It would be awfully exciting to create an arts collective here in Owensboro.

It seems I’m often told that if I want to achieve something I should set a goal. Then, to make it concrete I need to write it down and/or share it with other people. That makes it more real and builds some accountability. In that vein, I share this idea.

My recent experience putting on a play with OCTC has convinced me that there are passionate, talented, and driven people who care about the arts (theatre, music, visual art, etc.) and how those activities can support, grow, and define a community. We have these people in abundance here in Owensboro. They are wonderful people with vision and experience and focus. I consider myself fortunate to have fallen in with some of them. It feels like the happiest of accidents.

If this is a happy accident, I’d like to grab fortune’s favor and make hay with it. What I’d like to do is to build some sort of nexus around which all these people, projects, and passions can orbit. Its foundation would be a multi-use space where theatre productions could be stood up, or an art gallery could exhibit, or a class on costuming could be held, or a musical performance could happen. A physical place whose mission is to provide space for the exercise of our collective creative spirit.

That word collective is important. Its members would share a mission of education and championing new visions of art in our community. Let’s paint with new materials. Let’s build sculptures with items from our environment. Let’s put on new plays that can’t be seen anywhere else. Let’s do Shakespeare in a way that challenges our assumptions. Let’s push on the political and social boundaries of our community. Let’s a be a force for change.

There are already people working to make this kind of change. I am not interested in diminishing their existing work or taking away from the reputations they’ve built. Instead, I want to enable and connect them with a space we can share and grow together.

There are a million things to consider and a million places to start. Stating my intention is where I choose to begin. Want to join me? Get in touch.