The Arts Center expanding to boost programming
Mar. 29—JAMESTOWN — A project to expand The Arts Center will most importantly serve more children in the community, said Riley Akervik, president of the Jamestown Fine Arts Association Board of Directors.
"It's definitely important from a multitude of aspects, but I do think probably the most important piece is that currently we are denying so many children in our community proper arts education," he said.
The Arts Center has an artist in residence, Anna Brock, going into the schools to teach some art programs, Akervik said. The Arts Center also currently provides programming for grades 3-6.
Mindi Schmitz, executive director of The Arts Center, said with the expansion project, they plan to offer additional programming for grades K-2 and middle school.
To serve more children, the Jamestown Fine Arts Association, doing business as The Arts Center, announced the Raising the Bar for the Arts capital campaign in 2023. The nonprofit purchased the former Wonder Bar located next to The Arts Center to expand classroom space for children's programming. The building is expected to be renovated in time to open in August for fall programming, Schmitz said. A grand opening is expected at that time, Akervik said.
The project will provide one classroom in the existing Arts Center building and a second one in the addition plus a culinary kitchen. The kitchen will be used by students attending Jamestown Public Schools and the James Valley Career and Technology Center. It's also expected to be used for other Arts Center classes and others, Schmitz said.
The expansion also means more adults can attend events and classes along with having new event spaces to rent. In addition, there will be two studios for local/regional artists.
"Physically, we're going to have a large footprint here in Jamestown and we'll be able to expand our programming, which is exciting, and offer different opportunities, particularly with the culinary kitchen to the community and surrounding areas," Schmitz said.
Of the $2 million goal set for the "Raising the Bar for the Arts" capital campaign for the project, $1.7 million has been raised, Schmitz said. The new goal is now $2.4 million, with the campaign called "Raising the Bar (even higher) for the Arts."
Schmitz said the change in the capital campaign goal was due to cost increases and a requirement to add a sprinkler system in The Arts Center and the addition.
Phase I of the project was purchasing the building and demolition, Schmitz said. Phase II is the renovation of the building, and Phase III will finish two studio apartments planned for visiting artists.
"I'm feeling positive about it (the project) and I know the community will get behind us even more after they see construction progress," Schmitz said.
Akervik said adding the space means The Arts Center will be able to increase the number of students taking classes.
"So currently, we can host maybe eight to 12 students depending on what kind of class it is but with the new space, we're anticipating we'll be able to host about 40 students," he said, noting there has been a waiting list for students to attend Arts After School. "It's really just going to allow us to offer accessible arts education to so many kids in our community that we never could allow before due to the space limitations.
"I would say No. 1, that's why this project is important to me and important to the board," Akervik said. "And then additionally, we're also looking at expanding our programming."
Arts programming is important for students, Schmitz said.
"I think there's a great demand out there for students to have alternatives to sports and other extracurricular things," she said. "Art provides a whole different avenue for students to create and even find some different emotional stability."
The new art therapy program for children that held its first session in March is also expected to be located in the new space as well, Akervik said. The Jamestown Fine Arts Center secured a $203,500 grant from Strengthen ND to provide a two-year pilot program to serve children who are referred for the program.
The Skills Enrichment Through the Arts program is coordinated by Jennifer Lipetzky, who has a Doctor of Psychology, teaches psychology at the University of Jamestown and had a clinical practice in Jamestown for about 10 years, she said.
"We have limited resources in Jamestown for mental health care and because we have limited resources, the more acute kids will get, hopefully, the services that they need, where you have this whole other group of kids that could benefit from supports but they're unable to get them," Lipetzky told The Jamestown Sun in February. "So by offering a program like this, we can reach those kids that don't have other supports otherwise so that they don't continue to struggle."
Akervik said students who have gone through traumatic experiences or are grieving due to the loss of a parent, sibling or relative can get bused to The Arts Center from school for the art therapy sessions with a licensed psychologist who can help them work through their struggles, grief and trauma by expressing themselves through the arts.
