Group eyes Clarkson's Damon Hall for arts center

POTSDAM — Clarkson University trustees and their spouses got a look Friday at plans to turn a long-vacant downtown campus building into a thriving arts center.

The St. Lawrence County Arts Council on Monday applied for a $2.5 million grant from the Empire State Development Corp. Restore NY program. If the Arts Council lands the funding, it will be put toward a $6 million project to transform Clarkson's Damon Hall into art studio, gallery, practice, education and performance space.

Executive Director Hilary M. Oak said the Arts Council and university are discussing discounted rental rates for the 32,500-square-foot building, and her organization is committed to moving the project forward even if the grant application fails.

"It will be very important for the growth of the Arts Council," she said. "It's really going to expand what we can offer the public in terms of classes and professional artist support services."

Ms. Oak said grant awards are expected to be announced in July.

"This project is exciting for many reasons. The first class I taught 30 years ago was in Damon Hall," said Clarkson Provost Thomas C. Young. "This is the best opportunity that has come along since it's been vacant. To see this building put to good, beneficial public use is a great opportunity."

Ms. Oak said the Arts Council has long believed Damon Hall would make a perfect home for an arts center, its many windows providing ample natural light for artists' work and a theater and recital hall on the first floor for performing arts.

Project work will progress in phases, with initial focus on the basement and first floor, she said.

Also planned for the first floor are galleries, a dance studio that may double as community event space, and a kitchen for catering theater performances and culinary arts classes.

The basement will be home to a ceramics studio and the building's mechanical systems. The second floor will offer space for glass, paper, and jewelry making; sculpture and fiber arts; a corridor gallery, offices and studios. The third floor will be devoted to music, sound and video arts, painting and drawing.

The fourth-floor roof will be home to a garden, solar panels and an event terrace.

"We're committed to the idea of making the whole building as functional as possible," she said.

Architect James Vincent Czajka, New York, has been enlisted for building design.

"We will be developing some design teams from the community to help us plan the studio spaces," Ms. Oak said. "We encourage the community to give us their thoughts, particularly on our online survey."

The survey can be found at www.slcartscouncil.org, and asks participants, among other things, how they would use an arts center. More information about the organization can also be found online, or by calling Ms. Oak at 265-6860.