culture

Could An Arts Center Be Harney County's Salvation?

By Aaron Scott (OPB)
Aug. 15, 2015 2 p.m.
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Harney County, as County Commissioner Pete Runnels put it, has "approximately 7,000 people in 10,000 square miles of wonder and awe." It also has a big question on its hands: could a big investment in the arts and arts education help rebuild the community?

The county went from being among the wealthiest in the state per capita in the 70s to being near the bottom now, thanks to the collapse of the timber industry. A long ways from the nearest freeway, railroad and big city, the county has had a difficult time luring businesses of any sort since.

"We search, we recruit, and we pray that something will happen," Runnels said, but "we have roadblocks that knock us back. The one road we have not traveled is that arts and economic development as a joint venture."

Some of the conceptual plans for the new Harney County Performing Arts and Education Center.

Some of the conceptual plans for the new Harney County Performing Arts and Education Center.

Aaron Scott / OPB

The county has a rich musical history. In 1910, a young pioneer woman named Mary Dodge started the Sagebrush Orchestra in Burns. The ensemble toured the state until Dodge moved to Portland, where her group evolved into the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

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In 2009, a group of music lovers wanted to bring the Portland Youth Philharmonic back to Burns for PYP's centennial. The only place big enough for it to play was the high school gymnasium.

"It took them months to get a date out of the high school to use gym," said Ken Peckham, a retired music teacher, "because it was loaded up with volley ball practice every day."

 Once it finally happened, 800 people — that is, 1/10 of the county's population — turned out for it.  

"One of the ladies said, 'What this place needs is a performing arts center to hold this stuff,' recalled Peckham. "We thought, 'Yeah right, we don't have a spare $3 million.' The lady reached over and said, 'Honey, $3 million is easy.' That's where idea started."

The way Peckham and his wife, Debbie, see it, the county needed a lot more than just performance space. Thanks to budget cuts, students at the elementary school rehearse in the attic; students at the high school have no auditorium, practice room, nor even instrument lockers, and the art room had been converted to the school store. The Peckhams, who run the Harney County Arts in Education Foundation, decided the county needed a place for the students to learn, rehearse and perform.

The Foundation brought in decorated architect Donald Stastny, who drew up basic plans for a stunning $16 million building designed to blend in with the mesa landscape. It includes a performance hall, recital hall, gallery, ceramics studio, and rooms for classes and rehearsals.

Burns organized a concert of young musicians and the Steens Mountain Ballet the night before the symposium. The audience was standing room only at the Church of the Nazarene, signaling the thirst for a bigger performance venue.

Burns organized a concert of young musicians and the Steens Mountain Ballet the night before the symposium. The audience was standing room only at the Church of the Nazarene, signaling the thirst for a bigger performance venue.

Aaron Scott / OPB

The first time they presented the idea to local officials, "their mouths fell open," Debbie Peckham remembered. "They thought we were nuts."  But supporters persisted and, over several years, brought the leaders around and convinced the school district to donate land next to the high school for the center.

In May, the performing arts center proponents organized the Southeast Oregon Symposium on Arts and Economic Development as the big public roll out of the project with the hope of sparking a significant, community-wide conversation. They brought in four presenters to talk about successful small town case studies, including

Marfa, Texas,

and Jerome, Arizona.

Closer to home: the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newburg renovated the shuttered central school into a nonprofit that hosts classes, exhibits, lectures and private events. Although, as the executive director pointed out, Newberg has the advantage of being in the heart of wine country, 30 miles from Portland with an estimated 40,000 cars passing through each day. (By contrast, Burns, billed as the Gateway to the Steens Mountains, gets some 10,000 cars a day.)

A number of citizens expressed concerns about the center. "We can't even afford to take care of our grade school," said Maureen Weber, a local artist. "The utilities are a big thing here. The structure, the way it is now, has high ceilings; that's where heat's going to go. I can't picture it'll be viable in winter."
 
Indeed, the backers commissioned a feasibility study that estimated the maximum price tag the community could bear at $6.3 million. The center's projected price tag: $16 million.
 
Critics also argued for reusing a historic building instead. But members of the arts center board said that they looked at existing buildings and found them wanting, whether for lack of parking, distance from the high school, or expense. They emphasized, though, that the plans are far from final.
 
The organizers' next step is to create a business and sustainability plan and to start a capital campaign.

County Judge Steve Grasty has lived in the area since 1971. "We've only purchased one thing in that time over a million dollars, so this is huge," he said. "But what I’ve found over years is when this county buys into something, it’s probably going to happen."

Listen to this week's State of Wonder for more case studies from Tieton and Joseph of small towns leveraging arts and culture as part of their development strategies.

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