New York Mills Cultural Center Cultivating Community Capital Campaign: Cultivating the Arts for the Next Generation

By Heather Rule, photos provided

It’s been nearly 30 years since the last remodel of the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center. So, now is the perfect time for the community to take the next step forward in preserving this resource with a Cultivating Community Capital Campaign.

The New York Mills Arts Retreat and Regional Cultural Center, established in 1990 and on Main Street since 1992, is a multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to expanding cultural and creative opportunities for rural Americans for more than two decades. The center hosts 130 to 180 events a year and has a visual arts gallery space, conducts performing arts, holds classes and workshops, and has a sculpture park, plus an artist residency program.

This grassroots community capital campaign – a once-in-a-generation capital campaign – will help modernize and expand the cultural center to help better serve the rural communities. Investment in the project will help preserve existing structures for future generations, expand the space and programming, and increase accessibility and sustainability. It will address the needs of the cultural center building as well as some programs.

One of the primary needs is for the cultural center brick building. Built in 1885, it’s the oldest building in New York Mills. It’s in need of brickwork, and the front façade leaks water and air, needing to be redone, according to Betsy Roder, executive director of the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center.

Then there’s also the idea of expansion, “because we feel that we can really serve more people and serve the region even better if we had more space to do it, and we could be more accessible,” Roder said. There are plans to build an elevator at the back of the building which would make the building fully accessible.

“We’re grateful for all the support over the years,” Roder said. “We’re looking ahead about how we best cultivate the arts for the next generation.”