The Arts Center at Columbia Basin College: Accepted the challenge

The Arts Center at Columbia Basin College continues to work through the challenges of the pandemic and these challenges have resulted in opportunities and subsequent success. At CBC, our focus is on our students and working toward meeting their educational goals within the guidelines we have been given.

Our arts students and faculty are, basically, utilizing remote technology for instruction. Like all other organizations, we have not been able to perform live with an audience, have publically open gallery exhibits and artist talks and host live lectures via our Lecture Series. Our partners, such as Camerata Musica, have not been able to be in our Theatre for their very successful chamber music series. 

Each instructional area of the Arts (Visual Art, Music and Theatre) have been able to create art with our students. The Arts Center took a two-fold approach during this pandemic. One was to utilize all existing technologies and creativity at our disposal to present artistic work and teach using the virtual format. The second was to use this period of time to upgrade and/or repair, where possible, our current facilities. In retrospect, we found that our Arts Center was so heavily utilized that the time we had to work on our physical space was limited, so we grabbed the opportunity.

The Music Department has produced a number of student focused videos with the help of Rainmaker studios. The Art Department and Esvelt Gallery have hosted virtual gallery exhibits and artist talks for exhibiting artists, the faculty show and the upcoming student show. The Theatre Department has produced plays using Zoom and Webinar technologies. All departments are using Zoom to instruct our students. Is it always perfect? Not always. But our students and faculty are flexible and adaptable in this period of time that will eventually come to an end. 

One of the many accomplishments that we are proud of is the launch of our new Arts Center website. Please take a moment and check it out at www.cbcartscenter.com. We are thankful for the support that came from many areas of our college in the necessary approval process to make this happen for our students, faculty, staff and community. 

This site does not replace the CBC website in any way, but enhances the kind of information that we may provide to the community on “all things arts.” Given we are not in traditional live production right now, the website is a bit quiet, but as we are able to be back live, the website is ready to be fully realized. We hope you enjoy it and find it helpful for you, our supporters of CBC Arts. Please let us know what you think and what could be more helpful. 

One of our many continued physical improvements to our space is the outdoor Diane C. Hoch Stage. Our plan is to be back outside, under the beauty of the Tri-Cities summer, in 2022.

While we are not in production, significant improvements are being made. The seating area is being terraced. There is no more hill! Our patrons will be able to sit on a flat, grassed, terraced area and enjoy our productions. It has been exciting to watch the construction unfold over the past months. We can’t wait to be back outside again. The success of “Mamma Mia” is still in our memory.

In closing, I want to thank our students, our staff and our faculty in the Arts Center for their passionate dedication to the arts. It is also important to recognize our Associated Student Body for their support (ASCBC). And finally, thanks to our President, Dr. Rebekah Woods, and the Cabinet, who is always encouraging and supportive of the Arts Center efforts. Outside of the Arts Center, it is you — our patrons — that also provide encouragement and support of which we remain thankful.

This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 12:34 AM with the headline "The Arts Center at Columbia Basin College: Accepted the challenge."