Arts Council opens new space on Spanish Street in downtown Cape

The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri welcomed about 300 people for a soft opening Friday at its new 4,000-square-foot space at 16 N. Spanish St. in Cape Girardeau.

Executive director Murielle Gaither said the agency began looking for a new place to call home about three years ago.

“The functionality has improved for us tenfold,” Gaither said.

The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri held a soft opening Friday at its new location at 16 N. Spanish St. in Cape Girardeau.Lindsay Jones ~ ljones@semissourian.com

Until its move Thursday and part of the day Friday, the organization was at 32 N. Main St.

In the old, 3,000-square-foot space that the Arts Council rented for 13 years, the primary use was for displaying artwork, although presentations and other events could be worked around exhibits when necessary.

Now, however, the new location not only has exhibit spaces for the council and its member group the Visual Arts Cooperative, but it has classroom and workshop spaces as well.

A partner organization, On Cue Performing Arts Center, also is renting space next door that will be used for theater and dance rehearsals.

Gaither said the expanded offerings are meant to honor the Arts Council’s mission to make all of the arts more accessible to people in Southeast Missouri, and “not just the visual component.”

Among the new features is a large workshop that can accommodate 15 to 20 people for classes, plus three smaller classroom spaces.

One of the more intimate rooms can fit three to five students and the others one to two apiece. The smaller spaces also are available for artists to “buckle down” and use for completing projects away from their home studios, Gaither said.

Although a reservation structure for the rooms isn’t in place just yet, it’s expected to be by the end of the summer.

Another striking feature at the new location its is low-maintenance, polished concrete floors.

“Art can be messy, so we wanted something easy to clean up,” Gaither said.

Gallery manager Liz Montgomery said the Arts Council’s grand opening will be on the first Friday in September with an exhibit of members’ work.

ljones@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3652

Pertinent address:

16 N. Spanish St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.