch says:
    August 9th, 2007 at 10:47 am

    I have a downtown retail business and I too have tried being open later than my usual 5:30 close time with no results. I would love to see something like this happen downtown because specialized retail businesses would follow on the heels of a big draw like this. Can you see the potential for the projected brewery pub and places like that? Maybe it is time to think outside of the box for downtown attractions and go for something like this. It is obvious that retailers downtown are going to have to offer something that the big boxes don’t, and shopping built around a center like this could be very unusual and exciting. The museums are nice but don’t have the draw that this would, however, people in town for performing arts would be somewhat likely to go to the musuems also. I agree that the building would have to house more than a theater, but there are so many other things that could be combined with this. I don’t know if OU would have any performance type classes that the branch can’t accomodate that perhaps they would like to locate in a center like this. I really think the idea deserves serious thought.

  29. How about a Comedy Club night?
    Chicago ~ we’re not…but it’s an idea.

  30. Open mike nights?

  31. Mebbe a “closed mic” night. By invitation? Open mics ’round here can be pretty annoying. I ran one for almost five years in two different places….

    Wouldn’t want visitors to get the “unabashed look” right away, would we????

An update from Larry on the progress:

"A word as to where we stand on a research committee for the performing arts center. I have been talking to several interested parties within the city and have recieved very positive vibes. Currently, I have about eight people that have agreed to be on an exploratory committee. I would like to have ten people on the committee representing several areas of interests. Timing wise, I expect to have a committee meeting in the next 30 days.

My major emphasis has been on getting out informational sheets to downtown businesses and leaders of the community. I am monitoring all of the website comments and have some answers. One comment is that the Mithoff building would have to be totally torn down and completely rebuilt except for two outside walls that would be kept for historical purposes. There are other optional places that could be leased, as well as, be purchased.

Keep up the positive comments! Spread the word! This idea is very feasible. Yes, it will take a lot of planning and reseach over several months. With the support of local businesses and the general public this will become a reality! LDC"

You must remember Larry and his Four FACCs (1958)

mmm
The Four FACCs
Jim Van Curen, Baritone, Larry Childrey, Lead, Bob Young, Tenor, Bill Thomas, Bass

 

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