Monday, January 4, 2010

Dreaming a Big Dream

There is nothing quite like starting the year off by dreaming a really big dream. Maybe way too big… The up side of dreaming a “too big” kind of dream is that when I fall just short of what I had in mind, I can still enjoy a sweet victory because I usually end up growing in ways I really hadn’t initially imagined. I highly recommend this over enthusiastic daydream exercise to anyone who has a stomach for failure or a wad of cash to throw into any hole you dream up.


This particular daydream is the culmination of a single years worth of standing on tables, jumping around waving my hands, dropping my proverbial pants, and generally making an idiot of myself in my local arts community. (There’s a back story here, but I can’t seem to find the link at the moment…) Long story short… very recently the local grey hairs who had been using the local community college’s art department as their own personal, long term, free rent, studio space, were asked to find the exit door (budget cuts…) In the explosion of grumbling rage that ensued, someone started a whisper campaign running around about creating an adult arts center to serve this community. It would be centered on providing individual studio spaces, classrooms for painting, ceramics, and drawing, (gonn’a plop ceramics right in the middle of traditional “Arts” disciplines), adequate space for an onsite gallery, and a specialized photo studio for art work, a basic computer lab, and a “general store” for needed supplies.

Are we dreaming yet? Well here’s the first choice... It’s the old office of the Sperry Flour Mill established in 1859. It’s a cozy 5050 square foot historic brick office building located downtown with a parking lot and located in a stalled out growth district along the waterfront.

What’s the price tag to buy our way in the door? Just $725,000!!! But wait there’s more… it’s old and there are oodles of things that need attention and fixing… lots of extra expenses… a hell of a way to try and scrounge up a bit of studio space.

Maybe this particular dream is too big, way too big... But WoW! If a community wanted to make a statement… here it is… Arts on the waterfront in Stockton.

11 comments:

Hollis Engley said...

Sounds pretty cool. Also sounds like someone's got a LOT of community organizing and fund-raising to do. Does sound like it would be a great showcase, though.

cookingwithgas said...

It can be done.
It is being done here in NC- good luck and I hope it all comes together!

FetishGhost said...

I'm hearing the voices saying "Jump... jump... jump".

. c h o k l i t . said...

One has to dream big, otherwise one would never get what they want!! Sounds amazing!

Linda Starr said...

beautiful building for art, hope the dreams come true.

trilbyv said...

my all time favorite daydream.
just do it baby. this place is a beauty.
p.s. lemme know if there's room in there for a furnace!

Mr.Young said...

Well, if you're gonna do it - do it big!

Unknown said...

Jump! You'll never know if you don't try! :)

Anonymous said...

i guess the question is, if the community arts thing in this ultra cool building goes belly up in 3 years or 6 years, will the property be easy to resell? it would be an unbelievably cool art center... it'd eat your clay time and your jewelry time for lunch tho. it's exciting just to hear about it and think how exciting your next couple of years would be... wow!

Hyla said...

WoWza!

My Captcha word for this comment is

trying



it's a sign ;)

Big Mike Cammack said...

This shoudn't be a dream! I think it's time for a Stockton Arts Center to happen now! There are lots of serious artist in this community. So lets make this happen