(Photo compliments of Mike Anderson, Crookston area photographer, don't you dare copy it!)
I've been away from blogging and here is why: “My” Foundation, Prairie Skyline Foundation, had received a
grant from the State Historical Society from “Legacy” funding in 2010. Always interested in an artistic use for the
former Cathedral we started with the economic value of the arts: Check out the
article by Liz Dwyer on http://bit.ly/LZnj80. “In a survey conducted by IBM last year,
1,500 CEOs identified
creativity as the number one competitive edge" of the future. And
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently
wrote that dance, music, theater, and visual arts "are essential to
preparing our nation's young people for a global economy fueled by innovation
and creativity."
Always I’ve wanted some arts focus in the former Cathedral
because of the fantastic layout. (see bit.ly/LwHnvP for layout) In visiting with Bob Knudson, the Small Business
Development Center
consultant from Bemidji, he asked me some hard
questions, like how will the Cathedral
Art Center
project be a project that doesn’t take away from existing institutions that
serve the people of Crookston and the
surrounding area. Somehow, the project
has to help our kids, I thought to myself.
Now I admit it, I don’t always read Natalie’s opinion
articles in the Crookston Times, but I read about her daughter looking out over
the new view of the river and seeing the three spires of the Cathedral with
their crosses highlighted in the afternoon light.
Her daughter said, “Look at “Cinderella’s Castle!”
Dan Johanneck, former CHEDA director, mentioned that he
wanted to develop a nickname or a slogan for Crookston, perhaps running a
contest. I called him and said, “You know, Crookston has always been called “C-Town”
on the radio by Tommy Helgeson and others. See the origins of “C-Town” in an older post: http://bit.ly/MkT0TU. Feeling like I was on Sesame Street, I realized that the
Cathedral, the “Castle,” Central Park and C-Town, all begin with C just like
Crookston does. So, I started playing
around with the letter “C” on my “Printmaster” program. Add an “e” to Town and
add in the Methodist
Church as the “Fortress,”
and it starting sounding like a real project! Then I heard that Mary LaFrance, our
elementary art teacher, was not going to teach art classes anymore. I believe this was due to the budget, if
memory serves me right. Other school
districts have done the same, cutting the arts programming. There was the gap I was looking for, on we
could fill without hurting anyone and with everything to gain for Crookston.
Later, while driving to Grand Forks out of the blue, the slogan,
“Crookston Creates!” came to mind. “Shop
Crookston!” came to mind as well. Nothing like a drive to bring out the creativity. Could be the name of the Gift Shop in C-Towne
be called “Shop Crookston!?” What a
great double meaning. Feeling amazed at
how this just arrived into my brain from nowhere, I realized we were still a
long ways away from a real working plan for the Cathedral.
So I remembered my business plan software and how it came
with some free templates for a variety of businesses. I bought the best software in the business at
the time: Business Plan Pro. Always I have loved the arts, mostly because
I totally lack talent in that regard, and there it was a “Hands-On Art Museum”
in Chicago! So, I got together with my friends from
“Artspace,” the non-profit developer for the Arts from Minneapolis and we decided to "Crookstonize"
the plan together and make the case for the Cathedral as the proposed
site. While they were writing, I had the
good fortune of visiting my son-in-law’s parent’s home in Detroit Lakes. We were talking about thrift stores, and they
said that Detroit
Lakes had a strong Boys
and Girls Club that was funded in part by running a thrift store. “Click!” I remembered Northwest Minnesota Foundation's Jim Steenerson’s good comments
about the Boys and Girls Clubs around Northwest Minnesota
and that there were not enough of them. So
first we went thrift shopping, and then we toured the Boys and Girls Club which
was housed in a former school. They had
a huge art room and a small gym. The
teens there were helping out with everything from supervising kids in the gym
to organized activities, to helping with administration details. You can find out more on their facebook page:
http://on.fb.me/u1cUEz.
If ever there was an “Aha” moment, this was it. Here was the structure to help run the
children’s museum, reduce staffing costs, and do so much good for the teens
themselves! The Teens were developing
life skills that made them proud of their accomplishments. Put it all together while filling the gap in
elementary arts education made up the most perfect fit for Crookston. I have long thought She should strive to be
the best place to grow a family. Thinking
I was really hot now, I read about Fargo’s
plan for an addition to their museum which will be a “Center for Creativity,” I
assumed it was my children's art museum and my heart fell. We are too late, as usual. But I had to finish the study. (Later, I reread the article, and their plan
is quite different from ours.)
While looking for some real costs and figures that we could
use in the proposed profit and loss statements, I discovered that there is an Association
for Children’s Museum’s and that it is a hot and growing field of
learning. On their website, I found that
three children’s museums are developing as we speak, one in Northfield,
one in Grand Rapids, and one in Rochester.
I discovered that there are none in Grand Forks or Bemidji! And, if we focused in even more and made it a
children’s museum for the arts, we could have something unique that people
would drive for miles to come and stop in with their kids, and entire busloads
of kids from other school districts besides ours could come in and play for the
day.
After the busloads leave, then what, why not keep the center
open for the teens to hang out and have access to all the art tools they could
possibly want, including a stage? I
think that’s the best part of all, a place for teens to hang. How long have we wanted a teen center? Decades.
So what about the “Fortress?” We need to ask the Rainbow Coffee House’s
Board if they might consider selling the building. I know it does need a new roof, but just
think of all the studio spaces, and the GYM!
Perhaps another small practice theatre in the sanctuary. Or it could be more of a science focus. Add in tree houses (do not miss this
site! bit.ly/MA1qKU.) in Central Park (there is no liability in public spaces like
parks) and there you have it, a real working vision for Crookston. How about
it, Polk County, why not give “Artspace” a chance
to develop the former Villa St. Vincent for affordable housing for artists? Artists will come for miles to live here
where rents are reasonable and the river is close. Want to expand C-Towne even more? While parking my school bus, I noticed a sign hanging on the wall crookedly. It said in black letters on white: "To Poultry." It made me think of the former use of the old bus garages
which used to be the Winter Shows buildings! And now memories fade, was it Bob Gustafson who brought an idea of a petting zoo to City Council
members in about 2004? Sometimes its amazing what results when some concentrated time and prayer is spent on a problem.
