Sculptor
This website is a place to explore the concept of the SLO Center for the Arts. It is a working site for those who wish to help define the Center, its physical facilities, its uses and its development. It is also a site for those who want to understand the concept of the Center as it develops.
NEW VISITOR? The initial concept of the SLO Center for the Arts was conceptualized in the property and building of the old Sunny Acres Orphanage located north Bishop Street east of Johnson Avenue behind the old General Hospital. However, after attempts to work with City and the option holders of the property, it appears that property will not be available for the Center.
So, now our task is to find a similar but different location. If you are not familiar with our efforts and want to understand what we are trying to create, start with the Video tab, then the Concept tab while recognizing that we are attempting to find an alternative location that has similar characteristics of the Sunny Acres property.
If you familiar with the concept and support our efforts, help us to find another location with similar characteristics. If you have a suggestion, please share your idea by emailing as shown in the Contact menu item or adding your thoughts to the Comments menu item.
Concept
The Concept
The SLO Center for the Arts (SLOCA) is currently a vision of a group of neighbors and art interested folks who would like to create a Creative Art Center in San Luis Obispo modeled somewhat upon the very successful Marin Headlands in the Bay Area.
Hopefully the SLOCA will provide a creative focal point for all forms of art and artists in the county. We are blessed to have a huge number of artists in our county. Part of that stems directly from the programs at our local colleges – Cal Poly, Cuesta and Hancock – with programs in many areas of art; partly from the various groups and organizations that encourage various forms of art; and partly from the attraction those educational institutions provide for individuals looking for the quality of life that the Central Coast provides. In any case, that interest in the arts provides a cultural richness to the county and we would like to foster and enhance that in the future.
We hope that the creation of the SLO Center for the Arts will help to stimulate interest in all forms of art, just as the PAC, the Clark Center and the CPAC have helped the performing arts. As wonderful as those venues are, they do have some limitations for smaller groups due to their size. They do not fulfill all the needs of smaller groups.
The SLO Center for the Arts is envisioned as a vehicle to foster the performing arts such as acting, dance, vocal, musical, culinary, literary, etc. as well as visual arts including painting, sculpture, crafts, photography, architecture, landscape, film, etc.
It will be a location where the various artists can MEET, CREATE, SHARE and EDUCATE. It will provide a venue for performances, a location for classes, rehearsals and presentations; provide resources for artists and art organizations; and be wonderful outdoor nature preserve to be enjoyed by those who create art as well as all of us who just enjoy art and the outdoors. It will be a focal point for all the organizations that work with, sponsor and organize all the varieties of artists in our community. Hopefully it will be integrated with our local elementary, middle and high school educational programs as well as connected to the advanced educational institutions.
We envision this center becoming a regular part of our life to the benefit of all segments of the community in San Luis Obispo county.
SLO Center for the Arts Draft Document
Video
View the following video to gain a better understanding of the concept of the SLO Center for the Arts.
Team
The Team
Currently the team spearheading this effort is comprised of neighbors of the property who feel, if the property is going to be developed, it should be developed with a vision of how the property and the historical building can be used to the benefit of the maximum number or breadth of the community. We anticipate that the team will need to grow to include members of the arts community – organizations and individual artists, City and County administrators and elected officials and other lay and professionals whose skills, talents and interests coincide with our goals.
Goals
The Goals
Our goals are simple – make our vision a reality. The task, however, is not so simple. Here are some of the basic goals of the project.
- Find an alternative location that has some if not all of the features of the Sunny Acres site:
- A natural environment with sufficient outdoor property allow the artists and visitors the freedom to wander outside.
- Sufficient space for a 10,000 square foot building footprint.
- Space for an outdoor amphitheater.
- Space for outdoor gardens
- A location close to the current cultural center of town
- A location close to Cal Poly and local high schools and primary schools
- Design a building and landscape plan that satisfies the needs of individual artists and art organizations
- Design a business model that will support the on-going operation of the Center
- Solicit the participation of local governement
- Solicit the participation of the neighborhoods near the location
- Solicit funding sources
Previous Goals for Sunny Acres Property:
While initially it would appear that the biggest challenge would be raising the funding for such an ambitious goal, our professional advisers feel that the administrative process of dealing with the County, the City and County contractor will be the most challenging.
To proceed, in addition to soliciting funding,
- we must convince the County co-dependent Transitions Mental Health Association to assign their option for the property to us or find an alternate site for the Center or for Transitions,
- we must convince the County to accept the assignment and modify the terms of the option to allow for the SLO Center for the Arts,
- we must convince the County to let us plan for the entire unoccupied property surrounding the Sunny Acres Historical Building,
- we must design the physical aspects of the Center including the refurbishing and rehabilitating of the Sunny Acres Historical Building,
- we must get approval from the City to implement the plan and
- we must define a sustainable business model for the operation of the Center.
News
May 26, 2017
The Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop published its latest newsletter describing recent activities and uses for its re-purposed garage space. Amazing what uses and value such an open space can provide. Click here to see the newsletter.
May 15, 2017
We continue to evaluate alternative locations for the SLO Center for the Arts. Our efforts focus around a location that will require a new building. So, we have been conceptualizing what such a new building would encompass – size, needs, proportions of work space, gallery space, office space, presentation areas, etc.
November 15, 2016
The appeal by Ray Rigetti of the proposed TMHA Bishop Studios project was heard by the SLO City Council. Despite the presentation made as to why the SLO Center for the Arts was a better use of the building and property than the TMHA project, the City Council voted to deny the appeal. The city staff falsely stated that to accept the appeal would violate State Law. THMA was strongly support by a legion of their staff, board members and colleagues in other non profit organizations. One of whom privately said they supported the Center concept but needed to align themselves with other non-profits in SLO.
October 15, 2016
The SLO Center for the Arts concept will be presented before the SLO City Council on November 15, 2016, at the City Council meeting. We need any and all supporter to attend and express support for the concept or to email the City Council members prior to the meeting at emailcouncil@slocity.org with the subject, Support for SLO Center for the Arts at Sunny Acres Historical Building.
August 2, 2016
Now called the Community Arts Workshop, the concept defined last year in Santa Barbara has had a very successful initial year. It was named the “Citizen of the Year” by the Santa Barbara Downtown Association.
More details can be viewed at their website, www.sbcaw.org, and their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sbcaw.
March 15, 2015
Santa Barbara has just released a video for a similar concept as the SLO Center for the Arts being adopted in Santa Barbara. They are so excited about developing a facility that is less than half the size of our concept and less than half of the vision that we have. View and enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbTeyKe5VkI
Alternative Locations
We are currently investigating alternative locations. One such location would require the construction of a new building. Preliminary plans are being defined for such a building on a new location. While each location would have building constraints, we are investigating the design of a building that would house:
- offices for existing art related organizations,
- a multi-purpose space for performances, presentations and gallery showings of similar size to the Clark Center Studio Theater, the CPAC Black Box Theater or other similar “experimental theater” concepts,
- workshops for artists and set building,
- casual meeting places for collaboration,
- meeting rooms,
- practice and rehearsal rooms,
- classrooms,
- shared work space offices and
- a kitchen and dining area.
Current thought are for a building with useful area of 15,000 square feet. Possibly with a 10,000 square foot footprint.
