Creation of east Gainesville cultural arts center discussed at event held Saturday

Artists and supporters of the arts gathered Saturday to discuss creating a cultural arts center in east Gainesville.

The event, billed as “Empowering Communities Through Art,” was sponsored by the city of Gainesville and Florida Division of Arts and Culture.

“We decided it will be best to bring culture to you so you can feel and see the benefits of the arts,” said Carol Velasques Richardson as she spoke to a packed house attending the event held at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center in southeast Gainesville.

Richardson, the city’s cultural affairs manager, said the purpose of the event was to inform the community about the benefits of having an arts center that embraces culture, traditions and history through artistic platforms.

The panel discussion was moderated by District 1 Gainesville City Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker, and featured panelists Marshall L. Davis Sr., director of Miami’s African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, and Gainesville native Marion J. Caffey, a producer, creator and current director of the Apollo Theater in New York.

Duncan-Walker proposed two years ago that a cultural arts center be created in east Gainesville like the one in Miami where she once worked.

“I had a mom, a dad and grandparents who grew up in the arts,” Duncan-Walker said. “I got bit by the theatre bug early in life. Being in the arts is important to childhood development.”

Caffey grew up in the Lincoln Estates neighborhood in southeast Gainesville and shared how art is crucial for the survival of the human species.

“The closest thing to the drum is our heartbeat,” Caffey said. “Art is the soul of who we are. Anywhere you go, music is playing. You can’t go a day without seeing something artistic. Art is so necessary to our survival as a species. If they cut the arts out, we have two days left. Kids need to get on stage and be artists.”

Davis also said the arts are important for human development.

“Art has a function and a purpose,” Davis said. “Art activates our brains and opens up our channel synopsis on the right side of the brain. You want to have everything open to be creative. They activate a part of them that they never knew they had because of art. Sure, we need science and academia but all things can be taught through art.”

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It is also important to help children now before the creation of the cultural arts center in east Gainesville, Davis said.

“Don’t wait for the building,” Davis said. “Come together now. Put yourself on the back burner and put the kids on the front burner.”

When asked about funding for the cultural arts center, Davis encouraged the audience to never give up and create a collaboration between government, community and corporations.

“You can never give up,” Davis said. “You can’t stop if they say no. If you don’t have intention or resolution, it won’t happen. It’s not going to happen overnight, but you got to start today.”

Duncan-Walker told a story about how the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Miami helped five young men decide to be in the arts instead of following the negativity of some of their peers.

“They were able to make a choice because there was an alternative,” Duncan-Walker said. “I thought about my experience in Miami and said we need that (cultural arts center) in Gainesville, especially with the proliferation of gun violence in the area. It is a powerful testament for what can and will be done when we do the work. These spaces save lives.”