Good news for the arts

Friday, May 9, 2008

The Charles County Arts Alliance, the college, members of the community and representatives of the county government got together to outline an arts vision. Participants shared ideas about what they’d like to see in Charles County. Top on the list was the lack of a venue for the arts, whether for music, visual arts, drama, dance or literature.

That dream just got closer to reality this week after the arts alliance announced plans for an open house in St. Charles next week to assess a future arts center.

It seems that County Commissioner Gary Hodge has been discussing with the new owners of Smallwood Village Center the prospect of offering 8,600 square feet in the shopping center as a location for a future community arts center. The shopping center’s new owner, Saul Centers of Bethesda, is currently renovating the shopping center. Part of the renovation of the center includes reconstructing the intersection at St. Charles Parkway in front of the center. Extending Post Office Road into the shopping center is also part of the plan. That will certainly allow easier access to the shopping center.

There was talk a few years ago from Hodge about making the area into a designated arts and entertainment district. Several such districts have been established throughout the state.

The Smallwood site would be an ideal location for such an arts venue. And a facility there would bring visitors to the shopping center which has struggled for years and been plagued with empty storefronts. It’s another of those win-win situations we so often like to cheer about.

The announcement of the proposed arts center comes on the heels of the opening of Regency Furniture Stadium last week. The 4,500-seat stadium opened to rave reviews Friday from the public eager for a first-class athletic venue that officials envision being used for so much more than just sports. The establishment of a large arts facility will be the impetus to move the development of cultural arts forward in the county.

As Diane Rausch, the president of the arts alliance, has said, ‘‘It’s a status symbol to have cultural life in a county, and Charles County needs one.”

The open house will be held the weekend of May 17 and 18 for members of the arts alliance and members of the general public to come and check out the space and make suggestions for how it could be used. We urge the public to attend. Community involvement will be vital to making the center work.