OCR Text |
Show . , . - - - Art Center Opens New Doors to Community Invitations to the opening of the Kimball Art Center have gone out, by mail or public announcement, announce-ment, to every resident in Park City, to nearly 4,500 other Utah residents, and to a number of out-of-staters with Park City interests. The opening, held on both days of the weekend specifically so that every member of the community will have as opportunity to attend, begins Nov. 20, at 2:30 p.m., with a dedication ceremony followed by a reception. Brief remarks will be made by Mayor Uriarte, by Ruth Draper, Executive Director of Utah Division of Fine Arts, by Alan Crooks, Director of Kimball Art Center, and by Bill Kimball, the man whose dream the whole thing was. An open house will be held on Sunday from one until six p.m. so that people may wander through, inspect the facilities, and adjust to the remarkable transformation of an old garage into a half-million dollar art center. According to Director Crooks, cost of property and construction already has reached $500,000, with "more facilities needed, more construction to go, and more bills to come." It is hoped that funds for these expenses and the $200,000 per year operating costs will be forthcoming from grants, endowments, endow-ments, donations, and memberships. member-ships. According to Director Crooks, "Bill knew when he started that the Center would never be self-supporting, that he would have to be actively involved in fund raising for the rest of his life." The Art Center was conceived scarcely ten months ago, when Kimball, a senior partner of Alpine Meadows Ski Resort and a director of Utah International, a mining and land holding corporation corpora-tion (which recently received Justice Department approval to merge with GE, creating the largest merger in the history of American business), made an initial decision to proceed, and loaned $1500 to retain an architect. By March, a parent corporation was formed, and the search began for people to serve on the board and for a place to locate the Center. One cold spring day, with more that a foot of snow still on the ground, Bill Kimball, Alan Crooks, Marilyn Modling, and Architect Max Smith decided to examine the old Eley Garage. They managed to get the door partially open, and were crawling in when the police came by, and demanded, "What are you doing there?" At first, it seemed they wouldn't be doing anything in the massive dark structure. There was no heat, no lights, and utter chaos. Six inches of water had frozen over the lower floor, and upstairs,, where an auto supply store had been, strewn junk was frozen so solidly that some of it eventually had to be jackhammer-ed jackhammer-ed out. The ugliness of the place was all but overwhelming. Other locations were examined, but Kimball wanted one which would serve to revitalize the old town. Eley's Garage seemed the best possibility. That was confirmed con-firmed when, with the help of an architect, part of the ceiling was ripped out and they discovered the building's gorgeous old bow-string arches. Construction commenced, with a $250,000 loan guaranteed by Kimball. A back injury has prevented him from spending much time in Park City recently, "otherwise, Bill would be down there hammering nails himself," said Director Crooks. "He's that kind of person." Fortunately for Park City, "that kind of person" happened along, to translate "The Aspen Idea" of a community cultural center into his own idea, which increasingly, is becoming ours. |