WashArts is gone, but need remains
Washington Community Arts and Cultural Center – better known as WashArts – is closing, its board of directors announced last week. Its building on South Street, a spacious, first-rate facility generously equipped and supplied, will be sold in order to pay its bills.
Children, many of them disadvantaged, who are students in schools where the arts fell victim to budget cuts, no longer have a place to explore their creativity or continue their music lessons. Adults who found pleasure and companionship in classes teaching pottery, painting, metalworking and other crafts are suddenly dispersed. Artists and musicians who, for 13 years since the start of WashArts, were able to share their knowledge with pupils and display their talents no longer have a venue.
The loss to the community of this arts center is sad and shameful.
WashArts came about in the summer of 2002, when, according to an article in the Observer-Reporter, “Sandee Umbach saw a photograph of the restored second floor above Brothers Pizza in Washington, and she envisioned a dance school or art class for children taking place there.”
The arts center opened in the historic Iron Front Building at the northwest corner of Main and Beau streets in Washington.
“The main focus of the cultural center is to provide fine arts instruction for youth, regardless of their ability to pay,” the article continued. “Umbach also sees it becoming a cultural gathering place for the community, including space for visiting artists.”
It did indeed become a gathering space, but the long flight of steps constructed in 1860 were too much for the elderly and made the space inaccessible to those with disabilities. The move to the South Street location solved those problems and made it possible for WashArts to open itself to the entire community while still following its mission.
Maintaining such an organization requires oversight, and a great deal of energy and commitment on the part of its board, its management and the supporting community. Though WashArts was able to obtain generous grants, that money was restricted for specific projects and couldn’t be used to pay the bills, which began to pile up. Keeping a building supplied, maintained, heated and cooled can be expensive. There may be plenty of blame to spread for the situation WashArts found itself in, but in the end the directors had little choice but to close the doors.
Although WashArts will no longer exist, the need for a community arts center is greater than ever. As that 2002 article stated, a national study by Americans for the Arts revealed fine arts instruction leads to higher grades, increased community service activity and lower truancy and dropout rates. And facing financial crunches, public schools are unable to provide in-depth art instruction and are even eliminating art and music programs.
Is a community disinterested in the arts a place in which we really want to live?
In a community this size, are there really no benefactors willing support the arts, or businesses, churches or organizations willing to open their doors so these activities can continue?
We hope a new arts organization is formed, and with the financial support of a caring community purchase the former WashArts facility and its contents and start fresh with a new sense of purpose.
Greater Washington needs to support the arts, and this is our opportunity to show we can do it.