The Other Paper wrote OSU hopes its big new gallery in the old Lazarus building will help rehabilitate a moribund corner of Downtown
BY RICHARD ADES / JANUARY 31, 2008
If you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big. That seems to be Karen Bell’s motto. The dean of Ohio State’s College of the Arts says the school’s new Urban Arts Space gallery could be good not only for her students but for the Downtown area that surrounds it.
“We talk about fostering the revitalization of Downtown,” said Bell, “and we know we’re pioneers at the beginning of this.”
Curator Prudence Gill will have the job of keeping the huge space filled with art, while Manager Kelly Stevelt Kaser will try to keep it filled with activities.
“We’re talking about even having rock bands or jazz concerts,” Kaser said, “different things happening in the evening to bring people to this space and make it a lively spot.”
Like Bell, Kaser hopes the space will not only succeed in its own right but will help to transform what is now one of the sleepiest corners of the somnambulant Downtown. The 26-year-old even sees a connection between her new job and her work with Mayor Mike Coleman’s Young Professionals Commission, which tries to coax young adults into sticking around Columbus after graduation.
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