Keeping the Arts Alive

Kathryn Franke
MSM Class of 2113

(11/2011) Whenever I come home from college with new drawings or paintings in tote, my mother reminisces about how she always knew I would be an artist. According to her, I would lug my container of art supplies into the dining room and spread them all across the table as I spent hours making countless creations, which I of course proudly gifted to everyone I knew. These were the days when my most prized possession was my box of Crayola crayons, and everything made sense with my wild imagination.

I’m not sure about you, but some of my fondest memories from elementary school are from my art classes. I can remember the pounding of clay, the splatter of paint as we all felt like the next Picasso, and the symphony that was blasting from the doors of the music room next door each day.

Think back to that one moment that you remember the most about art. The moment when it first made a real impact on you. Maybe it was the first time you made a masterpiece that took its coveted place on your refrigerator. Or your school’s play where after spending hours practicing your lines, you saw the proud smiles of your family as they watched from the audience. Or maybe you didn’t discover your love of art until later in life, and you are just now getting introduced to it.

Regardless of how much experience you have with art, it is clear that art has impacted each of us in some way. It is important for us to keep the influence of art in our lives and the generations that follow. What better way to do this than to have an Arts Learning Center? The Adams County Arts Council has brought us a new building that will help us explore the many different types of art and bring the influence of art into the community.

Incorporated in 1993, the Adams County Arts Council (ACAC) is a nonprofit agency that supports artistic efforts in county schools and communities. According to the Council’s website, its main goals are "to provide arts opportunities for students of all ages and to support the work of local arts presenters and artists." Chris Glatfelter, the Executive Director of the Council since 2001, says that "the Adams County Arts Council's mission to cultivate an arts-rich community."

The result of this goal is the new Learning Center. Glatfelter explained, "From strategic planning sessions with the community, we determined there was an overwhelming need for more arts education opportunities, particularly for children. Our board set the creation of the center as its major goal and has accomplished it in three years, thanks to tremendous support from the community."

With the opening of the new Arts Learning Center, the Council is offering 37 classes with both 4 weeks and short-term sessions. The courses include Art Glass, Ceramics, Creative Writing, Culinary Arts, Drawing and Painting, Knitting and Crocheting, Photography, and Silver Metal Clay Jewelry. Starting this month, the classes will be held in the new Arts Learning Center, which is located at 125 South Washington Street in Gettysburg.

The building has 10,000 square feet of space for classes of all sorts, including music, dance, theater, visual and culinary arts. There is also a gallery space to host exhibits from local artists, a reception hall for performances and other events, and an outdoor sculpture garden. There is meeting space that will allow the Council to expand the building in the future based off of any needs that may arise in the coming years.

When the Council found the building on South Washington Street that would eventually become their new Learning Center, the space became even more attractive because it is located just blocks from the Gettysburg Square. It is part of the Elm Street District, and the renovation efforts will benefit the Borough and Commonwealth’s work to revitalize this neglected area. The building was primarily funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Adams County, and the ACAC Board of Directors.

The ACAC has helped bring art into the community for decades. It affects over 10,000 youth each year through classroom settings around the county, and over 50,000 residents through public events in parks and neighborhoods in the area. They also exhibit award-winning art in the gallery on the Gettysburg College campus.

So what are the benefits of having this building available to us? Well, there are quite a few. There has been much debate in recent years as to whether or not the arts programs should be cut from school systems. The Learning Center is a sort of "safety net" for the arts program cuts in the schools. The time that American students spend on arts education has dropped by 35% since 2001-2002, and the building’s classes will provide students with the means to discover and succeed in the arts.

The building will also provide a more welcoming site for the people and visitors of Adams County, and in return the ACAC will gain more participants and spread interest about art in the community. From a more economic standpoint, the building will provide short-term work for local tradesmen and long-term opportunities for local artists looking to sell their work.

This new Arts Learning Center will help people of all ages and backgrounds experience art in their lives. For the elderly, there are benefits for the mind from learning a new instrument and coordination benefits from movement exercises. Participating in activities with people from other generations helps bring a sense of connection and community to the people in the area.

The youth get at least some sort of art education throughout their school years, but it is also beneficial to introduce them to art prior to the beginning of their schooling. It is important that they have a positive view of art as they begin to explore it in their studies. The classes offered will provide them with learning tools that prepare them for their artistic studies. Through a more stable foundation of art, the youth will have much more room to grow and improve as they have more experience with art.

The ACAC will offer afterschool programs which will help at-risk youth by giving them a positive atmosphere to help them expand their creativity and realize their true potential. They will develop skills that will ultimately help them when it comes time to find a job and enter the real world.

Something unique about the arts is that anyone can participate and anyone can benefit from studying them. Referring to the importance of arts education, Glatfelter explained, "The arts help make students better learners, improve mastery of core subjects, and stimulate creativity." This new Learning Center acts as a way to bring people from the community who are of different ages and backgrounds together and unite them with a common goal: to value the arts and ensure that they remain an important aspect of the community.

So take it from me, someone who has always grown up with art and who will always cherish it as a vital part of her life, it is very important to keep art in the community. We need to educate the youth and remind the elderly that the arts can do wonders for one’s education and even one’s outlook on life. And that is exactly what this building can help us do. For the next little girl who spreads out all of her crayons and markers on the dining room table making masterpieces, let’s help her become the artist she has always dreamed of being.

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