Concerned residents who came together to form the Save the Munster CVPA Group are encouraged that the School Town of Munster pressed pause on plans to acquire the Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster but are now working on the next steps to try to preserve the arts center that's been a focal point of cultural life in Northwest Indiana for the last 35 years.
Supporters say the hub of visual arts, classical music and theater remains imperiled as the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana that first built it and has owned it the entire time was looking to gift it to the school district at a fire sale price. School Town of Munster Superintendent Bret Heller said the school was offered the 72,600-square-foot building at 1040 Ridge Road that opened in 1989 for $5.5 million when it was most recently appraised at $10.7 million.
"We succeeded but we have our work cut out for us," said Carolyn Jacobs, one of the organizers of the Save the Munster CVPA Group. "We need to make sure it will be successful for everyone and work for everyone."
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Save the Munster CVPA is now researching options for how to keep all the current arts programming and special events at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts.
"There's a sigh of relief that they're hitting pause," Jacob said. "It's important to preserve all the arts because they build off each other. There's a flute concert coming up where you can go to a champagne brunch and then see the beautiful Tri-Country Art Show with student artworks from floor to ceiling in the gallery. They all feed off each other. I just went to see the comedian Mike Toomey in a full theater at an almost sold-out show and was amazed by the work of all these students. We had dinner there before the show. It was a lovely night out."
Save the Munster CVPA likely will transition into Friends of the Munster CVPA and serve an ongoing support role the way Friends of the Dunes did with the Indiana Dunes National Park, Jacobs said. The group is now studying what other communities across Indiana and the Midwest have done to support similar arts centers.
"We're looking at private funding and economic development grants and studying some other models of how to put the funding structure together," she said. "There are arts centers in Carmel, Fishers, South Bend, Elkhart, Sheboygan and Lake Forest we're looking into. We're looking at the economic impact, the tourism dollars and all the different angles to make it self-sustaining. We're looking at big funding entities and pursuing private funding sources. It's a rapidly changing project. It's only been five weeks and so much has already occurred."
Barbara Whitaker said it's imperative to keep the arts center property from being sold for some commercial use.
"It's a unique piece of architecture. We don't want it to end up another cigar bar," she said. "We want to keep it for the arts, keep it going more or less as it is."
She's suggested the town could make part of it into a senior center and should at least preserve it as it's a place where seniors congregate, such as to see plays, listen to violin performances or attend Art in Focus lectures.
"Getting rid of it would be a step backwards," she said. "I recently took a bus trip to Purdue University and saw their art galleries there. I thought they would be very impressive but they didn't hold a candle to our art gallery, it's so fabulous. If this goes, it will affect the livability of the community and the quality of life."
Whitaker said there's grant funding, such as from the Lilly Foundation, that could keep the Center for Visual and Performing Arts going.
Larry Brechner, who worked as the Theatre Administrator for The Center for Visual and Performing Arts and hosts the "Art on the Air" show on Lakeshore Public Radio, said public-private partnerships should be explored to sustain the facility, which is home to South Shore Arts, the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, Theatre at the Center, Trama Catering and a ballroom that hosts Sunday brunches, weddings and other special events.
"The arts sometimes don't do enough to beat their own drum. They just do their own thing. But this may have shocked people to realize how important the arts are in Northwest Indiana," he said. "We're in the shadow of Chicago but Northwest Indiana has about the same population as Indianapolis and deserves an art center of this caliber. This whole thing has made the broader community more aware. Hopefully, this served as a wakeup call. Hopefully, there interest in how we can keep this facility and cover the operating costs if Community Hospital doesn't want to support it. These groups are nonprofits that don't have huge endowments to reach into."
It may be necessary to try to spin off Theatre at the Center as a separate, independent nonprofit group if the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana doesn't want to support it any more, Brechner said.
"There might need to find an entity to operate it," he said. "There might need to be a new nonprofit or someone to take care of the overall management. It may never go back to doing professional equity theater but it could keep doing pudding shows with Trama Catering like it has for the last few years. It can keep bringing in pre-produced shows the way it has. There's a question of who would do that spinoff theater. Purdue Northwest doesn't have a theater degree but it would be viable for a university theater and it's close enough to their Hammond campus. There's so many possibilities. Maybe after seeing the public reaction, someone will step up to save the CVPA. Maybe some benevolent wealthy person will want to continue the operations the way Don Powers did for his legacy."
Save the Munster CVPA may need to incorporate as a nonprofit so it becomes a formal group that can assist with maintaining the arts center, he said. They could potentially seek sponsors to underwrite the Theater at the Center productions.
"It may have been originally environed as a venue for community theater groups but the problem is community theater groups have their own venues with little to no costs," he said. "After they pay the royalty rights they don't have a lot of money left over for rentals. Maybe it could be rented out as a recital space, such as for ballet and theater. All of the possibilities will need to be explored so it may survive as an arts center."
A look back at Northwest Indiana businesses that closed in 2023
A look back at Region businesses that closed in 2023
Beer Geeks, one of the Region's first, most beloved and most influential craft beer bars, closed after more than a decade and is being reimagined as a new concept.
The landmark 88-year-old castle-shaped White Castle in Whiting is coming down to be replaced with a newer, larger, more modern White Castle restaurant.
A longtime staple in downtown Crown Point poured its last drink.
The longtime Westforth Sports gun shop is closing.
The Silver Line Building Products plant at 16801 Exchange Ave. will be shuttered permanently.
Brewfest in Highland will close in what's been called "an end of an era."
David's Bridal filed for bankruptcy and could close all stores if no buyer emerges to save it.
The 88-year-old Whiting White Castle will be remembered with displays at museums in two different states.
For years, the "millionaire's club" met every morning in the corner booth of the historic 88-year-old White Castle at Indianapolis Boulevard and 119th Street in downtown Whiting. The landmark restaurant served its final slider Tuesday.
One of Northwest Indiana's most popular and enduring hobby shops is looking for a buyer after the longtime owner died.
J&L This N That Consignment Shop, a popular thrift store, closed in downtown Whiting after a run of several years.
A Calumet Region institution, Calumet Fisheries on the far South Side of Chicago, is temporarily closed after failing a city health inspection.
Just days after reopening after city health inspectors shut it down, Calumet Fisheries suffered a major fire.
Pepe's Mexican Restaurant is no mas in Valparaiso.
Beer Geeks in Highland rebranded as B-Side Bar & Lounge and then closed within a few months.
Troubled retailer Bed Bath and Beyond will permanently close its Valparaiso location as it shutters more stores nationwide as it looks to restructure and shrink its footprint to save the struggling business.
Peoples Bank has shuttered its branch in downtown Hammond.
Viking Artisan Ales will soon pour its last craft beer at its Merrillville taproom.
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom is closing after 15 years at one of Northwest Indiana's most prominent highway interchanges.
The Chicago Auto Show, the nation's largest auto show, returns to McCormick Place Saturday, running through Feb. 19.