The spot where the Arts Campus at Willits, or “TACAW”, is going to be built is currently a vacant lot. There’s some construction equipment and fences, but other than that...nothing. This patch of land is just a few blocks away from the new Element hotel. It was zoned for a space like TACAW in the early nineties, so this has been a long time coming. The plan is to have the building completed by 2018. And it’s big. The plans are for the space to have a kitchen, some performance space…
It’s all a part of what Julia Marshall, the president of the TACAW board, hopes will create a new space for artists in the Valley. It completes the development of Willits, as Marshall says, even though technically there’s a lot of retail and commercial space still slated to be built. It just needed some kind of art center.
“It was always on the plan,” said Marshall. “It’s in your vision, and it’s just when do you feel as if you - have the density. There’s 1700 residents here now. Much more commercial."
But for some people in the Valley, building an arts center is not a fix-all solution.
“A lot of the requests (art groups have) start to conflict in different ways,” said Corey Simpson, of Thunder River Theatre Company. “TACAW has an interesting challenge that they’re working with."
In Carbondale leaders had already tried to do something like this. In the early 2000s, the Carbondale Council on Arts and Humanities tried to build a multi-use center but it failed for multiple reasons.
Last week, people from art groups across the Valley got to see the initial plans for TACAW and what the space would do for them. Many questions focused on the theater space and how it could handle big productions.
“It just sounds like to will be a continuing process for them...to continue hearing from the community and getting input on what needs the community has and trying to meet those,” said Simpson.
Amanda Ashley teaches at Boise State University in Idaho. She’s researched how art districts affect the places they come to. A community might be bustling, but could lack a central place for the arts. Alternatively, a neighborhood could need a creative hub to bring more activity. Regardless, Ashley says it is important to have discussions about what a community needs and wants from an arts center.
“It’s really important that people are asking questions about what works,” said Ashley. “What doesn’t. What kind of partnerships are needed, and how that is reflective of place.”
And that’s why organizers at TACAW have been getting feedback from local people in the arts.
Marshall is confident, though, because she’s helped create other non-profit art hubs, like the Red Brick Center in Aspen.
The Arts Campus at Willits is scheduled to open late next year, or in early 2018...provided organizers raise enough money.
