“The Arts as a Component of City Revitalization”

I’ve been thinking a lot the past year and a half about how to take the philosophy and talents of New Mystics and apply them better to the “New Economy” and the revitalization of cities that have lost their edge.

Tonya and I have been truly blessed to have made our home in Fairmont, WV, a once-great city that built itself from a frontier community centered around Prickett’s Fort to a coal power before slowly but surely sinking into disrepair and forgotten-ness in the later half of the twentieth century.

But things are changing in Fairmont—we had our first Create Marion meeting last Friday in the soon-to-be completed and opened New Mystics Center for Arts and Education. As 30 community leaders examined the pillars of the “New Economy”: “Quality of Place,” “Diversity,” “Talent and Education,” and “Technology” we became more convinced than ever that Fairmont, and Marion County, of which she is such a major part, is poised to combine the Frontier Spirit with the latest innovations of the 21st-century to become a force once again to be reckoned with. With a strong complement of social, economic, and educational entrepreneurs all working together for the betterment of our city and ourselves, we cannot fail.

New Mystics Arts plans to play a major role in the process. We are joining with ever more local and regional artists and arts organizations to create a critical mass of Synergy and Optimism in north central West Virginia that will link with our New Jersey theatre company to slowly but surely give us a mid-Atlantic presence that will celebrate the best of what the Arts and Artists can offer the world—a voice for all where social justice and diversity are not just catch phrases but a way of life.

Following in the footsteps of Augusto Boal, Bertold Brecht, The Living Theatre and others in the theatre that believe that we have a larger role to play as artists than Entertainment and Escape (although those are important functions as well) New Mystics Arts will continue to produce thought-provoking and dialogue-opening plays and workshops and train actors, teachers, and artists of all ages to use their Vision, Voice and Passion to revitalize their communities and their world.