By Jessie Raynor, Akron Area Arts Alliance Director

Excitement runs rampant at Summit Artspace as we finish construction of our new Creative Business Center, Knight Conference Suite and performance/rehearsal space – all made possible by a generous grant from the Knight Foundation.  Summit Artspace, a growing downtown arts headquarters, is a project of the Akron Area Arts Alliance in cooperation with Summit County government.  It is located in a 55,000 square-foot, art deco building that was originally built by Charles L. and John S. Knight in 1927 to house the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper.

The building already houses two galleries, classrooms and six artists’ studios.  Two exhibitions planned for the first floor Summit Artspace Gallery reflect the building’s journalistic roots.  In the current show titled Fresh Art/Current Affairs, artists were challenged to flex their creative muscles to produce new works dealing with today’s public issues using novel styles and unusual materials.  Guest judges chose 62 two and three-dimensional works for display on topics such as the financial crisis, home foreclosures, war, unemployment, AIDS, abuse, the Gulf Coast oil spill, healthcare and religion.  Following in May, the gallery will present Beyond Newsprint, featuring six artists who work or at one time worked for the Akron Beacon Journal as designers, illustrators and cartoonists.

Requests for proposals have been sent to prospective tenants of the Creative Business Center and several interested parties have toured the space.  The arts community has also expressed interest in renting the 3,000 square-foot multipurpose space for small performances, rehearsals, auditions, lectures, poetry readings, etc.  Working alongside others who are creative and passionate about the arts is just one of the many attractions of Summit Artspace