Artists can save Rust Hall and the Brooks Building
Nikka Valken had plans. After dropping out of college twice, she finally finished her degree at Memphis College of Art at age 41. But last fall, as the visual artist was settling into her status as an alumnus of the school that helped her turn creativity into something consistent in her life, it closed. After being around since 1930. “I was so proud of that, graduating from Memphis College of Art,” said Valken. “I was looking forward to being an alumnus, to the travels they plan for the alumni ... to experiencing the arts in other countries ... Then, they announced they were closing.”
Yet in many ways Valken doesn’t have much to fret about — along with most of the people gathered Wednesday at Lester Community Center to figure out what should become of the college’s building, Rust Hall, and the Brooks Museum of Art once they no longer educate students or attract visitors to Overton Park.
That’s because figuring out what to do with those buildings will require the kind of thinking that views revival and restoration of empty spaces as artistic opportunities.
Which means that if artistic types are guiding the process, Rust Hall and the Brooks Museum, more than likely, won’t languish. Or, at least not for long. And there was no shortage of ideas. Many of those who attended agreed that the closing of the college and the museum creates an opportunity for the buildings to connect more strongly to the surrounding community and reflect its diversity. The buildings could also become a space to build a larger arts community.
Ideas ranged from involving K-12 educators in bringing art to students outside of school, to becoming a spot where artists could build networks to start businesses.
Keith D. Lee, a nonprofit and arts management consultant, agreed that broadening the arts community was important.
“Memphis College of Arts had a view of itself that didn’t connect to the community — even though the artists did work in the community,” he said.
Lee also said he believes an opening exists for the Rust Building to become a place to teach arts management and entrepreneurship.
Right now, he said, Memphis has many individual artists, but many don’t know how to tap into fellowships, or how to profit from their art. Also, Lee said, such a center could enhance the arts by offering lifelong learning.
That, in and of itself, could garner more support for the arts among the broader population by changing some attitudes about it, he said.
“A lot of the thinking is that art is just for the leisure class, when working class people create art,” Lee said. “Our culture has to refocus on how we think about art and arts making ... the donor class needs to do more to support individual artists.” Valken echoed Lee’s thoughts. “I would like to see support for the arts community because the skills that build an artist aren’t necessarily the skills that build an entrepreneur,” she said. “… It could be a space to introduce people to the ideas that are going to make them successful.”
So, although Memphis College of Art closed last year because of debt and declining enrollment, the importance of community art and art education in Memphis isn’t dwindling.
And if graduates like Valken’s ideas can blend with those of people like Lee to build something great from the closing of the college and the relocation of the museum, then that’s a sign that the college did its job well.
And, in that sense, it will live on.