Plans for new arts center in east Wichita taking shape

Art got down-sized lately. Recession. Practicalities. Priorities.

But by January 2018 some donors will have pulled art up again – both the nice arts and the dirty arts, as some artists call them, the wet clay, oils and splatters.

Kids and adults can dirty their hands in a state-of-the-art center come then.

The Wichita Center for the Arts will open a new center at 13th and Rock, one of the busier intersections in town. From there they will offer kids and adults a new platform to splatter and test and try their creativity. There will be expanded classes and exhibits. There will be more art. There will be food as art with the addition of a new culinary teaching kitchen.

Trustees voted last month to build a new 40,000-square-foot center after raising $15.5 million since September 2015.

The K.T. Wiedemann Foundation gave because its officials like art and saw a gap to fill.

“Teachers I know have told me there has been such a large cutback in funding for the teaching of arts,” said Doug Pringle, the foundation president. “It’s one of areas that has been de-emphasized.”

The Wiedemann Foundation and other donors decided they could do something about that, not only to expand the teaching of art in Wichita but to bring artists from around the country to teach and to help disadvantaged children see the world of art, Pringle said.

“Learning about art is not just about walking into a museum and looking at something hanging on a wall,” Pringle said. “It’s about expanding your own creativity.”

Filling the art gap in education and culture was on the minds of those who developed the new building, said Katy Dorrah, the center’s director. They fretted over plans as they worked to raise money.

They consulted the teachers and other artists on the best design, including what it should showcase, how it could look inviting, and how it could inspire. “Art is not just about visual presentations but participation,” she said.

The community responded. The Wiedemann Foundation gave $1.5 million. The Charles Koch Foundation donated land worth $4.5 million at the southwest corner of 13th and Rock. The Fred and Mary Koch Foundation donated $2 million and promised another $4 million if the community could match it.

After that, the center said in a prepared statement, 65 people, foundations and businesses pledged another $4 million. They did more than think about concrete, Dorrah said. They’re raising scholarship money so kids who can’t afford the costs can get in on all this too.

Plans for the new center include a hall with seating for up to 375; technology for teaching and exhibits (“We’ve invested in some 3-D pens,” Dorrah said); a gallery for national exhibitions; the culinary kitchen; an outdoor sculpture garden; and green space for art fairs and events.

This story was originally published March 20, 2016 at 11:50 AM with the headline "Plans for new arts center in east Wichita taking shape."