Event for teens held at artPARK

Teens enjoy an outdoor dance party on Oct. 6 at the artPARK in Downtown Coshocton. Contributed | Beacon

COSHOCTON – The Pomerene Center for the Arts is starting a movement to make the artPARK an active, vibrant space.

“If people start energizing this space and take it over then we can energize downtown,” said Anne Cornell, artistic director for the Pomerene Center.

The initiative was started on Oct. 6 when the Pomerene Center hosted a dance party for teens featuring Columbus funk band Flogo Shaggins. This ticketed event was open to students engaged in community service through their schools, Coshocton Leadership and 4-H Leadership.

“We were blown away by the level of engagement,” said Anna Blanton, marketing and office manager at the Pomerene Center. “Once they (the teens) heard the band they just started doing their own thing and it all came together.”

About 30 high school students attended the chaperoned event.

“The goal of #getfunky was to start a movement to activate downtown Coshocton starting with the creative space of the artPARK,” Blanton said. “We feel that #getfunky did just that as local teens came together to utilize plus bring vitality to downtown. We look forward to making this an annual event.”

The band, which includes Coshocton High School graduate Tom Davis, was originally booked for an adult beer garden night in the artPARK. Due to different conflicts with dates, the Pomerene Center decided to change the audience they were targeting.

“We starting looking at who wasn’t being served (in our community),” Cornell said. “There are multiple interesting (local) places to go if you want to have a drink and listen to music so we decided to look at this space differently. There has been talk for a long time of a teen center so we decided to try this.”

The band didn’t know what to expect with the change in audience, but was pleasantly surprised.

“They said it was one of the best crowds they ever played for,” Cornell said. “They were so pleased to see a young group into funk.”

The Pomerene Center was appreciative of help for the event from: Wild Styles, Bob Weir, Fisher’s Decorating, Domino’s, Whit’s, Dorothy Skowrunski and Annin Flagmakers. Annin donated fabric to help create a giant funky boot used for photo opportunities and Skowrunski had heavy duty sewing machines that were used to sew the fabric.

“We want to thank the kids who came out for helping us move forward with making this an active space,” Cornell said.

She added that they are hoping to do some Halloween themed activities in the artPARK by partnering with NewPointe Community Church during its Trunk or Treat at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20 and showing an old horror movie.

“As people start coming we will figure out who are clientele is and build on that,” Cornell said. “People draw people and we can’t vitalize downtown without people.”

Category: Arts & Entertainment