Here’s the building Vincent Groh donated for the new Barbara Ingram School for the Arts in downtown Hagerstown (Barbara Ingram was Mr. Groh’s late wife). Imagine how exciting it will be to have 300 motivated students using our downtown as a campus!
As anticipated, the plan is not without its critics. But the bottom line is that finally budding artists—painters, potters, musicians, actors, dancers—in our public school system now will have the opportunities for preparation that they need and deserve. And the economic opportunities have downtown business owners feeling happier than they have in a long time.
Watch for construction and renovation to begin soon. Opening is targeted for January 2009.
As anticipated, the plan is not without its critics. But the bottom line is that finally budding artists—painters, potters, musicians, actors, dancers—in our public school system now will have the opportunities for preparation that they need and deserve. And the economic opportunities have downtown business owners feeling happier than they have in a long time.
Watch for construction and renovation to begin soon. Opening is targeted for January 2009.
6 comments:
it's a great idea, but don't we need a lot of other things first? what about training high school students for good-paying jobs in the community, instead of teaching them things that they'll just leave town and never come back? Our money for schools should stay here.
Jacob's mom has a point, but, in the first place, statistics indicate most teenagers will leave Hagerstown, whether we train them in arts or carpentry. And second, a kid who is good at visual art will not be helped by being trained in carpentry. We already have specialized training at Tech High. Why can't we have specialized training for art and music and dance?
I bet you don't have children. If you did, you wouldn't teach them that the only way to make it is to leave home. I've been here for five generations, and if it was good enough for my grandmother, it's good enough for my kids.
Actually, I do have kids. All three are good with visual and musical arts and would benefit from further training in that field. But if I send them to a carpentry school, they might not flourish.
So should they not have a chance to study arts, like mechanically minded kids can study car mechanics and carpentry at Tech High?
I am completely shocked - honestly!
Here is a man who gives away a building to his community to serve the arts and our future generations' ability to be creative participants of a society and people do not find a word like "thank you"??? They wonder what it is good for? Shame, and shame - farewell to the western empire...
I've heard that the building giveaway was not as generous as you would imagine. That its a huge tax write off for a building that would have been difficult to sell for any value. I do think the arts school is a great idea though. Kudos to whomever is pushing this through.
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