Gordon: They're giving away the Civic Center!

There is something unprecedented planned in Peoria for next August; now it is up to local arts organizations for which it is planned to take advantage.

The Peoria Civic Center will be given away for a full weekend. That's right; given away, free of charge.

The purpose is so the inaugural IGNITE Peoria! event can take place, showcasing anything and everything this region has to offer from the arts. The idea came from the Civic Center itself, namely General Manager Jim Wetherington.

Other than through his job and the fact he has a great tenor voice that used to put him on community theatre stages, Wetherington isn't involved too much in the arts. But he knows the importance of the arts to this community and wants to help promote them in any way that he can. Anybody who knows him can tell you he's the type that says "let's get it done."

Wetherington gathered together representatives of various local arts groups a few months ago and said, basically, "the building is yours to do what you want" for a weekend in August, the Civic Center's slowest month of the year. He offered the Civic Center's staff to assist putting things together and has appointed some to the small IGNITE Peoria! steering group to get the event off the ground.

All that was left, for the most part, was for the arts groups to step up and say, "We want to be part of it! Tell us what we can do."

Those at that first meeting came away feeling energized, grateful, excited. The person more or less leading the charge is Kathy Chitwood, a can-do person if ever there was one, so confidence was high. Others on the steering committee are Suzette Boulais, executive director of Arts Partners, Megan Pedigo, assistant director of marketing for the Civic Center, and Kaci Osborne, tourism manager for the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The possibilities sent imaginations soaring at that meeting last August. There was not one part of the world known as the arts that would have to be left out. Every genre from film to photography, music to dance, theatre to prose, from painting to sculpture and so forth, could participate.

Groups are invited to exhibit, demonstrate, teach, perform, share.

Now I have never been one to like the phrase "it's a win-win situation for everyone," but this seemed like one.

Each first Tuesday of the month that steering group meets with arts groups to discuss progress, to hear what arts groups are planning to do for the event, which is now scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 8. Each month somebody has said they want to do something, but it also seems each month somebody else says what they planned to do cannot be done because of one obstacle or another. The lack of people to help was one obstacle listed in trying to turn plans by next August.

But Wetherington reiterated this week that he and his staff are masters at overcoming obstacles. "There is virtually nothing we cannot do. Tell us your obstacle, tell us your proposed solution and we will make it happen. It's what we do," he said. "We'll even bring in a furnace for glass blowing exhibitions if needed. That's just one small example."

To that end the arts groups are being asked to fill out a planning sheet for their events to give the Civic Center guidelines to go by. Pedigo said the sheet is sort of a brainstorming guideline rather than something hard and fast, but she said it is a necessary one to get an event started.

The planning sheet asks for the event title and description, proposed times to move in, open and move out, the estimated number of participants from the organization (including vendors, speakers, entertainers) and how many patrons are anticipated.

It then asks nitty-gritty questions the Civic Center staff will look for.

• Size of space needed
• Description of how set up will be done
• Electrical needs
• Audio/visual needs
• Expected costs to the arts organization
• Marketing planned, marketing support needed

Finally, it asks, "What obstacles are you facing? How can we help?"

Some may think it's early yet to hit the panic button. But if IGNITE Peoria! is going to get off the ground, much planning has to be done, funding must be found and time is running out already, Wetherington said.

In fact, the Civic Center has set a deadline of Dec. 13 — that's Friday the 13th — to get those planning sheets turned in so it knows what to expect. It also will tell the Civic Center how many groups will actually participate.

"I'm not panicking, but I'm getting frustrated. We are going to give the building away. It helps us, it helps the arts organizations, it helps the community. But people are not stepping up like we need them to do. Now is the time for commitment, not May or June. Now is the time if it's going to get done, even if we end up starting small so we can grow this event. We need more participation from group and from volunteers," he said.

Chitwood said she understands some of Wetherington's frustrations and added that there have been a couple of things that were planning that now appear to be on the back burner. One was for an award to be given out to exhibitors for first and second place to help get the IGNITE Peoria! event better known, but the person who worked his tail end off to make it happen has been unable yet to find financial backing.

Another person, Chitwood said, wanted to start a drumline competition but has been unable to find groups willing to compete, perhaps because of the time of year.

"Whether those obstacles can be overcome, I don't know. We are willing to try, for sure," Chitwood said. "I think more than anything people got very excited when they heard about the event and had these great ideas for what could be included, only to find actually making their idea happen was going to be much more difficult than they thought. With this being so new, I think that is understandable.

"The bottom line is, IGNITE is going to happen. It may start smaller than originally thought but that's ok because it will have room to grow. There are plenty of events being planned and starting in January those Tuesday meetings are going to become real planning session, working out logistics. To me, that's when it really will get more exciting."

The Civic Center and Wetherington, Chitwood said, "have presented us, the arts community, with an opportunity so incredible, one of the most incredible opportunities we've ever had, we will make it happen."

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).