The Jamestown Public School Board approved a memorandum of understanding in 2024 that establishes a partnership between the James Valley Career and Technology Center and The Arts Center to provide a culinary arts facility, The Jamestown Sun reported in June.
The culinary kitchen will be located in the southwest corner of the former Wonder Bar building, Schmitz said.
Jamestown Public Schools is paying for the equipment in the culinary kitchen, which will be used for classes during the day for JPS/JVCTC students.
"We are thrilled about this partnership as it provides benefits for students from all our JVCTC member schools," said Adam Gehlhar, director of the JVCTC. "Students from our current member schools include Pingree, Montpelier, Gackle and Jamestown. We also see some potential for Jamestown Middle School students, the Jamestown High School Family and Consumer Science classes, and obviously the Jamestown community to benefit from this facility."
Heidi Eckart, assistant director of the JVCTC, said JVCTC will offer Culinary I and Culinary II classes.
When students/staff are not using the kitchen, it would be open for others to use, such as The Arts Center or local individuals making their own products, she said.
"We're just really excited to have a collaboration with The Arts Center to be able to offer these courses and be able to share facilities," Eckart said. "I think that's a great way that we can utilize the community and vice versa and have that symbiotic relationship of helping one another out."
Eckart said they expect to begin offering Culinary I in the spring of 2026.
The culinary arts program prepares students for college programs in food service, according to the course information, along with being ready for different paths after graduation and work-based learning opportunities. The Culinary I course is designed to prepare students for occupations concerned with the preparation and service of food, and Culinary II is designed to allow students to continue training for food service occupation.
"It just makes sense in our community to have these kinds of partnerships," Gehlhar said. "JVCTC and JPS are always looking for community partners to work together for the community benefit and workforce development."
He said there have been other successful partnerships with its programs.
"Culinary arts is the first program we have tried with this sort of off-site facilities partnership and we are excited about the possibility of more win-win partnerships like this within the business or non-profit community," he said.
Jamestown Tourism provided a $25,000 grant for the kitchen, Schmitz said.
Allison Limke, visitor experience manager for Jamestown Tourism, said Tourism's board of directors approved a City Promotional Capital Construction Fund grant in March 2024.
The amount awarded was because The Arts Center and the culinary kitchen project meet multiple tourism goals, Limke said.
The kitchen will allow local people to create certified goods to sell in local markets, such as the General Store at Frontier Village, adding to the "North Dakota nice experience," Limke said, along with being a learning source for students.
Akervik said bringing in students for courses in the culinary kitchen means The Arts Center will be able to serve about 60 students at one time in the building with all of the programs it will be offering.
He said he hopes that will lead students to come to other classes not only as a student but as an adult who has stayed in the community.
The Arts Center will be working on a strategic plan this spring, Akervik and Schmitz said.
"One main reason for the strategic plan and the reason why we're doing it so soon is just because of the new space and that it's going to be growing very, very rapidly within the year," Akervik said, "so we just want to make sure we have a proper plan in place as far as staffing goes and classes that we'll be offering and facilities management so that the space is used to its fullest potential."
The growth means they will need more staff and will be looking at adding one or two positions in the future, Akervik said. Currently, The Arts Center has two full-time employees and one part-time employee.
Akervik thanked the donors, business members and sponsors for their support, noting that they couldn't do the project or keep The Arts Center open without them.
"Last year was the best year The Arts Center has had in over 10 years financially," Akervik said.
He said they've worked to secure new grants and new ideas with programming to ensure The Arts Center was financially stable and saw stability and growth last year.
"I would love to be able to see the spaces used all day long, during the day and in the evening, by offering different classes, providing support for different art groups," Schmitz said. "... right now, we have a writers group that meets once a month, we have a wood carvers group that meets once a week. We have Open Mic Night. Any way we can support creativity in Jamestown, that's what we're here to do."
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