WE
CELEBRATE OUR CITY
OF
THE ARTS
On
July 22 of this month we celebrate our City of Arts now designated as
a Cultural District by the California Arts Council.. We, the Artists,
Commissioners, and Patrons of the Arts have been creating Art Waves
for a quarter of a Century and on this night under the stars, we
celebrate our Splendid Oceanside Museum of Art we fondly call OMA.
Our
City has come a long way in promoting the arts since I first moved
here in 1991. At that time, there was no Artists Alley, the Brooks
Theater was closed, the Star was on and off, and OMA did not
exist. We had dreams back then. Ginny Tompkins and I spent many long
hours dreaming about what could and should come to our City on the
Hill. We were both on the Arts Commission and were trying “find”
a key to opening the door of the Art World for Oceanside.
The
Oceanside Cultural Arts
Foundation had been tasked by Mayor Bagley to bring Culture to
Oceanside. This great Foundation had been formed before I moved to
Oceanside and many ideas had been offered, but none had taken root in
our fair City. At one of our Commission meetings, Chairman Dr. Kieth
Broman gave us a task to "Find" venues to hang visual art. We were
thinking a gallery space that would be cost effective, maybe a vacant
store front.
Walking
the downtown, it seemed that there was no suitable site until the
vacant Old City Hall building came forth for consideration. It had
been bordered up for years and was destined to be the City Clerk's
storage building for records. When the City Council heard the concept
presented by OCAF, they came into the light of our vision. The rest
is history. The Star Theater shines with performance, the Brooks
performs wonderful plays,and has film festivals , Artists Alley is
our joyous place of studios, and The
Muramid Mural Museum, all because OMA was the catalyst for change.
We Celebrate our City tonight on the 22nd of July, but
most of all, most of all we Celebrate our Oceanside Museum of Art
which began the transformation of our downtown. OMA we thank you !
