VIEW: New arts center opens officially with dedication, ribbon cutting

The Dedication and Ribbon Cutting for View, the new arts center of Old Forge, was held Friday, July 8, and included several congratulatory addresses.

The program got started shortly after 10 a.m. with a welcome by John Munyan, president of the board of directors.

“We have indeed come a long way. We’ve had 60 years of history beginning humbly in a front yard, and many people helped us get here today,” Munyan said.

He acknowledged the architects, Saratoga Associates; contractor Bill Gaetano of Charles Gaetano Construction Company; Senator Jim Seward; Assemblyman Marc Butler and Jill Harvey and Kathleen Goodman of the USDA, Rural Development Agency.

Over the past years, Seward and Butler secured funding and grants for the project; while Harvey and Goodman, through the Rural Development Agency, provided a $3 million direct loan and a grant of $50,000.

Munyan also acknowledged major donors from the Mallinckrodt family, Dr. Franklin and Sandy Gould, the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Kevin and Candy Jost, Tim and Sherry Noonan and Dutch Vandervort, “and of course the owner of the front yard where it all began, our founder Miriam “Mirnie” Kashiwa,” he said.

Mirnie, who was seated behind the podium, stood for a round of applause.

Following remarks by Town of Webb Supervisor Robert Moore; Jill Harvey, USDA Rural Development Agency; State Senator James Seward and Assemblyman Marc Butler, Mirnie came to the podium.

“I feel complimented by being called the Founder,” said Mirnie, “but anyone can have a vision. It’s the second surge—those who agreed with the idea, who worked toward the evolution; and surge number three—those who stepped up to encourage investors.

“They are the ones who made this complex happen. Today we begin to sustain it,” she said.

The next speaker, Betsy Mallinckrodt Bryden, a major benefactor whose family has historically spent summers in Old Forge, recalled meeting Mirnie 50 years ago when her grandmother encouraged her to take a pottery class in the Art Center’s studio.

At that time, the studio was located in the Thendara Train Station.

“I am just grateful to someone whose vision and persistence has enabled all of us to enrich the entire Adirondacks.

“I have been saying for six years, starting with my early association with former director, Debbie Jones, that this is indeed the western gateway to the Adirondacks Preserve,” she said.

In closing remarks, Executive Director Jennifer Potter Hayes, brought the attention of the audience to the chicken wire display celebrating the 60th Annual Central Adirondack Art Show, in commemoration of the inaugural Art Show which was hung on chicken wire fencing on the Kashiwa lawn.

The display includes newspaper and magazine articles, posters and photographs that chronicle the history of some of the most important milestones of the arts center.

“The chicken wire for us is a symbol of our beginning. This building is testimony to where our programs have come and where they will go from here,” Potter Hayes said.

The Ribbon Cutting and Open House festivities followed, which included music by Al Nathan, a special Commemorative Postal Cancellation, and Workshop Demonstrations.

 

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