School of the Arts: Creativity and camaraderie converge in the North Woods

Support for the arts central to creative economy

Photo of participants at the Midday Forum

“A very big part of improvisation is listening — listening and responding,” instructor Frank Peot tells students in his improvisation class at School of the Arts. Demonstrating what they’ve learned during a Midday Forum at school are class members, left to right, Barbara Dinovo, Martin Katzmarek, Diane Schuette, Linda Friddle and Shelly Travis.

After lunch each day at School of the Arts, Midday Forums offer students inspiration, education or entertainment.

Inspirational writer and speaker Leslie Levine on Monday encourages students to plant the seeds to fulfill their dreams. She counsels them to take advantage of the “momentary mentors” they happen upon, to be willing to experiment, and to commit to practicing.

Most important, never give up hope. “Hope is a form of fuel,” she says.

A panel discussion held midweek at the school sketches the long history of public support for the arts in Wisconsin.

“It’s in the water in Wisconsin,” says George Tzougros, executive director of the Wisconsin Arts Board. “The best part of my job is going to a community, finding out what the people want to do and helping them do it.”

Creativity and the arts are central to the emerging “creative economy,” Tzougros says, and supporting the arts is an economic choice.

LaMoine McLaughlin, owner of Northern Lakes Center for the Arts in Amery, Wis., says having an active arts center in the community fosters support for arts education. In his town, “there is no discussion about cutting the arts,” he says.

In the audience is Ced Vig, who has attended School of the Arts every one of its 43 years. Vig was superintendent of the Rhinelander Schools in the early 1960s when the district was approached about lending its facilities to a community arts education program.

“I went to the board of education and they decided they would have a program in our schools without charge. I’ve been here every year since,” says Vig, who also writes a newspaper nature column. “It’s an opportunity for people in northern Wisconsin to participate in something they couldn’t afford to do down in Madison.”

Later, Harve Thompson, acting director on the scene, urges participants to become active in preserving funding for arts education. “As enthusiasts of the arts, we have to take responsibility at the local level for what is happening with the arts in our schools,” Thompson says. “If we don’t, the people without arts experience will take over.”

By today, the fourth day of classes, some students share their work with the larger community in the Student Showcase. A symphony of “found sound,” everyday items turned percussion instruments, delights the audience; a series of tableaus from the improvisation class provokes peels of laughter; a poem on the terrorist attacks of 9/11 brings gasps.