| The very first issue of the Concord
Journal, dated February 28, 1928, featured a front page story on
the School Committee’s daunting proposal for a new high school,
at $500,000 the most expensive project ever considered by the Town.
After more than a year of study and cost-cutting, the plan finally
gained Town Meeting support at a little more than half that price.
Imagine how much more difficult their decision would have been,
had people realized the School Department would consider the building
obsolete and abandon it within three generations!
Although some may have anticipated demolition at the time, a group
of visionaries, including people like Ellie Bemis, Kay DeFord, Rich
Stevenson, and Sarah Kahn, saw it differently. They realized that
through adaptive reuse, the old Emerson School could continue to
help “determine the character of the town” as an art center. They
heard music again in the quiet theater, imagined potters’ wheels
turning in the old chem lab, and saw dancers in the empty library.
Preserving the building’s original focus on education, the former
classrooms would become teaching studios as well as workspace for
artists. Worn around the edges, but basically sturdy, the building
itself made all this and more seem possible.
In the winter of 1982, the Emerson Umbrella founders gathered a
board, applied for tax exempt status, studied available organizational
models, met with neighbors, and shaped their proposal. Concord’s
investments in the property would not be wasted as ownership would
be retained by the Town while program, operating, and maintenance
costs would be carried by the new organization and its tenants.
A key policy statement adopted by the Board in those early days
read in part:
Emphasis will be concentrated in the process of creativity
rather than focusing overly on the final product. The Umbrella believes
that creativity begins when excitement is generated through direct
participation; creativity flourishes in an atmosphere without intimidation,
where free exchange of ideas is valued and encouraged.
Supported initially by then Town Manager Steve Sheiffer, the group
made the rounds: the Finance Committee, the Planning Board, and
ultimately the Selectmen. Ellie Bemis made the motion at Town Meeting.
Annabelle Shepherd spoke in strong support of the “expeditious reuse
of the Emerson School”, combining elements typical of an art center
with those of a community center.
By March of 1983, all conditions set forth by the Town had been
satisfied and the building was at last ready for its rebirth. The
artists moved in and Ann Strawn, the first Director, began planning
classes and open studio events. The first public program at the
Umbrella occurred that April, when David Brower of the Sierra Club
spoke in the theater on the occasion of Earth Day.
This year Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts is preparing to
honor the work of its founders in celebration of its 25th Birthday.
The passage of time has brought with it complete turnover among
the Board and staff, and most (though not all!) of the studios have
changed hands at least once. The organization’s lease on the building
has been renewed several times, most recently on a competitive basis
for a ten-year term beginning in 2004. Programs have been adapted
to better suit the interests and schedules of today’s families but,
says president Carol Krauss, “We are guided by the early vision
and grateful for the values that were so clearly articulated by
the Umbrella’s founders.”
Carrie Flood is Managing Director of The Emerson Umbrella Center
for the Arts. This article is based in part on information assembled
in 2005 by former Director Dillon Bustin for the Community Preservation
Committee. Future articles will focus on the Umbrella today and
the organization’s plans for the future.
|
