Arts Council of Southeast Missouri moving to Main Street

More space and the increased traffic of a Main Street location are the two prime reasons the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri will move its galleries and office space beginning in March, says executive director Rebecca Fulgham. The location will be the fifth occupied by the arts council in the past decade.

The arts council will move into the south end of the building at 34 N. Main St. that formerly housed the Chrisman Art Gallery. The north half of the building will be rented out as retail space.

The increase in room will allow the arts council to increase its number of galleries from two to three. The third gallery will be used by a new organization called the Visual Arts Cooperative. It will consist of 40 artists who, in exchange for membership dues, will be able to display one piece of art each every month. Thirty artists have signed up for the cooperative so far.

Even though the arts council is moving only a block and a half from its current location at 119 Independence St., Fulgham expects the location will make a big difference in the number of people who come in. "We believe we will get a substantial amount of increased foot traffic -- local people and also people that come in on riverboats," she said.

Owned by partnership

The new home is owned by Clila, a partnership composed of Bi-State Oil Co. owners Bob and Gaye Blank and their children Scott Blank and Danyne Ring. They purchased the building from Joe Vinson two months ago.

Scott Blank lives in the building next door and interested his parents in the idea of investing downtown. "Speaking for the family, we're very excited about this opportunity and excited about having the arts council as a tenant," he said.

The building also has three apartments on the second floor.

The Blank family is installing new heating and air conditioning units and renovating the bathroom to make it accessible for people with disabilities. Little other renovation will be required because the building previously housed an art gallery.

The arts council will occupy 3,500 square feet of space. That includes 2,500 square feet of floor space, 500 square feet of window display and 500 square feet of storage.

The walls between the three galleries will be movable to provide flexibility. The galleries will be stacked, with the artists cooperative occupying the front and the arts council administrative offices in back. Fulgham said the organization hopes to open a gift shop that will sell "Cape Girardeau items."

Four other locations

In the past decade, the arts council has occupied four other spaces: 100 Broadway, which is the current location of the Cape Girardeau Convention & Visitors Bureau; rooms in an office building at 1707 N. Mount Auburn Road; at the northeast corner of Sprigg and Independence; and the present galleries in the 119 Independence St. building owned by Greg Williams.

Dr. Jean Chapman, a sculptor who helped organize the artists cooperative, said each artist in the cooperative will pay $120 per year to belong. A three-artist panel will jury the membership list and decide which art is appropriate for exhibition. Artists working in all media, including fine jewelry, multimedia, video and photography, are welcome to join the cooperative, Chapman said. A grand opening and street fair are planned for the spring.

Artists in the cooperative will give the gallery 10 percent of the proceeds from sales. That is a much better deal than they receive from most art galleries, which usually receive 50 percent.

Anita Dickerson, who works primarily as a portrait painter, belongs to the new cooperative. She says artists have needed something like this ever since the Southeast Missourian art show was discontinued a number of years ago.

"It's a chance to display our work and very reasonable," she said.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182