I have heard from our City Manager, Kenneth W. Striplin that the city is looking forward to having the opportunity to engage the community in the process of defining a place for art in Santa Clarita. This is exciting to know.
I have also learned there will be a consultant hired sometime this summer to seek input from residents on how best to achieve this goal in the future. This fall/winter there will be local media, social media, and e-mail communications to inform the community about these meetings. Participation is part of the process as it is vital to create a successful master plan that is reflective of the needs of the entire community. When letters are sent to the city council members and art commission members, the City Manager reviews the letters that were sent asking about the master plan. The importance of having many people/residents involved in participating in the master plan for art in Santa Clarita is needed so many ideas will be considered.
Some wonder, what will an art center offer as a cultural place for people to enjoy? An art center will provide many areas of the arts to be given to residents in SCV and a large site will be needed to house the many kinds of art areas. I believe we need a large visual art exhibit space for professional artists to show their art on a long-term basis, professional art lectures scheduled, art lessons for children and adults, theater production space for dance and plays, art demonstrations of different kinds of art designs, art library space for books on different periods of art history and artists with an area for visitors to sit and enjoy the books. Special artistic movies shown once a week, a gift shop with a variety of artist made objects to be sold to the public.
What do you think?
Jaylene Armstrong is a retired Art Teacher from Madison, Wisconsin, a former National Art Education Association Western Region Vice President and President of Wisconsin Art Education Association. For more information contact Jaylene at 661-255-3050.