Bringing Back Fairmount Footnotes
Over half a century ago, Fairmount Center for the Arts went from a dream to a reality.
The European castle-inspired center was constructed between 1970-1971, but even before the iconic building was finished, Fairmount was bustling with arts programming that took place throughout the county. With the inception of the Center came the inception of a typed newsletter. The first edition was released in December of 1970 and included several hand drawn doodles. It gave updates on the building process, recent and upcoming performances, and, at the very end, a call to name the newsletter publications that would be sent out once a month by the administrative team.
When the next newsletter came out a month later, it was distributed with help from a newly purchased Gestetner Mimeo machine (that apparently the Creative Writing class was ecstatic about) and included a special announcement: the newsletter was to be named “Fairmount Footnotes” coined by Judy Shimko whose prize for the winning submission was an Instamatic camera.
Read the whole newsletter >>> HERE.
The next newsletter was full of sarcasm, wit, and a very important historical date - March 17. On St. Patrick’s Day in 1971, the Fairmount building held its first classes. Below is a first term schedule with dance classes running Monday-Saturday, and Drama and Art classes running Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Read newsletter #3 >>> HERE.
Newsletter #4 revealed that the building was in fact completed - except for a parking lot. This apparently led to students being dropped off on the street making the administrative staff very unhappy…
Also in March, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company came to Cleveland where they performed a “beautiful energetic concert [that] had many people dancing in their seats.” During their residency, Fairmount hosted a master class taught by Kenny Pearl, a dancer with Alvin Ailey at the time and author of The Dance Gods: A New York Memoir. Apparently the Fairmount admin team was going to be “working on him” to come back and teach that summer.
Read newsletter #4 >>> HERE.
The last of the Fairmount Footnotes newsletter was written in spring of 1971 in anticipation of a “Grand, Glorious, Gorgeous Open House Party”. It also included some witty remarks about using a draw-bridge to cross an imaginary mote really leaning into the castle imagery. Upcoming performances were advertised and a summer class schedule was released with Kenny Pearl slotted to teach along with many other highly esteemed artists.
At the end of the letter, the editor, Sally Drucker, announced she was leaving town for awhile but “shall return”. Unfortunately, the Fairmount Footnotes newsletter did not return with her from her travels.
Read newsletter #5 >>> HERE.
These five newsletters give us just a peek at what life was like at Fairmount when it first opened. If the walls of the castle could talk, surely they would have stories to tell. This glimpse of life through a witty newsletter connects current-day Fairmount goers to its long past and creates a continual line of poetry through generations of artists in Geauga County. We should all feel proud to be a part of Fairmount’s current history and continue its goodness for future generations.
