It is atypical of the Chestertown Spy to use editorial space to acknowledge a grant to Washington College from a private foundation. But a recent commitment of almost $600,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is quite a special case.
Earlier this spring, the College was awarded funding to support what many in the arts community believe to be one of the more extraordinary and ambitious environmental art programs in the Mid-Atlantic, the impact of which could be transformative for both the college and Chestertown itself.
This exceptional feather in Washington College’s cap is not only a serious acknowledgement of the College’s growing commitment to the visual arts. It is a major step in Chestertown’s important goal of become a regional, and perhaps eventually national, center for environmental art.
With the Mellon funds, WC now has the resources to attract some of the leading environmental artists (starting this weekend with Sculptor John Ruppert) to help students and faculty on collaborative projects, some of which will be installed on special landscapes like Stepney Manor. Given Chestertown’s close proximity to three of the country’s most sophisticated arts centers, this kind of special focus has great potential in attracting an entirely new segment of visitors for the town.
For those towns that become a regional destination for the fine arts, the economic benefits can be stunning. A quick look at some of these noted art programs, including the very remote Marfa, Texas or post-industrial North Adams, Massachusetts shows the extraordinary power these projects have on small town economies.
As the saying goes, success has many fathers, but in this case, there really is only one extraordinary innovator, and that is local architect, artist, and educator Alex Castro. Using his unique background and life experience, Castro has bestowed on both the college and town a special gift of design and imagination that over time will provide another stellar example of why art has a special place on the Chester.
Robert Ortiz says
I could not agree more with the final paragraph in this article.