By Kate Bartlett-
Springville Center for the Arts is a rural, nonprofit multi-arts center operating from the heart of Springville at 37 North Buffalo Street. They offer a wide range of programming, including free virtual courses, on a variety of music and art themes. Their mission is to build a culture of appreciation for the arts in our area, transforming the surrounding rural communities. The main facility serves as a hub for concerts, theatre productions, gallery exhibits, workshops for all ages and more. They’ve been actively enriching the community for 24 years.
Seth Wochensky is the Executive Director for Springville Center of the Arts. He has been with SCA for 12 years and has seen it evolve through the years. “At various times I have called myself a musician, photographer, documentary producer, or garlic grower. I am originally from the area but never imagined there would be this thing called an arts center nor that someone could have a job running it.”
SCA began in 1998 as a collaboration between the Springville Players, a longtime community theater group, and various informal visual arts groups. “What started in a rented Main Street storefront has since grown to encompass four spaces in downtown Springville. Our main facility is an 1869 former church listed on the National Register where we produce theater, concerts by national touring artists, exhibits and workshops. We have additional facilities for theater production, programs for preschoolers, and workshops. In 2020 we completed our sister project, Art’s Cafe, where we also program performances and workshops. Our main facility, the church building, is presently undergoing long-planned renovations to the theater space. This is a major undertaking that will fully upgrade the experience of attending. We hope to have most of the work completed next year. Until then, all of our events are presently held at Art’s Cafe.”
Café at 5 East Main Street, where they also program
performances and workshops.
SCA has gained attention across the region attracting visitors from the surrounding areas including Buffalo, Ellicottville, Olean, Cattaraugus and even into Pennsylvania to their arts programs. “Over the past year we have done programs such as The Annual Art Crawl, where art is placed in downtown businesses for a one-night free event. We began a new partnership by launching a massive production of The Addams Family at the newly restored Hollywood Theater in Gowanda. Artsapalooza toured workshops and a giant puppet theater program to 12 rural communities across four counties. Most recently, we hosted a packed concert by the Grammy-nominated fiddler Jeremy Kittel.”
Upcoming events include Humbird, a concert by a singer-songwriter trio on November 5, a theater production called Jerry FInnegan’s Sister beginning November 12, and workshops in stained glass, bookbinding and basket weaving. As part of an Artist Employment Program, they now have two staff artists who will be creating “The Lab,” turning a vacant Main Street space into a mini-gallery and workshop.
SCA has enriched the community and help spread arts around the region. They have contributed to several community events, and have gotten the area youth involved in arts programs starting as young as 2 with a variety of classes for all ages. In the past few years, they have begun to focus more on public art as they are continuing to develop new pieces each year with a walking map on their website.
Seth hopes that more small towns will follow in suit and adopt an arts program. “What we do should be commonplace but unfortunately vibrant small-town arts centers are a rarity. Sometimes you hear this concept that the arts are something extra. That is just absolutely false. The arts are so central to humanity. The Neanderthals were pretty busy not getting killed by sharp-toothed beasts and they still had cave paintings. The arts are how we tell stories and come to understand each other. The arts are how we make big ideas possible.”
For those looking to get involved, volunteers are the engine for SCA. “We are always looking for volunteers and people can get involved in a broad variety of ways. As a nonprofit we are run by a volunteer nine-person Board that oversees the staff. A crew of people meet every Thursday morning to work on construction related projects. That is a great learning environment. People help with events ushering or with refreshments. Then there’s things like acting, stage crew, helping with gallery exhibits or even workshops. For those who are interested please call 716-592-9038 or email scaseth@gmail.com.
For more information on upcoming events and programs visit www.SpringvilleArts.org and follow on social media @ SpringvilleArts.