lic Storm performs Tuesday night at the Granada Theatre. Erica Cassella/ The Bulletin

When Gaelic Storm appeared on the stage under the ocean-blue light during their performance Tuesday night in Albert Taylor Hall, the audience gave a standing ovation. About 500 people from the Emporia community and surrounding areas attended the concert.

The concert started with the song, “Courtin’ In The Kitchen.” Soon, the stage was filled with Irish-style rhythm and the sound of violin, drums and guitar mingled. The audience followed the beat and clapped their hands.

According to their homepage, Gaelic Storm’s music and performances are a celebration of Irish culture, but they are hardly traditionalists, adding modern sounds and drawing influences from American rock and pop as well as music styles from around the world.

“We selected Gaelic Storm because it has huge following and we saw a lot of people come from outside the area,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of Emporia Art Council.  “We are very pleased with the turn out. It looks like the entire floor is filled and everyone walked out with happy faces and happiness in their hearts.”

Gaelic Storm’s stage presence is interactive and lively. Audience members stood up from their seats and acted like donkeys when the band sang “Darcy’s Donkey.” During the song “Me and the Moon,” the audience on one side stood up and sang “I brought the whiskey” and then the audience on the other side sang “He brought the light” while waving the lights of their cell phones.

The audience applauded several times for the violin solos of Jessie Burns.

“I like the way of music with violin and pipes sounds. My favorite part is the drums and everybody can get involved,” said Frank Cortez, junior secondary education major.

The band also performed “Green Eyes, Red Hair” from the album “Cabbage.”

“Cabbage was number nine on the iTunes chart for every artist in the county,” said Patrick Murphy, lead singer and accordion player for Gaelic Storm.

Students who attended the event said they enjoyed the performance.

“It’s so much fun and it’s really great. I want to go and see them when they go to Kansas City,” said Enn Gilmane, senior music performance major.

Windsor said this concert is a fundraiser for the general operating budget of the Emporia Art Council and a new art center that was just opened at 815 Commercial St. with 15,000 square feet of facilities, including an art gallery, art shops and classrooms.

Huibing Lu

Send article as PDF to

Guests and photographers gather for the opening on “Iconic Kansas” Jan. 19 at the Emporia Arts Center. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

Last Wednesday, Jim Richardson, a Kansas native from Lindsborg, spoke at the Gallery Opening of the Emporia Arts Center.

“He talked about back in his day… as a young adolescent driving around Kansas, going on vacation with his family, they’d stop at a restaurant or gas station and there would be calendars and photos all over the walls.  And those images would be of the Colorado Rocky Mountains… as we approach these 150 years (of Kansas statehood) this year, that these works are somewhat of a beginning of Kansans recognizing that we’ve got something too… we no longer have to hang the Rocky Mountains in our restaurants,” said Susan Brinkman, assistant director of the Center for Great Plains Studies.

The Center for Great Plains Studies has been working on a photo project of the Great Plains region for the past four years. They applied for a grant to move the online photo gallery into a tangible space.  The ESU Endowment Office granted them financial aid through the Katherine K. White Faculty Incentive Grant Program.

The Center for Great Plains Studies approached the Emporia Arts Council with the idea to open a show in their new gallery space, allowing local artists to be represented without emphasizing a specific one. The show offered versatility by featuring photos of Kansas by photographers from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota and Ohio.

Jim Hoy, professor of English, found it appealing that “the photographers ranged from professionals to amateurs.”

Melissa Windsor, executive director of the Emporia Arts Council, was “thrilled” with the idea. “The quality of work was fabulous,” Windsor said.

Jim Richardson was the juror for the show “Iconic Kansas.” Hoy said he has been in contact with him “off and on” for the past six years for resources of two articles he wrote for National Geographic in 2003 and again in 2007.

The grant issued to the Center for Great Plains Studies was not only to move the online project into a real space and to celebrate the sesquicentennial of Kansas’ statehood, but also to bring a renowned photographer into the process.

Everyone involved in the process felt that it ran very smoothly and was an evening to be proud of. The transformation of the space and the excitement of the 100 plus turnout was overwhelming for the staff of the Emporia Arts Center, as well as Hoy and Brinkman.

The Grand Opening of the Emporia Arts Center will take place at 5 p.m. on Jan. 28.  Tickets are $30 per person or $50 per couple.

‘Seldom is heard a Discouraging Word’

“Iconic Kansas” marked the opening of the gallery of the Emporia Arts Center Jan. 19.  However, with the suggestion of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to cut federal art funding programs such as the Kansas Arts Commission, the question of “How iconic can Kansas really be?” is raised among Emporia artists.

“It sucks…. for fellow students that are here and future students who are wanting to come to this area, it will discourage them – it’s very discouraging to even want to come to school here in Kansas for art,” said Christa Westbrook, senior glass and sculpture major.

