The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
CCA throws 10th anniversary party
By Sheila Pursglove, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: September 25, 2008
A dollar may not go very far nowadays - but 10 years ago it provided the Chelsea Center of the Arts with a home when Kathleen and Jeff Daniels gifted the former St. Mary Parish Center at 400 Congdon Street to the CCA for the sum of one greenback.
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Local lore has it the couple sent a card featuring an image of Dorothy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, and the words, "There's no place like home."
Friends, patrons and employees of the CCA gathered Aug. 28 to celebrate the anniversary.
"We felt that this milestone - being in this building on Congdon Street for 10 years - was a great cause for celebration," said CCA Executive Director Aubrey Thornton-Martinson.
"Without the gift of the building we would not have been able to grow our programs to serve well over 150 students a week with private music, group music, visual arts classes, drama classes and dance.
"We help to keep the arts a vital part of everyday life in Chelsea - this building is our home, and is the creative home for so many families."
The CCA was pleased the Chelsea Children's Cooperative Preschool - that shares space in the building - was able to partner on the anniversary celebration, Martinson said.
"They have just renovated the former kitchen into a beautiful and fun new place for their Young 5s program. The Co-Op brings a wonderful warmth and energy to our building, and we were also celebrating their home as well," she said.
"I also wanted to highlight how close the CCA is to downtown Chelsea. Having the party right before Sounds & Sights was a great way to do it. We almost had our own parade - people were strolling downtown to enjoy the music, leaving their cars at the CCA and walking downtown."
Martinson paid tribute to benefactor Kathleen Daniels.
"Kathleen is such a wonderful spirit," she said. "You could tell from her speech and from chatting with her beforehand that she has many happy memories of our building, which is why she saved it from possible demolition and gifted it to the CCA for one dollar.
"She spoke about her time here with fondness, and we are glad to be the caretakers of the building to preserve her memories and the memories of everyone that used our building. We're definitely making it our own space, but we love the history and the character."
CCA Board President Misha Moore said the celebration reminded her of how the CCA touches the lives of a wonderful cross-section of the people who live and work in Chelsea.
"We've been working hard to be good stewards to the former St Mary's Parish building and it was fun to show off how nice the building is looking with a big party," she said.
Future plans include repainting and re-carpeting the interior of the building, and replacing and repairing windows for better energy efficiency.
CCA co-founder Steven Hinz recalled the early days and the work involved in getting the Center up and running. "I have fond memories of our excitement around the gift of the building," he said. "We quickly tore into making it our home as an arts center."
A small core of people worked crazy hours tearing out old carpeting and drop ceilings, resurfacing the wood floors, and moving around furniture, he said.
"It's been exciting to watch the building evolve to current use, where we fill and use every corner of the building with teaching locations," Hinz said.
"I've always enjoyed walking by the building when the windows are thrown open and listening to the sounds of the instruments and voices in dissonance as music is played and technique is taught to young people."
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