Tell her how you feel

If you see this person out and about in Hagerstown, introduce yourself. She is Lauren LaRocca, a columnist for the Frederick News Post who is highly critical of the cultural scene in her former hometown, Hagerstown. If you've ever enjoyed an exhibit at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, tell her about it. If you've ever been moved by a performance of the Maryland Symphony under the baton of Elizabeth Schulz, describe it for her. And if you are one of the thousands of people who support the arts in Hagerstown with your time or your energy or your money, lay it out for her.

If you feel like going one step further and informing the editors of the Frederick News Post how you feel about our community being unfairly slighted, you can do so easily by clicking here.

Don't diss my town

Yesterday, following a lunchtime concert in downtown Hagerstown, one of the musicians sent me an email saying "it turned out pretty well, a lot of folks turned out and we had one of our best crowds. Thank you for having us play, and we look forward to next year with you. Thanks for improving our County with all the great art/music programs." So, I was surprised then to read Lauren LaRocca's astonishing assertion that there is no support for the arts in Hagerstown.

According to her column published August 16, in the Frederick News-Post (a newspaper published in a neighboring city; we have our own daily newspaper here in Hagerstown) she's spent the better part of 15 years searching for evidence in bars around town. The truth is that thereis enormous support for the arts in Hagerstown, and you don't have to look very hard to find it.

Hagerstown is home to the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the community's sustenance of that excellent orchestra has grown over its inception 26 years ago. Last year more than 70,000 patrons heard the MSO's performances.Hagerstown is home also to the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, one of only four accredited museums of fine art in the state of Maryland. Every year tens of thousands visit the museum, tour its exhibits, take classes,and attend lectures and performances.

Working in partnership with the City of Hagerstown, the Washington County Arts Council presents more than 50 performances by local bands and actors during the summer months, and attendance at those events grows every year.LaRocca might find it instructive to visit our beautiful City Park on a Saturday evening. Or a Sunday evening. Or a Wednesday evening. Or visitUniversity Plaza at lunchtime on Thursday. Music all the time. There's so much of it going on that a person could scarcely take it all in. And it's all supported with dollars from local individuals and businesses. Onereason we have more arts events per capita than any other jurisdiction is because financial support by business and government consistently increases every year.

And what about the Western Maryland Blues Fest? Tens of thousands of Blues fans over four days, plus school workshops, art exhibits. A national magazine calls it one of the best-run and best-supported festivals in the country. It's been going on for twelve years, and it's 100% home-grown and locally supported. It's hard to miss.

While LaRocca was sitting alone in the Maryland Theatre, half a block away there were more than 60 guests packed into the Arts Council Gallery for an opening reception, and a few blocks away hundreds of listeners were attending a concert-featuring local musicians-at the bandshell in City Park.

It's worth noting that the historic theatre LaRocca visited last week was rescued from dereliction by community donors and volunteers. It took considerable support to save the Maryland Theatre, and Hagerstown is rightly proud of this cherished landmark.

Today, very real and progressive support for the arts is making magical things happen in Hagerstown. City and County officials have committed to the creation of the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. A local businessman donated the building which will become that school. The entire downtown will serve as the school's campus. Some 300 students will attend the school, ontrack to open in January 2009. Sure, not everyone in the community is sold on the idea, but support for the school is so strong that it will become a reality. In Hagerstown.

Finding an audience

It was puzzling. After decades of presenting storytime for children in various parks around the county, the once-popular events just weren't attracting children the way they used to. Last summer it could be pretty disappointing to sit and stew in the heat on a Tuesday morning at a park in Boonsboro or Hancock, and it'd just be me and the storyteller and sometimes one or two children and their custodians.

So, this summer we tried something new, and teamed up with the folks at the Valley Mall and their "Mommy & Me" program. Every week, parents and children show up, get discount coupons for lunch in the food court, sign up for cool raffle prizes, and enjoy storytime in air conditioned comfort. And it's not just dozens of families, but rather dozens of dozens. Around a hundred on a good day.

Some people say that's a shame, to move out of the park. I guess people just don't live that way any more. We've found success in going to where the people are already, not just the Valley Mall but also at Municipal Stadium before Hagerstown Suns baseball games. Kudos to the Nora Roberts Foundation for sticking with us while we refine our methods!

Welcome to the neighborhood

Today I got to witness the induction of some 175 new teachers into our county's public school system. Some are veteran teachers from other counties. But most are recent graduates whose average age appears to be about 22. The event took place in the cafeteria of South Hagerstown High School, which was a sort of architectural triumph 50 years ago and still looks pretty snazzy.

Anyway, speeches were made about the quality of the our public schools, the value of qualified teachers, the breadth of local business support for education, the depth of our cultural traditions. While the various local officials took turns saying their piece, the the assembled teachers sat at the cafeteria tables, lunching on little sandwiches and brownies and fruit punch.

Yours truly was among the representatives of dozens of local agencies with display booths set up around the perimeter of the room. Prominent among these were local banks and credit unions, watching the new teachers like hawks considering their prey. Also present were usual suspects such as the library, the humane society, the tourism bureau. And along with all these were the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts as well as the Maryland Theatre. Because I wasn't actually invited (your arts council being a sort of after-thought, bottom-feeding kind of agency in the consideration of the organizers, far below the likes of the Museum and the Theatre), I sorta snuck in and staked out a corner of the Maryland Theatre's table (thanks, Brian!) and then acted like I was supposed to be there all along.

Unfortunately, there weren't that many takers. I'm hoping that as these young people new to our community get settled in, they'll venture out and see just how much arts-n-culture stuff is available to them. But, even if I didn't make a lot of contacts today, dragging myself across that scorching parking lot was worth it, just to see what a crop of new teachers looks like, but--more importantly--to witness firsthand the ways in which our community values education.