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OpinionCommunity identity depends on the artsAs communities seek their identity and try to strengthen their citizensí sense of community, more are planning to have the arts as an important component. With emphasis on development and even creating downtowns, suburban communities realize the arts are essential in making downtown visits fun and entertaining, even profitable. The initiative for these art centers has come mainly from the arts groups who are discovering that the broader the base of support, the greater chance for new arts facilities. Judging from a report written by Carolyn Bye, executive director of the Metropolitan Regional Art Center, suburban communities are building arts facilities with other than state funds. Bye said the disparity between what suburbs receive compared to urban arts groups is ìstaggering.î Core cities receive $7.29 per capita and suburbs get 34 cents per capita in state funds. Bye says the distribution of state funds to suburbs should not be equal to the urban centers, but she said, ìThere is clearly a disparity, and there should be a discussion around what is an appropriate level.î The report ìA New Angleî is under study by the McKnight Foundation but Neal Cuthbert, director of McKnightís fine Arts program, said they view it as an opening to discuss the role of the arts in the Metropolitan area. Bye argues that the majority of young people in the suburbs need to experience the arts at the community level because they are the ìfuture audiences and taxpayers who will have to vote to fund the arts.î There is a surge in building arts centers in metropolitan-area communities, Hopkins, which is an established community surrounded by suburbs, has an art center right on Main Street. Lakeville has remodeled a church into an impressive art center downtown. Anoka supports the Lyric Arts Theatre which is an attraction. Minnetonka has an arts center, and Bloomington is adding a 377-seat theater and studios to its municipal building. Elk River is mobilizing to build either a remodeled art center or a new one in its downtown. White Bear Lake uses the arts and the well-known Lakeshore Playhouse to keep its identity as a long-standing community. In Princeton there is a huge success story centered around a partnership between the school and at-large community which had the foresight to build an inspiring performance arts center. This 499-seat theatre has inspired students to sing in the choirs and play in the orchestras and act in plays because they love to perform in the facility. Citizens of this community pack the auditorium to hear performances by the St.Paul Chamber Orchestra and the 3-M orchestra. The Childrenís Theatre and the Guthrie Theatre have performed before sold-out houses. Linda Evans, the performing arts center manager, says the center is valued by the business community because its events attract people who purchase services. People who attend events in the facility go away feeling good about their community. The arts flourish when there is a facility like the Performing Arts Center in Princeton ñ a goal of more communities who need funding help from state organizations and the McKnight Foundation. ©ECM Post Review |