We had a wonderful turnout for the Glass Blowing Studio Brainstorming meeting at the NexStage Theater. In the words of Sally Boettger of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts "The meeting was a great example of people coming together with open minds to big possibilities." Here is a synopsis:
Kathy Wygle of the NexStage Theater started us out by talking about the NexStage and its history, and her thoughts for the future. The ideas that have sprung forth lately have been to use the first third of the “back space” as an extension of the theater, with about 500 square feet for current props plus opportunities for a black box (a small theater). The hope is to use the second third for dance and the remaining third for fine arts.
I presented my thoughts for the fine arts section through my drawings, floor plans and mock brochure.
Kathy asked each of us to share our ideas. Here are some thoughts and stories:
Marjolaine Renfro, representing Susan Ward, owner of Boulder Mountain Clayworks told of a place in Oregon where she paid $50 to blow a piece of glass. The “gaffer” let her do as much of it as she wanted, but was there to guide and help. It was a fantastic experience. Marjolaine had to reserve this opportunity 3 months in advance. She planned her trip around this event. The thought is that we could attract more visitors to Ketchum.
Al Strauss talked about a place in Kalamazoo, Michigan that offered a venue for amateurs to vent their talents. Al brought up the questions, who is our audience? Locals? Artists from afar?
We heard more stories of fine arts institutes like the place Buddy Paul attended in Ireland. It was a community of artists doing many varieties of fine arts together. Artists were invited to come. A big name wood turner brought his own following! The institute was subsidized.
A local gal, Debbie Edger Sturges, spends 3 months in Scottsdale at a place like the one in Ireland, this is also a place open to visitors, where artists of various media can share work and display space.
The arts have had a strong presence in this community since the 1970’s. According to Kristin Poole, Artistic Director of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts (SVCA), Bill Janss, then owner of Sun Valley Company, donated the land that is now the site of The Community School for a center for the arts. The SVCA started as a place for visiting and resident artists to come and work. College age students would pay to attend intensive summer workshops with these artists—much like Penland in North Carolina or Haystack in Maine. There was a photography department, ceramics, printmaking and at times other mediums. The Institute of the American West, which was the humanities arm of the Center was deeply funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities for many years.
I talked about Pilchuck Institute just north of Seattle; the school Dale Chihuly built. My mother, brother Rich and I would study glassblowing and other glass arts under world-renowned artists for 2 and 3 weeks at a time.
Sally Boettger talked about the Simplot family's new concept of creating a place for people to "foster imagination." The wave of the future is building places for people to create and expand their right brains. This is what Simplot is looking to do on his 7 acres in downtown Boise and with Sun Valley Center for the Arts on the lot next to the Ketchum Post Office.
Hilarie Neely spoke about the groups including Sustain Blaine that are interested in using the Arts in our community for continued sustainability. She said that there are meetings going on each week that include discussions about the arts and their role. Hilarie also spoke about her concern for extra dollars, "families are stretched very thin and I see a drop in spending on 2 fronts, attendance to performances and class registration. Parents do want their kids to participate, but they are looking for more scholarships. There has also been a reduction in donations due to belt tightening."
Ringing throughout the meeting was the fact... Business Plan/Business Model ~ we need one!
Since the meeting, more ideas have come my way:
My brother, Rich Pitkethly has been involved with bringing in revenue to glass blowing schools. Some exciting examples:
- A place in Seattle brought in Boeing engineers and Microsoft employees for weekend or longer workshops. Teams were given the project of designing and blowing a piece of glass. Rich said it was exciting for all.
- Another shop brought in big groups of school kids to blow. They also helped with Senior Projects.
- Pratt Institute in Seattle is set up as a teaching facility. Once you learn to blow glass you can rent space and pay per hour.
- Another glass shop would invite artists to come. The first night there was a dinner and a slide show of the artist’s work. The next day the artist got to show off his or her latest or greatest demo.
- Rich wants to build glass blowing equipment to host Wounded Warriors...! He loves the idea that Sun Valley is a huge hub for Wounded Warriors to try out new abilities. Rich watched a man with one arm blow glass beautifully on a trip to Corning New York with our mother in 2002.
Rich reminds me that in glass blowing, “Watching is Learning!” Since every glass blower has a unique technique, you learn something new with each person you watch.
My partner, Bill Sutcliff and I are planning a road trip to visit The Taos Institute and many of the Glass Blowing Schools in the West. We will leave June 1st and travel for about a month. We will shoot short films about the arts institutes we visit and post them to sunvalleyonline for you to view. We will also pass along information about what is working in these dynamic places. We will come back with clear ideas to share on how to create it here in the NexStage’s “back space.”
Check out this glass blowing school in Portland http://www.elementsglass.com not only a great site but a great program with lots of classes, events and idea's worth sharing.
We are open to ideas still to come, so send them my way and I will take note!
Cheers,
Narda Pitkethly
narda44@gmail.com www.narda44.com
