WELCOME TO MIDTOWN
Midtown Arts District seeks to unite, revitalize area
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> There are more than 400 people earning their living from the arts in Midtown and the aptly named “Midtown Arts District” was formed to support them and help drive the local economy.
Richard Frumess, president of the Midtown Arts District’s board of directors, said the arts district concept was something that had been bandied about for a few years before it came to fruition. He said there were a number of arts-based businesses, including his R&F Handmade Paints and Bailey Pottery on Ten Broeck Avenue, that were already in existence in Midtown when the di the district idea arose.
“So, we started to realize we really do have an arts district,” Frumess said recently. He said the group forming the district started to put together committees and hold public meetings to further explore the idea.
“We formed committees to actually reach out to the city and other people and also to
explore the arts districts in other cities, what they had done,” Frumess said. He said they realized the arts district was something that could be the basis for revitalizing Midtown.
The Midtown Arts District now seeks to unite, revitalize and enrich the community through the arts, according to its website. The group is building upon the city’s reputation as an artsfriendly place to live, work and play to ensure inclusive and equitable community development and economic revitalization.
Frumess said that includes making sure artists already in the community do not get priced out as Midtown develops and grows.
“When we helped to launch the Midtown Arts District in October of 2016, it galvanized the long sought vision of many who believe Midtown Kingston, home to numerous art’s manufacturing businesses, also could serve as a mecca for those who live, work, and enjoy the arts and culture in the Hudson Valley,” city Mayor Steve Noble said in a statement. “The Kingston Midtown Arts District will work to brand an area of Kingston in an effort to continue inviting creatives into the heart of our city and feed into our bustling Uptown Stockade district and Rondout waterfront areas.
I believe the city’s work to improve our Broadway streetscape, our connectivity work with the Kingston Greenline, our support of Broadway Commons, and numerous other projects will lead to great things along the corridor.”
Frumess said the Midtown Arts District is generally located on the axis of Broadway and Cornell Street and Greenkill Avenue, along with neighboring businesses in places like Ten Broeck Avenue. He said amongst the businesses that call the district home are the Ulster Performing Arts Center on Broadway, the Lace Mill artist housing on Cornell Street, and galleries like the (P)optimism Shoppe and Artbar Gallery, both on Broadway.
Kitty McCullough, treasurer for the Midtown Arts District board of directors, said there are more than 40 buildings that have art related uses in Midtown. She said there are approximately 200 businesses there, ranging from art entrepreneurs to manufacturers who are distributed nationwide. In addition to those businesses, there are approximately 400 people earning their living from the arts in Midtown, McCullough said.
Amongst efforts the Midtown Arts District is undertaking is to revitalize “First Saturday” events in Kingston to draw visitors back to the area, McCullough said. She said there are more than two dozen galleries and venues that do something during the first Saturday of the month, so a gallery group has been formed to get those business together to work on drawing crowds back.
There are also work groups that are focused on individual tasks, such as one centered on local galleries and another working to promote arts and organize events, Frumess said.
McCullough said the Midtown Arts District is also getting ready to launch its Ben Wigfall Project, amongst other efforts.
Wigfall was a professor of printmaking at SUNY New Paltz and was the school’s first African-American professor, according to the district website. He purchased a former Ponckhockie livery stable and transformed it into a printmaking studio, but expanded the concept to create a center for arts that he called Communications Village.
The Midtown Arts District’s new Ben Wigfall project will serve Midtown youth and families by drawing on community arts expertise and talent. A series of spring and summer arts workshops will be held for local youth and families.
“Ben was a well-known figure in the art world,” Frumess said. He said the arts district’s project would be a continuation of Wigfall’s vision of involving the community in art.
And towards the end of the year, the Midtown Arts District will host another Celebration of the Arts event.