by Harold McMillan

About three years ago, I came up with this idea to organize a multidisciplinary arts organization/production group/coop. This general idea had been in my head for some time. The thing that made it seem like the right time to do this was the fact that I had landed office space downtown in my friend's 100-year-old building/old house. After several years of producing the Clarksville Jazz Fest,Blues Family Tree Project and other such programs, I finally was able to get my office out of my house. The promise of being in that lovely old building -- the Wooten Building, one of Austin's first medical facilities -- on East 10th Street also made it possible to advance my plans to establish a downtown arts cooperative/cultural center. The plan was for DiverseArts to be the facility manager for the Wooten Cultural Center. I tell you, that whole concept looked really good on paper, sounded really good coming out of my mouth, seemed like a really innovative cooperative venture for the Wooten Building and DiverseArts.

Well, as things turned out, the cultural center idea went through a lot of thought and conversation, but could not work at the Wooten Building. We were booted out of there last December when the building was leased and scheduled for renovation. The important thing, however, is that without the generosity of Joseph Wooten -- who donated office space to us for almost three years -- the whole DiverseArts concept might never have gotten off the ground. It was there that much conjuring and planning and working went on. It was there that this little magazine was born, it was there that our long-term plans were first fleshed-out.

From December to mid-April, the office lived with me in a two-bedroom apartment in South Austin. Chaos abundant. In mid-April, right in the heat of Jazz Fest pre-production-chaos abundant times two, DiverseArts was fortunate enough to once again make the move out of my house and into yet another beautiful, stately 100 year old building/house. Our new digs is called the East 13th Street Heritage House. Sitting atop a hill, overlooking I-35 with a view of the Capitol Dome, this old house predates the completion of the State Capitol Building. Over the years, Heritage House has been home to a number of folks and families; at one time it was the Sam Huston College President's Residence (by the way, Sam Huston College, present day Huston-Tillotson, predates the University of Texas by a few years, too).

As we begin our 1996-97 season we are happy to announce that DiverseArts at Heritage House is back on track in our effort to establish a location, a home-base for our multidisciplinary arts activities. Our partnership with the Quincy Corporation (owners of Heritage House) ensures that our goal of establishing a Downtown/East of Congress cultural center will now proceed with cooperation and commitment. What follows in the next few paragraphs will give you some idea of what to expect from DiverseArts as we conjure new programming and services for our new home. Read on, please.

DiverseArts/Heritage House
Community Arts School

Beginning in November, DiverseArts launches the first stage of our Community Arts School project. Our mission is to offer a wide variety of multidisciplinary classes, private lessons, master classes, workshops and seminars. We begin this fall by offering mostly music, dance, production/promotion classes and internships, and guerrilla independent film workshops. This project is experimental and will evolve over time. The major component that will remain constant is our desire to offer artistic educational opportunities to the community, while providing artists with support to pursue their teaching aspirations. The result should be that all parties become partners in learning.

Little Gallery Series

This fall DiverseArts will once again present our Little Gallery Series, a showcase for local visual artists to exhibit and sell their work. The primary location for this season's series is Heritage House. The exhibition space is indeed little, so these shows are mostly reserved for one-person exhibitions. The first exhibition is set to open in mid-November, hanging until early January. Artist interested in submitting slides for the series should contact (512) 477-9438 for details.

Front Porch Concerts (fair weather) and House Concerts (cold weather)

Taking advantage of Heritage House's beautiful porches and Austin's mild fall climate, DiverseArts this fall introduces a new performance series for small (mostly acoustic) ensembles and soloists. These shows are essentially aimed at recreating the feeling of intimate house and garden parties that feature front porch jamming. As part of our effort to help support the up-keep of Heritage House, the financial health of our organization, and relaxed arts networking, these performances are planned as informal fund-raiser/community building activities for DiverseArts.

The East Side Circuit

East Side Circuit is a new initiative for DiverseArts programming debuting this fall. Partially funded by the Texas Commission on the Arts, East Side Circuit is an innovative attempt to promote East Austin (cultural) economic development, while providing opportunities for multi-cultural artistic collaborations. Exhibiting our dedication to the cultural and economic well being of East Austin, DiverseArts East Side Circuit programming activities for 1996-97 include performances, workshops, and discussion groups aimed at forging partnerships between artists and businesses, with the common goal of enriching the cultural life of East Austin. At a minimum, East Side Circuit will involve collaborations between artists and DiverseArts, Heritage House, Victory Grill, Manor Road Coffeehouse, Cafe Armageddon and others.

Now, something completely different: Rules of Survival

Rule number one: We are a non-profit cultural arts organization, not a mainstream commercial publishing company. So, some other rules just don't apply to us.

Rule number two: If we don't have a viable advertising base, we, just like a commercial publishing company would, will have to cease publishing this magazine.

Although it is not always obvious, this little mag is, among other things, one of the tools in the DiverseArts publicity and promotion toolbox. No bones about it, no conflict of interest: Austin Downtown Arts is the official mouthpiece for our organization. We spend most of our time, however, writing about individual artists and other arts organizations because that fits our overriding mission. We want to serve the arts community in this way because there is the need, because there is not another publication that specifically addresses this need, and because we initially felt that the local arts and business community would embrace our effort and help support ($upport=paid advertising) us in this endeavor.

Some of these notions remain true and clear. The jury is still out on that last one. We persevere. We still put it out there. We still provide the service (monthly we get press releases and requests for features from arts organizations great and small). We still depend on the faithful few who support us month after month, hanging in there with us because they too see that we've got a great idea here, a vehicle that really can, in the long run, promote the cultural life of Austin. But without that ad base, it really makes it very difficult for us to move to the next level. We know our production values can and will improve. We know that our writing and writers will improve. We know that our ability to cover the scene, in ways that the mainstream commercial media will not/cannot, will improve. We know that our ability to give space to those arts folks not in the mainstream, those non-profit arts organizations without deep pockets, and to those communities that just don't get noticed in the daily (or the weekly alternative press either, for that matter) will only increase as time goes by.

What we don't know is how long it will take the folks -- who consistently send us press, compliment us on what we are trying to do, wonder why our distribution is occasionally little late, and still spend all of their advertising dollars with the mainstream media -- who support our vision, to actually think of us when they spend their advertising dollars.

Believe me, folks who are Money-$pending, music-listening, theater-going, book-reading, college-educated, art-making, coffee-drinking, dance-appreciating, painting-loving, culture-conscious, artist-supporting, restaurant-eating, gallery-going, hotel-staying patrons of the arts and enlightened businesses are the very same folks who now look for this little mag, find it, and read it every month. Aren't you?

Yes, point number one is pretty clear. We need your help here. Not so we can keep our own publicity machine alive, but we need your help so we may get better at serving the entirety of Austin's under-served (and after all, that includes most of us) cultural arts community. There is absolutely no grant or cultural contract money paying for this non-profit arts publication. If you appreciate what it is we are trying to do here, and can help, please do. So......wanna buy an ad contract for, say, 12 months? We got great deals just for you!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to those folks who are in our corner already. We ask you to take note of their ads (tell them you saw it here) and support their art and businesses. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.