The Lake Placid Center for the Arts is among 19 arts and cultural organizations across New York that will receive state funding for capital projects.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced that more than $90 million in grants from the New York State Council on the Arts will go toward large-scale projects.
“The ones that sometimes it’s hard to fundraise for but are masterpieces that we never want to lose. Also want to reach new and diverse audiences.”
The Lake Placid Center for the Arts will receive a grant of $7.5 million to build a new modern arts complex. Director of Communications Alison Simcox notes the current facilities are now 50 years old and have begun to limit what the organization can do.
"As we were reflecting on our first 50 years and starting to think about what comes next we saw this opportunity to apply for funding and realized it might really help us to set up for another 50-plus years of the Arts Center. So now that we’ve received this incredible, historic award, we’re just totally bowled over by it. It’s incredible. We’re so grateful. Now is our time to figure out what that looks like. So we are really carefully planning. It’ll be a few years before our campus looks different. We want to make sure that it really becomes a new center that works for everyone. And so we don’t know exactly what it will look like yet. But we’re in the process of figuring that out.”
Essex County Arts Council Arts Administrator Susan Hughes congratulated the Center on receiving the grant, calling it the leading performing arts venue in the county.
“I think that there will be a lot more accessibility to a wider variety of performing arts groups and to artists. LPCA is certainly known for its series of bringing in wonderful performances and also mounting exquisite exhibits in their gallery space. And they have for years.”
Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism President Jim McKenna says in order for the economy to be more stable on a year-round basis, the region must expand beyond general and sports tourism, and arts and culture is key to that strategy.
"So this application for the $7.5 million has all been part of this development plan for the future of Lake Placid rounding out the economy. So it’s been a really important component as we move forward over the next 20-25 years. The end result is that we think we can concentrate in a new area beyond general sports and general tourism. We can concentrate now on the arts which are less susceptible to seasonal swings. So it’s sort of a wide community goal to expand in culture and arts and the Arts Center and their leadership starting this process is really following our planning process to a T.”
The Lake Placid Center for the Arts does not yet have a design for a new facility and plans to seek community input.
