Holmes Center for the Arts ready to break ground on new place

Holmes Center for the Arts ready to break ground on new place
Submitted

This artist’s rendering of the new two-story, multi-purpose Holmes Center for the Arts will be built near Berlin and present many more opportunities to educate and develop skills for area youth and adults.

                        

Just four years ago, professional dancer Holley Johnson and several other artists got together and took some steps in starting the Holmes Center for the Arts, a community-minded arts company that taught dance, theater, music and more.

The group found a home in a former church building in Millersburg, but they realized if they grew at all, they would soon be pushed for space.

The success came, and an anonymous patron of the arts recently offered land for them to build a new facility.

Holmes Center for the Arts will host a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Nov. 22 on the land located just west of Berlin between Burger King and Troy Miller Agency, where a new two-story arts center will soon be located.

The groundbreaking will take place at 10 a.m. under a tent and will be open to the public.

“We are excited to announce that we have reached our goal for certificate of occupancy,” Johnson said. “We do have some more funds to raise in order to create a building that will best serve the community, but we are so excited about where we currently are, and the idea that we are ready to move forward is so exciting for all of us.”

Johnson said watching the center take off and seeing the way it has impacted many people, many of whom are younger people exploring possible career options down the road, has been a joy. She also said allowing those passionate about the arts to pursue their passion for dance, theater and art has been inspirational.

“I feel like the center is the next step in growth for our community,” Johnson said. “We have these great schools, and with the popularity of the arts growing, it was time to begin to create something that could enhance that. Creating a community center and arts center is a logical step in the right direction.”

Over the four years, students have flocked to the center to learn more. The rush for students to delve into the arts through the classes offered there has become so great that they had a waiting list for some classes this year. Johnson said that alone is a reason to pursue a new facility.

The center has gone out into the community and provided classes at two nursing homes, the Holmes County Training Center, and after-school programs at elementary schools in the county and at Berlin Mennonite Church.

The hope is that the new facility will allow them to do even more in presenting choir, children’s choir, string classes, theater, tumbling and gymnastics, cheerleading classes, and dance classes including ballroom, ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop.

The results have brought countless programs and musicals and also led several students to new areas of performing, like Sophia Beachy, who has recently become an apprentice with North Point Ballet Company of Cleveland, a professional dance company. Others have received scholarships and received auditions to dance, act and perform far from home.

“We want to have the best possible education in all of our programs, and that includes having a facility that can enhance that education,” Johnson said. “We want to see students from Holmes County go out into the world and spread their wings in the arts.”

The center’s growth facilitated the need for a new facility, but Johnson said they will be forever grateful for the current facility they are now renting. She said it came along at the perfect time.

“We’ve always had a new facility in the back of our mind, but we knew it wouldn’t be an easy undertaking,” Johnson said. “When the anonymous donor came up to us and offered this land for us to use, we knew it was time to act.”

What really spurred them into action was when Johnson was sitting and chatting at a Halloween event with former Ohio House Rep. Dave Hall, who hails from Millersburg.

The new building will be built into the side of the hill at the new property. Well versed in the ways of capital funding, Hall suggested they pursue some of the funds the state makes available for community-minded projects.

In March of 2019, Sen. Larry Obhoff called Johnson to inform her they had allotted $600,000 toward the project.

“I didn’t really understand the process and how it happens, but it was a very unexpected blessing,” Johnson said. “It’s a huge gift, and we want to turn that funding into the best building we can that will benefit the community.”

As word spread, donations began filtering in. The funds for the project began to grow, and $500,000 of additional state funding became available because the center was working with at-risk youth in conjunction with Holmes County Job & Family Services.

“We are very committed to creating better lives for our young people,” Johnson said. “We want to reach out to our young people and present them with opportunities to grow in any way possible but with a focus on the arts. We have to look at the bigger picture of going beyond just the arts to create leaders of tomorrow.”

The groundbreaking celebration for the new facility will put in motion the building process. The main theater will have a 208-capacity retracting seating area that will allow for larger dance rehearsals or for them to set up tables if needed. There also will be more classroom area, a kitchen, a full shower facility and more amenities to give students everything they need to pursue their passion for the arts.

Currently the center has raised more than $1.85 million toward its ultimate goal of $2.5 million of monetary and in-kind donations, and Johnson said she is hoping people in the community recognize the value of what they are offering to both young and old who enjoy the arts.

Anyone with questions or who would like to donate to the building fund may do so by calling Johnson at the arts center at 330-473-2879.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load