A Facebook event swept through last week entitled “Protest Phasing Out of KS Funding for the ARTS!” and many students are fighting back by writing letters to their local representatives.

Melissa Windsor also voiced concerns for the new and growing Emporia Arts Center.  She said nearly $30,000 is given annually to the Arts Council, making a new arts center available. If these funds are cut, a cut in services (personnel and programs) is sure to follow.

By Brianne Simon

Video by Kellen Jenkins

Send article as PDF to

The stage at Emporia’s Granada Theatre lit up Saturday night to reveal the large, wooden drums that Taikoza, a group from New York City, would play.

The stage at Emporia’s Granada Theatre lit up Saturday night to reveal the large, wooden drums that Taikoza, a group from New York City, would play. Taikoza is based on traditional Japanese drum music, and director Marco Lienhard said half of the music is traditional and half of it is inspired the traditional music.Taikoza translates roughly to “drum group.”

“Some rhythms are a little more modern or from other cultures, so I sort of choreographed a few pieces and so it’s a combination of both,” Lienhard said.

An Emporia State student from Japan, sophomore theater major Yui Watanabe, said the performance was very Japanese in style and costume.

“I liked it because I think sometimes American people put Chinese style, Korean style, some of their styles, but this was Japanese style,” Watanabe said

The event was the first of the Emporia Arts Council’s 35^th Performing Arts Season. Before the performance, Melissa Windsor, executive director of the EAC, announced that the gallery and retail store portions of arts council’s new building will open on Dec. 4.

Lienhard was originally from Switzerland, but when he was 17 he decided to do a foreign exchange program in Japan that was only meant to last a year. That was when he found Ondekoza, or “demon drum group,” an endeavor that was only meant to last three months. He ended up playing with them for 18 years.

“Once I was there, the gates opened and it was like, ‘oh this is fascinating,’ and I tried, I was only supposed to spend one year there, but after a month I was like I have to find a way to stay here longer and I came across a commune… I was planning to stay three months, but that extended a little longer,” Lienhard said.

Lienhard said that Taikoza, like Ondekoza, is a commune, meaning that the members all live together. He said there are currently 10 to 12 members, but they all have other projects and half of them are freelance. The group that performed included six members of Taikoza, Chikako Saito, Marguerite Bunyan, Malika Duckworth, Kristy Oshiro and Junko Kobayashi.

“When we have a concert I try to find who is available. They all practice my songs so they know and we work and then when we get together we work on the program that we decide to do,” Lienhard said.

The drum is important in Japanese culture because it is played in festivals and Lienhard said it announces things to come.

“They will play it outside so it’s something to be heard and that’s why they’re made out of one tree trunk, so that gives it that sort of boost and you can really hear that,” Lienhard said.

Watanabe said most Japanese play the drums for the summer festival. She said some of the drum techniques Taikoza used are very difficult and most people cannot do them for more than a few minutes.

“Many women play like this, but it’s very, very hard, we can do it for maybe three minutes, five minutes… how can she do that? Maybe you think it’s easy, but it’s not,” Watanabe said.

Senior theater design major Levi Howe said he has gone to the arts council’s performing arts series events before, but hasn’t seen anything like Taikoza.

“There’s a lot of culture and a lot of history here, so it’s a lot to take in but it shows you the culture from a different place, foreign to Emporia,” Howe said.

Lauren Walbridge

Send article as PDF to

Tools are scattered about the new Emporia Arts Council Building Tuesday afternoon in the 800 block of Commercial St. Alissa Miller/ The Bulletin

Sunlight from the windows lights up the gallery area of the unfinished Emporia Arts Council building set to open in January 2011.The building, which includes a theater, ceramics room and gift shop, among other things, is about three times bigger than the council’s current space.

“We want to grow everything, everything that we have, right now we’re kind of too big at the art center where we’re located currently,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of the Emporia Arts Council. “And really just, you know, we want to enhance the arts and entertainment district in Emporia.”

The new location at 817 Commercial is 15,000 square feet total, comparable to that of the art council’s current space at 618 Mechanic, which Windsor said is about 5,000 square feet. The gallery itself is 1,600 square feet.

“We’ve been in the current space that we’re in probably about 15 years, so it’s time,” Windsor said.

Windsor said that with the help of fundraising and a lot of private donations, the EAC raised the approximately $3 million it took to build. She said the biggest donation they received was for $745,000 from the Jones Trust Fund. Windsor said the council is still looking for funding to equip the building’s kitchen with things like cabinets, sinks and refrigerators.

“We won’t have the funding for that initially, we’re still pursuing that anyway, and we’re hopeful that maybe we’ll have that by the time we open, but maybe we’ll get that pretty soon,” Windsor said.

Planning for the building project began when Windsor started at the EAC about five years ago, when board members got together and decided to do a feasibility study to see if it was possible.

