TASI director Greg Busceme, foreground, and board president Joe Winston stated The Studio’s plans for continued growth and expansion during the annual open house meeting Sept. 12 in the newly renovated sales gallery. The event drew a healthy crowd of supporters.
Annual open house board meeting lays out TASI plans
“Recognizing the hard work of our supporters, volunteers and staff is something we can never do enough of,” Greg Busceme, The Art Studio, Inc. founder, said. “And we probably haven’t always done it enough, and we wanted to start our season with a big ‘Thank You’ to the community.”
The Sept. 12 event was an opportunity to do that as TASI kicked off its 36th year of exhibitions, classes and events. The celebration and State-of-the-Studio Report showcased ongoing recovery from Hurricane Harvey, donor and sponsorship projects, and future plans for The Studio with short-, mid-, and long-term goals.
“The fact that we have be able to come so far in just a year is a testament to the love and dedication that people have for The Studio,” Joe Winston, board president, said. “The Studio is literally a new place in many respects. We have overcome a lot of storm damage to bring the building up to a new level.”
Hurricane Harvey and the torrential rain that accompanied the storm severely damaged The Studio’s roof causing extensive water damage in the classroom, office and kitchen areas of the building. Almost the entire interior of those spaces were gutted to the foundation to be treated and prepped for repair. A small army of volunteers lent their skills and talents over many weeks and months to building new walls, repairing plumbing, painting and installing drywall.
“We were emotionally devastated as much as the building was damaged,” Busceme said. “We almost didn’t know where to start, but people came in to help, and we realized the storm created a silver lining for us.”
The Studio, for all of its industrial glory, was in need of several modernizations and upgrades, Busceme and Winston said at the event.
“When we got the board together after the storm, we realized some good could come out of this event,” Winston told attendees. “This was an opportunity to grow and come back better than we were before, and we decided to go forward in improving what we knew The Studio needed.”
Before the storm damage, several areas of the building needed repair or remodeling. These areas included bathroom repairs and upgrades, improving access and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, redistributing administrative office space to a more efficient layout, increasing the size of the library, adding storage spaces, enlarging the dark room area and replacing and adding new light fixtures, fire safety upgrades and the Wi-Fi network.
Several foundations supported the recovery and improvement plan including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Foundation for Southeast Texas for the wheelchair ramp and window replacement, CDBG for roof repair and the Edaren Foundation with wheelchair lift.
“The heart of The Studio has always been our tenant artists, and we wanted to create a better area for them to showcase their work, so we remodeled the sales gallery and art storage area,” Busceme said. “We also bought the property next door because we have grown so much that we needed space to accommodate more tenant work areas.”
Additionally, the entrance to the sales gallery and administrative area had been damaged by termites prior to Harvey, and The Studio’s fundraising efforts had stalled to repair it.
“The storm really put a spark to everyone, and we had a sort of awakening that motivated the organization to a level of enthusiasm that was really needed,” Winston said. “We invited to some fresh faces to our board and rededicated ourselves, as a board, to carrying out the mission of The Studio.
“This community needs The Art Studio, and after 35 years we weren’t going to let a storm knock us out. We survived Rita and Ike, and we were not only going to survive Harvey, but we were going to thrive because of it — and we have with the generous help of several donors.”
Board member John Fulbright said The Studio is a fixture in the Southeast Texas community and has earned its place as a cultural destination for the entire area.
“The Studio has been around long enough now that people who came here as children and teenagers are now bringing their own children and sometimes grandchildren to classes and events,” he said. “There are not many organizations anywhere that say that. We have a legacy to uphold for that history and for what will come in the future.”
There are 34 tenants using Studio facilities, and there is currently a waiting list. TASI has also added more classes and instructors to its schedule to satisfy the growing demand and interest in art in the community — roughly two dozen additional people use The Studio each month taking classes.
One of the future goals of The Studio is to repurpose the current clay class area to a climate-controlled classroom so classes can be held more comfortably all year long. A long-term goal is to have the entire building air conditioned and heated.
A permanent, user-friendly performance space is also included in future plans to accommodate growing requests for theatrical performances and Band Nites.
Busceme told attendees that a wave of rejuvenation and enthusiasm was an unexpected aspect of the past year’s work.
“So many people have come forward and lent their expertise and sweat equity in many, many projects, and we wouldn’t have come this far without them,” Busceme said.
Story by Stephan Malick, ISSUE staff writer