Making Northfield an Art Town
Three or four years ago, the Historic Middle School complex emerged as a possible site for a Community Arts Center. The vision included classrooms for young artists, live-work spaces for emerging artists, and studios for mid-career artists. For those working to have Northfield recognized as an Art Town, it was a project with great potential. For a variety of reasons, that vision wasn't realized. (See previous blog posts on Historic Middle School.)
The ARC Committee determined to continue working towards the Art Town goal along alternate routes. They decided to refocus on programming. The group met and discussed existing activities, events and festivals as well as possible additions to the community's portfolio of programming.
Recently some people have suggested that we should direct a substantial portion of the resources available to the arts community and use them for a marketing campaign that promotes Northfield as an Art Town. I think that if we're going to spend money on a sales pitch, we should direct it at John Villani and invite him to be our guest in Northfield.