Artfully. Gleefully. Thankfully.
The Paramount School of the Arts became a reality Saturday in Downtown Aurora. Students will have 19 classrooms to assist in dance and music.
Students of all ages, 9 to 90, at least, can learn relevant information in the school of the arts.
The 9 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday, with hopeful, relevant, and brief remarks, took an hour to negotiate in front of approximately 200 interested individuals outside of the building in the middle of Stolp Avenue. The public received a four-hour window in which to wander through the halls on three floors to see the classrooms, the Thomas J. Weisner Gallery, and otherwise absorb the ambiance of the building, which many years ago was home to several retail stores, Block and Kuhl, Carson’s, in 1961, then the temporary home of Waubonsee Community College Downtown Campus, in 1986. The building was constructed in 1928 and has been blessed with many renovations, including joining with the former Stanley Building to the south.
The school and 38 Artesan Lofts on floors two and three are so new in their renovation that the paint was not dry in either the May 30 press preview or the Saturday ribbon-cutting and open house. Interested individuals meandered through the rooms and halls until 2 p.m. Saturday. There were many nods of approval. Ladies were at tables to take registration for classes for theater, music, dance, visual arts.
The lofts purposely have small quarters and appeal to the hard-working artisan community so the rent is modest. If someone earns excessive money for artistic success that person’s lease will be declined.
Shannon Cameron, the leader of the curriculum, said in the press preview remarks that it may be, “my happiest day of my life.” She said,
“What this means is that we can become change agents in so many lives.”
Tim Rater, Paramount Theatre leader and president and CEO of the Aurora Civic Center Authority, steered the direction of the school and was all smiles.
Kirk Albinson of The Community Builders, a national non-profit construction company, led the separate entity of the Arteson Lofts.
“We had so many applicants for the 38 lofts we had to cut them off at 250,” Albinson said Saturday. “Artists of all kinds were given priority.”
The waiting list is long and artists who were accepted fill the range from musical instruments to various methods of painting to acting to sculpting.
Sara Gauthier is one resident who moved in to the Artesan Lofts when it opened April 1. She is a young artist from Petoskey, Mich. (Population 5,724, 2017 census) and “wanted to live in a bigger city than a small town and concentrate on art,” she said at the open house. See page 20. Her loft was available for viewing for an hour Saturday morning. Her artistry reflects love for rock ‘n’ roll. She has an opportunity to take a path for her love of art. Petoskey is in the northwest part of Michigan’s glove. She has an advantage in that her sister, Stella, lives in Wheaton and has been in northern Illinois since 2008.
Other speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, in addition to the master of ceremony, Clayton Muhammad, Irvin, and Albinson, included Audra Hamernik, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority; Stuart Beach of the John C. Dunham Fund, which offers funds for Aurora area’s benefit; Jonathan Hylton, chairman of the Aurora Civic Center Authority (ACCA); Rater; Marilyn Weisner, former first lady of Aurora on behalf of her late husband, mayor Tom Weisner of Aurora; and Cameron offered her welcome to the school and said it is time for ribbon-cutting and tours.
Marilyn Weisner said about Tom Weisner, who was an early driving force for the Paramount School of the Arts and other art ventures in Aurora, “He would be thrilled.”
The Dunham Fund appropriately received thanks for helping with much financing and many thanks were roundly received by those who played a part in the edifice which is one-half block west of the Paramount Theatre, and which by the way, has the second largest Broadway Series musical subscription base in the United States. The theme among Aurora city government employees is: “…is Happening Here.” Indeed mayor Irvin, the first to offer remarks at the ribbon-cutting, said “It is a great day and it is just the beginning in the second largest city in the State.”
• Just a few notes, important and casual: The much-discussed weather, mostly wet, was on its best behavior Saturday for the opening of the Paramount School of the Arts, and Artesan Lofts, long time in planning and creating. Perhaps the weather was good because it was June 1. That date nearly always is a weather day to behold: Lacking in humidity, warm, not hot, clear, puff clouds amid blue skies. Can we have June for three more months?
• The American Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6) passed the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday this week and will go to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Congressman Bill Foster from the 11th District sent the following message: “One of my proudest votes as a member of Congress was in favor of the DREAM Act in 2010….(T)o provide a pathway to citizenship for (42,000) young people who were brought to America as children…and contribute so much to us.”