Andy is coming! Andy is coming!
I knew about some of these changes a few weeks ago;
The Great Hall at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science will be renamed in honor of a longtime supporter, the late Mary Sommervold, officials announced Thursday.
I will keep my opinion about this to myself.
Two large shows are scheduled at the Pavilion’s Visual Arts Center: an Andy Warhol exhibit in 2011 and photographs by Ansel Adams in 2012. While shows in the six art galleries usually are free, the bigger shows will be ticketed attractions to help support the center.
Whoo-Hooo! Warhol!
In addition, new tenants are on the way to the downtown Sioux Falls landmark at 11th and Main, to help share costs and add to the arts offerings there.
The administrative offices of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Sioux Empire Arts Council will move there from off-site locations in coming months.
The Dakota Academy of Performing Arts soon will move its programming into the Pavilion, too. And a Native American fine arts museum and gallery will be added.
The changes were made possible in part by more than $100,000 in grants the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation gave to local arts organizations, and a special fund drive in Sommervold’s honor that now stands at $580,000.
While some of these changes are probably a good thing, I worry about putting all of these offices under one roof for a number of reasons. While I think these organizations should work together, and I have been a longtime advocate of the Pavilion giving discounts to local non-profit art orgs, like Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues, for example, I wonder if this is a Power Grab for the Pavilion to take control of all the arts orgs in our city. I guess only time will tell. I also find this move interesting only a few days before a new mayor is decided.
The Sioux Empire Arts Council’s administrative office has been in the Horse Barn Arts Center at Falls Park since 1999. It soon will move to the Pavilion.
From her new office, Deb Klebanoff, executive director, says she might have greater visibility and can step up her outreach to the arts community. But she says she hopes that use of the barn for local art exhibits and other community gatherings will continue at Falls Park.
The fate of the Horse Barn, a 100-year-old city-owned building, has not been decided.
Yeah, maybe they will give it back to the artists that were managing the facility just fine until a bunch of elitists stuck their nose where it did not belong.