From the Desk of the Director of the Ashtabula Arts Center

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2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 phone: 440-964-3396 Search This Site: The 60's - A Time of Great Change for the AAC: Posted: Friday, February 28, 2003 As we/I continue our trip down memory lane during the Arts Center’s 50th birthday celebration year, we have now entered the decade of the 60’s. Most people think of the 60’s as very unsettled years – ones rocked by sit-ins, the Viet Nam War, protests and The Beatles. Yep, all of the above are true – and being a teenager during the balance of these years I recall most of it. The 60’s were also a time of great change for the Arts Center. Katharine Hill, our Founder, had died in l958. Corinne Loyd, the Center’s only paid employee, along with the financial and other support of the Center’s Trustees and Ms. Hill’s two brothers, Larry and Willard, had kept the Center going. By 1963 the decision was made to hire a professional director. Jim Price was hired to take the reins of the Fine Arts Center, and to help assure its future. Jim and his wife, Sharon, moved in to the house next door to my family’s on Birchwood Avenue along with their young children. I remember babysitting for the Prices at their home. Jim had made the sunroom of the home into a kind of gallery. I remember lots of paths made from different kinds of stones on the floor as well as his contemporary art hanging on the walls. It was quite different from any other house I had ever experienced, but I really liked it. I also recall Sharon helping me with my sewing. I had been taking sewing lessons from Lenabelle Schlossler at the Fine Arts Center. I was determined I would learn to make my own clothing – although not really determined enough. After a couple of projects, I’ve never picked up a needle again in my life. The Ashtabula Playhouse was the community theater venue in Ashtabula at that time. This theater was owned by the Guernneri Family who had allowed a group of theater minded individuals the use of their facility for the community at large. I’m not sure when Russell Trez was hired to be the professional director of the Playhouse, but I believe it was around the same time Jim Price had been hired by the Fine Arts Center. The two gentlemen complimented each other’s talents – and the two organizations were working very closely together to bring the arts to our area. Women’s Service League of Ashtabula County was formed in 1962 to raise money for both the Fine Arts Center and the Ashtabula Playhouse. Two of their most successful venues were the Green Door Follies and the Theatre Arts Ball. To maintain your active status in Service League, members were required to acquire “points” for duties performed throughout the year. Points were awarded for sewing costumes, ushering, stuffing envelopes, hosting teas, etc. My mother was a member of Service League, and I remember ushering for her to enable her to acquire the necessary points. By the late 60’s the City of Ashtabula had taken advantage of Urban Renewal grants available from the government. Demolition of the Playhouse after its sale during this process was inevitable. In 1968 The Playhouse and The Fine Arts Center voted to merge their two organizations and become the Ashtabula Arts Center. Straw Hat Theatre had been born the summer of 1967 at Lake Shore Park, and continued on the next summer at a more permanent home at Walnut Beach. I recall serving boxed chicken dinners at the Beach to once again gain my mother her needed points. This was fine with me as I knew most of the individuals in the various casts and enjoyed being a part of it. Yes, the 60’s saw many, many changes in the arts scene in our area. I would be soon heading off to college -- my personal horizons would widen dramatically. The Ashtabula Arts Center was also about to take some huge, dramatic steps into its future. Just as the face of Ashtabula was changing with urban renewal, the look and depth of the Arts Center would be changed forever in the 70’s.