Eleven years ago, in 2001, I approached mayoral candidate Shing-Fu Hsueh to support converting the firehouse on Alexander Road into an Arts Center if he was elected. He agreed and dovetailed it to his community-building platform. Once elected he created his Arts Center Formation Task Force. I didn’t realize it, but it catalyzed the heartfelt 1990s grass-roots movement in the Berrien City neighborhood after Frank Crawford envisioned it in the 1980s.
That vision soon evolved into a community vision, one person at a time. It takes a village and time.
With steadfast, pitbull-tenacity the 11 founding board members met biweekly and poignantly for nine months before birthing the West Windsor Arts Council on July 2, 2002, 10 years ago this week. I have had the honor of climbing mountains and riding the waves, working with these stalwart volunteers.
In addition to me, the founding board members included Connie Tell, Carol Schepps, Dale Roylance, Dan Zibman, Elane Gutterman, Heidi Kleinman, Jeff Nathanson, Julie Myers, Liz Madden-Zibman, and Marie Alonzo-Snyder.
These trailblazers and their families began the seminal march of an army of volunteers to the sound of a common drum. Some 50,000-plus volunteer hours later the 1931 firehouse has come full circle, returning to its community roots and its reach in the region.
In 2002 Elane Gutterman, Liz Madden-Zibman, Connie Tell, and Marie Alonzo-Snyder each inspired flagship programming. In 2006 Jeff Nathanson became WWAC’s first executive director before becoming the Arts Council of Princeton’s. We have him to thank for the two-pronged strategic plan to first convert the unused section while waiting for the active Hazmat emergency equipment to be relocated. The building is both an arts center and active firehouse today.
Four years later Ruth Kusner-Potts picked up the torch as the second president and expanded WWAC into a more efficient organization, meeting in board rooms instead of living rooms. Eight years later, she still serves on the executive committee and a plethora of others. She has been a master organizer.
Her successor, former president Ilene Dube, led the West Windsor Arts Council through the daunting, and at times overwhelming, transition from programming without walls, to renovating and moving into the Arts Center, physically and financially. She tackled the crucial challenges at the nexus of whirlwind change and risks.
The renovation itself is a masterpiece of Heidi Kleinman. Her indispensable architectural finesse made the physical Arts Center what it is today. She still tends to the finishing touches.
Jerry Fields is a virtual founder. His graphic design finesse created all the original graphic designs. When in the foyer look up to witness the framed rows of his talent, a fraction of his decade of gifts.
Lisa Weil, our current board president, served as vice president for six years prior. She continues to lead the way through the myriad of three-dimensional challenges as the arts council evolves. She is our intensely diligent president we are so lucky to have.
Please thank these volunteers for their gifts when you see them. Become a business ambassador of our fledgling arts center that has already generated steady jobs, hundreds of paid artist projects, sold thousands of dollars of artists’ works, and is a new client to many local businesses. These volunteers have generated a creative ripple-effect in our local economy during the recession.
Please acknowledge them when you see them, E-mail info@westwindsorarts.org or — in the manner that was popular in 1931 — even snail mail a special thank you note to the Arts Council at 952 Alexander Road, Princeton Junction 08550.
“What is old is new,” including the new Arts Center in the old Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Company No. 1’s firehouse built more than 80 years ago. Happy 10th birthday, West Windsor Arts Council!
Paul Cerna
First WW Arts Council president
