So It Begins with a Dream

If you were given control of something, say a church building, and you could do whatever you wanted with it, what would you dream into existence?

Last fall I moved to Union City, and have been given that opportunity with St. John's. This beautiful church, here for over 100 years, is essentially my place to come up with something, anything that will keep this place open. Now, this has a lot of issues (it basically costs $500 a week to keep the place open), especially when you know that the Sunday morning congregation isn't going to be a saving grace for the place.

So what do you do? Fortunately, Union City has a whole lot of talent, and in this cramped city there's a need for space. Talent needs a home, and we need talent. What can we do to give artists a home, and how can they help maintain that home? Mutual benefit, what will it look like?

If I have my way, St. John's would be a community center. People learning to paint or dance, new ideas being spawned organically from a mix of programs that locals attend and teach. How do we reach out to each other? How do we make this happen?

I am very fortunate that there are other people interested in making this dream happen. Melissa Murray-Mutch and Luigi Novi will be co-writing this gamble we call Arts at St. John's with me.

Things really started this spring with a set of three events. The first thing we did was call the local arts community into our doors. This was the first meeting of Arts at St. John's. Everything was laid bare, the church is trying to remain open in the face of a small Sunday congregation, and it didn't know how much longer the doors could be open. There was also a lot of interest from the community end in having a place to let culture, art and learning happen naturally in the immediate neighborhood. The Revival Cabaret was the first born child of these discussions.

The event was so lively, it felt like our own local version of A Prairie Home Companion, a variety show based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. That night some of my dream came true in the laughter and singing, family friendly frivolity fused with the sense that this is something new.

Union City Opera followed up not long after with Viva Italia!, with the lofty and stunning vocal skills of their company giving life to Puccini, Verdi and more on a humid spring night, but leaving behind any trace of doubt that this was something different as well.

And currently, this summer, we have a wellness program, that offers everything from meditation to belly dancing classes, even aerial acrobatics classes for the adventurous.

But all of this is this is just the beginning. My dream is to get you to dream too. There are very serious real issues, certainly, like how to pay for these dreams. But the first thing is to have you look into yourself and find something you want to see happen, what gift do you want to shine? Are you willing to try it out, and I mean really put some work into it? We have a place for you here, at Arts at St. John's. Dream with us.

Photo credit to Luigi Novi and Johnnie Niel.