Share Your Saline Arts and Cultural Center Dreams

What do you envision for an arts and cultural center in Saline?

That is the question the Arts and Culture Committee will ask community members during a public brain-storming session at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the former Spotted Dog Winery location 108 E. Michigan Ave. in Saline.

The committee presented the idea of an arts and cultural center to make the community more attractive during a City Council meeting in December, according to The Saline Reporter. A previous brain-storming session, held Jan. 24 at , had a strong turnout with lots of ideas, the report said.

City Councilwoman Linda TerHaar, who also serves as liaison to the the Arts and Culture Committee, told annarbor.com the center would provide a home for Saline's existing arts organizations and would be funded through outside sources such as grants.

“This is a very difficult time for everyone financially, including the city,” she told annarbor.com. “This is not envisioned as being funded by the city or by the school district in any way.”

She added the 2010 Washtenaw County Cultural Master Plan (see attached PDF) conducted over the course of 18 months by Arts Alliance, a countywide organization, recommended the project.

"The plan reflects the direct input of nearly 5,000 Washtenaw County residents as captured in an online survey, an artists’ census, a study of the area’s creative economy, and the 29 interviews and community forums," says the Arts Alliance website. "The cultural master plan is a strategic vision of the future."

There is no shortage of vision on the Saline Arts & Culture Center Facebook page for what the facility could entail.

"Saline’s Arts and Cultural Center could be a place for our many excellent musical groups to practice, perform, and store their instruments. There might even be a recording studio," the Facebook page says.

"And this wouldn’t just be for our established musical ensembles (Saline Fiddlers, Fiddlers Restrung, Saline Big Band, Saline New Horizons Band, and others). It could be for our many 'garage' bands too," the page continues. "Who knows? The next Led Zeppelin or Little Big Town may come from among Saline’s young musicians. In our Arts and Cultural Center, theatrical and dance groups could rehearse and perform. In galleries, our community’s visual artists could display their works. The possibilities are endless."

[What are your ideas for an arts in cultural center in Saline? Leave a comment!]

If you go

• When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5.
• Where: 108 E. Michigan Ave., Saline.
• Why go: Share your ideas for an arts and cultural center in Saline.
• What else: A wrap-up session will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at  in Saline.