Wednesday, April 2, 2014

TORCH — Why a Blog?

Late last summer an acquaintance took over the first floor of an old Victorian house at 2520 Hennepin Avenue S, just north of Uptown. Now, I've had some familiarity with this house ... not of the previous inhabitants but its landmark like countenance.

When I first moved to Minneapolis I lived at 25th and Emerson, about 2 blocks from this house and passed by regularly on my way to either work or merriment. At the time, its iron gate protected a space filled with lawn ornamentation. I supposed it was for sale and could be purchased. By appointment, I imagined I could procure a statue of St. Phocas for the garden with a matching birdbath and elephant topiary; expensive high-quality pieces. To my poverty and the fact that my apartment didn't come with a garden, entertaining any such enhancement to the verge of my rented living quarters would have to be left to my imagination. The place was quite possibly something entirely different ... imagination can be a vivid palette.

Thirty years later there's a different life there. I had never noticed before but there's a piece of stained glass in the door. A stained glass of a torch. Might be a piece of Art Nouveau from the late 20th century ... original? I don't know. Remarkably, though, it's a torch. I find that somehow winsome and curious ... a wee bit of serendipity wouldn't you say? The beacon, the light and all that.

My friend MacBeck calls up one day and wants to work on a readers performance of Murder in the Cathedral ... that pithy little ditty by T. S. Eliot. He has this friend who's got this place that would be perfect for an intimate reading, it'll be great! So a couple months later I'm hanging out with a group of cronies from my Shakespeare Company days and we're performing a reading of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral at TORCH. Yeah, that house on Hennepin with the stained glass torch on the door!

You really have to meet Jennifer Chilstrom (fodder for another blog post) the proprietress of TORCH. It's her brainchild. Over the course of preparing for Murder in the Cathedral, I took occasion to ask what might be her hopes for such a space. It's important to know that Jen is an artist; of many colors and expressions. She has worked with people throughout her professional life to support art in their lives bringing artists and consumers closer in thought and community. Some might say she's something of a "Social Artist" so, the concept of TORCH is really quite simple ... use this intimate space to bring people and art closer together.

I was quite taken with the idea. I have always been an ardent advocate of the arts but more of a silent partner than an activist. That's unfortunate, really, since I've watched arts opportunities be methodically expunged from many of our educational systems. I am from a rich culture of art in education from elementary all the way through college and plenty outside of class. I grew up creating, performing, attending, observing and sharing expressions of all kinds ... opportunities bowed the trees like too many apples. I'm quite grateful for that fortune as I look back on it all.

So ... why a blog?

Because it's an opportunity. An opportunity that needs a voice. An opportunity that needs support. An opportunity that needs me to get off my passive soapbox and give back to the community that has made my life so rich.

I approached Jen with the idea of covering the activities, people and artists at TORCH giving the interwebs something else to mull over. Maybe they'll find a connection or even take up TORCH on all the opportunities it may have to offer. I know that it has put me in touch with some dear old friends and introduced me to some brave new friends; new artists with special voices. Voices for their time that need opportunities as plentiful as my time. So ... I give you TORCH; a blog about a performing arts space on Hennepin Avenue.

You may be interested in checking out TORCH dot website or strolling pass some time.

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