BY BARBARA PINCKNEY
A $50,000 federal grant may put plans for the
Arts District of Glens Falls on the fast track,
but will not decide its fate.
The Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council
has applied to the National Endowment for
the Arts for an “Our Town” grant, the purpose
of which is to strengthen a community through
the arts.
The plan is to use the $50,000, plus $50,000
in matching funds, to support the creation of
an arts district in downtown Glens Falls. “We decided the best thing we could do for
the community, and for the organizations,
would be to link all of us together with a trail
people could follow,” said Ellen Butz, director
of LARAC. “Glens Falls is a small, walkable city.
A person could have a lovely day walking to the
different destinations and having some great
meals along the way because the restaurant
scene has become really good here.”
The plan calls for a physical trail with markers
in the sidewalks every few blocks, to lead
visitors from Glen Street–with the Charles
R. Wood Theater, Folklife Center at Crandall
Public Library, and Chapman Historical Museum–
to the Hyde Collection and the World
Awareness Children’s Museum on Warren
Street. Other stops would include the Shirt
Factory Arts and Healing Center, on Lawrence
Street; NorthCountryARTS on Ridge Street; and
LARAC’s gallery on Lapham Place.
The Art District would cover about one square mile.
“Also, because these days everyone gets their
information from their phone, part of the grant
would be for developing an app that would take
you from site to site and guide you through this
trail electronically,” Butz said.
LARAC will not know if it won the grant until
at least July 15. But even if it does not, the plan
will move forward, she said.
“We love this project so much that even if
we don’t receive the grant we plan to go ahead with it, working with the city,” Butz said.
“We
may have to do it piecemeal over a period of
years, but we think this is just too good an idea
not to follow through with, regardless of the
outcome of the grant.”
The discussion between LARAC and the
other arts organizations started a few years
ago, after Glens Falls received a grant from
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development to explore its strengths as a city.
What the consultants came up with was that
Glens Falls is the “arts and cultural gateway to
the Adirondacks.”
“That was when the arts organizations
started meeting, and we realized that collectively
we could do more for the city than any
of us could do alone,” Butz said.
In addition to the organizations mentioned,
participants also include Adirondack Theatre
Festival, Art in the Public Eye, Feeder Canal
Alliance, Glens Falls Civic Center and Glens
Falls Symphony Orchestra.
“We asked ourselves, how can we promote
Glens Falls as a whole as a destination for arts
and culture?” Butz said. “Of all the possible
projects we could do, this [Arts District walking
trail] was the one we thought would benefit the
city and the arts organizations the most. The
city really saw it as an opportunity.”
If the grant is obtained, LARAC and its partners
still would have to come up with $50,000
in matching funds and in-kind donations. The
city has committed to a $25,000 in-kind contribution
of improvements to the sidewalks,
including curb cuts and bike racks, as well as
the trail’s physical markers, such as banners
and plaques, which would be designed and
produced by local artists.
The Glens Falls Business Improvement
District is expected to contribute $6,000, and
the Sandy Hill Foundation will put in $3,500.
The remaining $15,500 would be raised from
businesses, individuals and arts organizations.
“We designed this project to serve people who
live here and help enhance the livability of the
community,” Butz said. “To draw more people
here to live and work, and also for tourism. To
make it easy for tourists to find all the wonderful
things we have available here.”
Under the rules of the Our Town grant, work
would not get underway until October. Butz said
the project should take about two years.
Photo Courtesy LARAC