HSGLF receives Gov. Arts Award

Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation has been awarded a prestigious Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award for bringing the arts to Thermopolis. In his acknowledgement letter, Governor Matt Mead commented, “You make it look easy to bring the arts to a rural location -- you have done it and done it well for a long time.”

The Foundation was nominated for the Award by Meri Ann Rush, executive director for Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce. “I nominated the Foundation for the Award not only because of their dedication to the arts in Thermopolis but because of their dedication to the youth of Hot Springs County,” Rush explained.

Other recipients include Cedric Reverand and Paul Taylor of Laramie, Chris Navarro and Brian Scott Gamroth of Casper and Sarah Rogers of Sundance. They will be honored at the annual Governor's Arts Awards Gala in Cheyenne, February 26, 2016.

“Our goal has always been to listen to people in the community, hear what they would like to do and if it sounds like a good idea, figure out a way to make it happen,” said Sue Blakey, who is Foundation director.

One of the first outreach programs was the music jams, which have been going now for over 10 years. “We wanted a regular time to get together and play informally,” said Ed Capen, who still manages the jams. “We started with bluegrass, but we do a lot of different acoustic music. Now members of the jam often play at community activities, like the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.”

The jams were just the beginning. “We wanted to bring in artists and performers, but there was no way to do so without a partner,” said Jacky Wright, owner of Broadway Bygones, and the Foundation’s education director. She contacted the school administration to forge the Arts in Education partnership. Profits from a House Concert subscription series Wright spearheads help support the education program. “They are all tied together,” she said.

Wright identifies potential groups or artists, then negotiates activities and fees. And she is often on stage giving the introductions. “The first time I had to do that, I was terrified,” she said. “But I overcame my stage fright.” Now, she not only does introductions, she often plays guitar and sings at public events.

This multi-faceted program drew special commendation from Michael Lange, director of the Wyoming Arts Council. “Their [the Foundation’s] work with integrating arts programming into the K-12 school system is one that should be used as a model clear across the state,” he said.

Lange also noted the organization’s flexibility. “They have been serving the Thermopolis area with top-notch arts and cultural programs and services for more than a decade,” he said. “And they’ve shown an ability to adapt over time to best engage their constituents in a meaningful way.”

Because the Foundation does not have a physical building, the organization has learned to think outside the box, according to Blakey. “We knew that a lot of cultural institutions and museums have begun to rent small spaces or set up a temporary booth in a mall for a week to reach new audiences.” From that idea was born the Second-Friday ArtStrolls.

“This program really required the help of the retail community,” said Toddi Darlington, who heads the ArtStrolls program and activities. “Our retailers have been absolutely great about letting artists set up in their store and staying open late on the second Friday of each month.”

The response to the Strolls surprised even the Foundation. “No one suggested we shut down in winter, and we found people downtown enjoying themselves while it was snowing,” she said. “We had so much interest, we expanded to the Saturday after the evening Stroll. Nowadays, it is very hard to find a nearby parking space on Stroll nights. And when we added make-and-take hands-on projects, our attendance almost doubled.”

Many of Darlington’s crew of volunteers are members of the Smoking Waters Art Guild, which the Foundation helped organize. They work to identify regional as well as local artists. “This is a great opportunity for new artists to learn how to create a nice display, how to talk about their work, and to see what consumers like. It gives them a taste of what it is like to do a show -- and that’s a great educational lesson for an artist who wants to begin selling their work.”

But there are plenty of seasoned artists as well. “Even if I don’t sell anything,” said Marsha Hill, a basket weaver from Worland, “it’s just a great way to spend an evening -- demonstrating my craft, talking to other artists and to the buyers. It’s fun.”

The variety of arts and its visibility in the community attracts many newcomers, like Suzanne and Howie Samelson. “When we decided to move to Thermopolis from New York City, we knew there would be some culture shock,” Suzanne Samelson said. “Instead we found a town with a group of people committed to promoting and sharing quality performing and visual arts and exquisite crafts.”

“That was the real culture shock!” her husband Howie Samelson said. “So we decided to jump right in and help.”

That is one reason the Foundation is special -- there’s always room for more people and more ideas. “This is really an award for our community,” said Jacky Wright. “We have not done this without the help of dozens of people supporting our efforts.”

Late last year, Blakey opened an envelope and discovered that the Foundation had been awarded a federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She had applied as a fluke. “I knew we wanted to begin working toward an annual festival,” Blakey said, “now here was an opportunity if there ever was one.”

Big Horn Basin Folk Festival was held August 1-2 in Hot Springs State Park, as a new event to enhance the existing Gift of the Waters Pageant activities and Kiwanis Craft Fair.

“Kevin Skates and the Hot Springs State Park crew set up our main tents and helped artists move their equipment and tools out of their vehicles. It was a big chore. There were over 100 artisans on the grounds, either demonstrating or selling,” said Darlington. “There were hands-on activities for kids, a juried art show and a quilt show. But the artists working on the forge and the chainsaw artist probably drew the most attention.”

Darlington estimated about 4,700 people attended, “and it was exciting to see families, three or four generations, doing the hands-on activities on Saturday, then returning on Sunday for more,” she said.

What made the festival stand out even on a busy weekend around the state were the participants -- they were all Wyoming artists and musicians. “This was a celebration of our community and region,” Blakey said. “We built around a cultural heritage tourism concept -- who we are, what we do and where we live. We knew that today’s travellers are looking for authenticity, and what we had was as authentic as you get. Where else were visitors going to see someone weaving a basket from Iris stalks -- or clothing made from felted wool made from the llama that was munching away next to it? Or a herd of buffalo being carved from a tree trunk?”

The Foundation is already working on this year’s festival, August 6-7. The Wyoming Arts Council will hold a planning session in Thermopolis Jan. 21 with all the Festival partners.

The festival in the park is just one step away from one of the Foundation’s long-range projects that has yet to come to fruition -- a proposed Nature & Discovery Center in Hot Springs State Park. “This is an economic development project that builds around cultural heritage tourism,” said Blakey. The Foundation received funding from the Wyoming State Legislature for engineering studies on land along the highway across from the old Armory. A local town-county joint powers board was organized to further pursue the project.

“All the studies the state has done since we proposed the project show that a facility in Hot Springs State Park has strong economic potential for the entire state,” Blakey said. Dedication to this long-range effort was noted by the selection committee.

“I remember in the early days of the project, one state official called on us to “prove that there was interest in our community and that it would be sustainable,” Blakey said. “I think the Governor’s Arts Award clearly shows that we are doing just that.”

Find full program schedules, news stories and more at the Foundation’s website, http://www.hsglf.org.