Eli Watson ’24
The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts (ALCA) is a nonprofit located in Blue Mountain Lake, NY, near the center of the rural and expansive Adirondack Park. The Adirondacks encompass 9,375 square miles, and most communities are a distant drive from one another. ALCA, or simply “the Arts Center,” was founded in 1967 by a group of like minded people who believed there was a strong demand for a community arts center in the region. ALCA would become the first of its kind, and is often cited as the oldest arts center in the Adirondacks.
People came together from Blue Mountain Lake and many neighboring towns like Indian Lake, Long Lake, and Tupper Lake to apply for a charter to establish the Arts Center, a place that they wanted to serve all of their communities. They desired a community center that would bring people of all ages and backgrounds together in appreciation of the arts, and when the Arts Center first began running programming in 1968, their vision soon became reality.
ALCA immediately established itself as a creative hub for its surrounding regions. The Arts Center showcased the work of local artists in exhibits, put on theatrical performances, hosted dances and other social events, and brought world-class musicians to perform in Blue Mountain Lake, such as Stan Getz and Odetta, to name a couple. Additionally, ALCA has served as an educational center, bringing together students of all ages from many different Adirondack communities for art instruction from renowned local artists.
ALCA’s impact on the entirety of the Adirondack Park has always been uniquely amplified due to the Adirondacks’ rural geography and distance from urban population centers. It has made accessible and facilitated all kinds of art and creative expression to flourish throughout the Adirondacks. In the 1990s, ALCA became the New York State Council on the Arts’ (NYSCA) Statewide Community Regrants (SCR) coordinator for the counties of Hamilton, Franklin, Clinton, and Essex. Put simply, ALCA’s role as SCR coordinator helps secure funding for all kinds of different artists and creative spaces in these counties, another way ALCA’s impact extends far beyond Blue Mountain Lake.
The historic impact of ALCA needs to be studied in order to better understand the many invaluable roles ALCA has served in the region since its inception. Doing so would be immensely beneficial for the Arts Center’s future activities because its proven history of impact would help secure continued funding. Additionally, because the Arts Center has touched the lives of countless Adirondack residents, year-round and seasonal, the history of the Arts Center is a deeply personal one. Many patrons of the Arts Center have a generational relationship with it, and have remained actively involved over many years, and sometimes decades. Preserving and documenting ALCA’s history thus allows people to see themselves in this impactful story. The history of ALCA is one that matters to the entirety of the Adirondacks, and beyond, and needs to enter the historical record in an official capacity that has not been done before.
This summer, I have been privileged to contribute to ALCA’s History Project. Sadly, many of ALCA’s records have been lost, and a significant component of my work has included organizing and cataloging the Arts Center’s many records with the enormous help of several volunteers: Marti Evanoff, Boka Baglieri, Lenore Maynard, and Annabelle Anderson. These records, which include historic photographs, posters, pamphlets, and more, help paint part of ALCA’s rich story. I have also helped digitize many of these records with the help of the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, working most closely with their librarian, Jenny Ambrose.
Another major component of my work has been conducting and archiving oral histories from individuals who have had close relationships with the Arts Center. Interviewees have included artists, former staff, and many others who offer stories about their time with the Arts Center, how they have contributed to it, and how it has transformed their life. Former director Betsy Folwell said that the Arts Center “gave me confidence to try just about anything…it impacted my life by really cementing ties with the community.” Ellen Butz, another former director, shared that the Arts Center “was good for the artists and creative people up here. But I think it created an awareness of the arts in the larger community that would not have been here without the Arts Center.” I am so excited to have the voices of people like Ellen and Betsy in the historical record, as they provide personal insights into the Arts Center’s profound impact on their lives, the lives of others, and the region as a whole.
In addition to helping establish lasting frameworks for future archiving of physical and digital records (now including seven oral histories with nine individuals), my final project is producing a web page for ALCA’s website sharing my historical findings from this summer. This web page will have a multimedia format, in which ALCA’s history will be shared in words, historic images, and audio excerpts from oral history interviews. The web page will also emphasize that this project is a work in progress, and that the Arts Center will continue this research well into the future. It is my hope that oral histories and other research efforts can be taken up by another Upstate Institute fellow next summer to support the Arts Center in this crucial endeavor.
It has been my pleasure to be welcomed so openly into the community of Blue Mountain Lake and contribute my field expertise in any ways I can. I graduated from Colgate this year with a BA in History, and have had three semesters of experience doing oral history research with the Queer Activism at Colgate Digital History Project prior to joining ALCA this summer. I was lucky enough to engage in local historical research last summer as well at the Oneida Community Mansion House, and it has been a joy getting to know another small community with such a vibrant past and exciting future.
Working at the Arts Center has provided me with invaluable experience doing local historical research and oral history interviews. I have also been blessed to have additional experience working with an undeniably impactful and essential nonprofit. Entering the workforce after graduating, I am happy to say I can choose any number of career paths that excite me. I would be thrilled to continue working with nonprofits in the future, doing historical research or something else. I would also be excited to engage in educational work, either at a school or museum. Although there are many possibilities for what I choose to pursue, I am certain that my time at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts has left an impact on me that I will carry with me throughout my life and career, as it has done for so many others before me.