“It was really started by a group of board members who knew that we had an opportunity for an arts and entertainment district in downtown Emporia,” Windsor said.

Dave Markowitz, head contractor for Mitchell-Markowitz Construction, the firm in charge of building the new center, said the company received a permit to build last November, did the demolition and some foundation work over the winter and really started building this spring.

“It seems like it’s been a long process, but I think the final product is going to be very attractive and go well with down town Emporia and I’m very excited to see how it all turns out,” Markowitz said.
The new structure includes much of the original building, which was most recently Dayton’s hobby shop. Windsor said the building was built in 1921, before the adjacent Granada Theater. Markowitz said that some of the structure of the old building supports the Granada, so engineers were more comfortable leaving it.
“Not only were we able to salvage some architectural features and get the look the architect was wanting, but it also helps support the north wall of the Granada and it stabilizes it,” Markowitz said.

Windsor said she felt that, in its current location, not enough people know about the art center. She said her goal is to expand in all areas, including ceramics and art education as well as having bigger gallery exhibits and shows.

“We want to really grow as far as a community center, you know letting people come rent the facility for other events and activities and really just, you know, enhance the arts and entertainment district in Emporia,” Windsor said.

Lacee Hanson, senior communications major and intern at the Emporia Arts Council said the EAC has outgrown their current location.

“I think that it does have a lot more potential definitely, a lot more room to grow definitely in the new building,” Hansen said.

Sometime in late January, Windsor said the EAC will have the new building’s grand opening celebration. Also, on Jan. 19, the EAC is partnering with the Center for Great Plains Studies for a gallery exhibit juried by Jim Richardson, a National Geographic photographer from Louisburg. The gallery is a part of the sesquicentennial celebration for the state of Kansas.

“We’re very lucky to have the Center for Great Plains Studies ask to partner with us on this and we feel very fortunate to be a part of it and let it be our opening event for our gallery,” Windsor said.

Hansen said she feels lucky to be involved in the EAC at this time of transition.

“We’re just trying to really build that hype, to get Emporia to recognize that the new building’s going to be a really great thing for the community,” Hansen said.

Lauren Walbridge

Send article as PDF to

The Emporia Arts Council, currently located at 618 Mechanic St., will move to the 800 block of Commercial Street just north of the Granada Theatre. Over the past two years, they have raised $2.8 million for construction of a new center in downtown Emporia. Giri Nam/The Bulletin.

The Emporia Arts Council has raised $2.8 million in gifts and pledges over the last two years for a new building that will be located between 811 and 815 Merchant St., just north of the Granada Theatre.

“We’ve met our fundraising goals to start construction,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of the EAC. “We’ll plan on starting construction in the next 30 days and it will be about a year long project.”

The fundraising campaign has drawn support from the entire community and surrounding areas with over 340 donors, Windsor said.

“It was beyond our hopes,” said Mel Storm, professor of English and former president of the EAC board. “People contributed. People came back and increased their pledges. People contributed multiple times. We’ve had donors come forward that had not contributed before.”

Two major donors helped meet the final budget requirements for the project.

“The Jones Trust issued a challenge matching grant back in last October,” Windsor said.

The Jones Trust matched what the EAC could raise up to $245,000. An anonymous donor helped with an additional $75,000.

“In the end of the August we were issued a second challenge gift from an anonymous donor that to help us finish out the campaign,” Windsor said. “They would give us $75,000 if we could raise the last $62,000 in 30 days. As of last Friday, we were successful and announced that we were able to meet that challenge in three weeks.”

However, the anonymous donor would like to stay anonymous.

“At the donor’s request we are not announcing who the donor was,” Windsor said. “They’ve chosen to remain anonymous and believe in the community.”

One of the main objectives of the new EAC building is to be more present in the community.

“We’re hoping to increase our presence in downtown Emporia and to enhance the arts and entertainment district in downtown Emporia,” Windsor said. “We know a number of businesses are starting to come to Emporia. It’s starting to grow.”

New features of the building will include a larger gallery, a larger art store with unique gifts and three art studios.

“It will provide a very good companion facility to the Granada Theatre,” Storm said. “It will provide opportunities for students

A clay studio, a small theater, a full kitchen, an art library and upgraded offices and equipment.

“We can host small performances,” Windsor said. “We can also host small groups, group meeting, as well as recitals.”

The EAC hosts a performing arts series that brings a variety of entertainers to several venues in Emporia including the Granada Theatre and Albert Taylor Hall, located in Plumb Hall.

“Every thing that the Arts Council brings to the community, will also have an educational component to it,” Windsor said. “We do free activities to area schools, free performances for area school children.”

Storm was impressed with the efforts of all of those involved in the project.

“We’re a relatively small city, which I think characterizes Emporia,” Storm said. “We’ve been able to fund a multi-million dollar arts complex. It says a great deal about the community.”

Send article as PDF to