'Gone, baby, gone': Arts community grapples with next steps

Facing decimated theaters, destroyed galleries, ruined equipment, and canceled shows from the May 10 tornadoes, Tallahassee artists and arts organizations need your help.

Twisting through dawn

There is nothing like the hours of dawn. Art spaces hold a bewitching aura at this time. From the ray of light reflecting off a glass sculpture as the day rises to the friendly fade of the ghost light into the shadows of morning, the space that holds the art shapes those who fill it.

These buildings serve as a vessel for the art made to extend from individual experience to collective sharing. On May 10, that delicate balance where fantasy meets fact was torn apart by very real tornadoes.

In a matter of 36 minutes, two separate tornadoes, both an EF-2 traveling southeast at 115 mph, tore through the town and converged with an approximated 1-mile radius over the heart of Tallahassee’s Railroad Square Art District. And by the grace of Dionysis, no one was there.

“Luckily, the storm happened early in the morning and outside of our open hours,” says 621 Gallery President/CEO Josh Johnson. “All of our staff, interns, and volunteers were off-premises.”

Art goes on: Reimagining or rebuilding? A peek into the future at Railroad Square after tornadoes

Mere days prior, arts organizations across Tallahassee were a flutter. Southern Shakespeare Company had opened their free open-air show "The Winter’s Tale" on the Adderley Amphitheater stage at Cascades Park.

At the Railroad Square Art District, Able Artists Gallery showcased the talents of persons with autism and neurodiversity in the Motivating People Through Arts & Culture Artcase.

Right next door in the Amtrak Campus, the independent film "Slow," presented by the Tallahassee Film Society, was premiering at the All Saints Cinema.

Theatre troupe Mickee Faust’s beloved Faustkateers rehearsed for their 17th Queer As Faust summer cabaret. Just across the way, the 50-year-old nonprofit contemporary art gallery, 621 Gallery, held a monthly open studio time for local artists to create, share, and create again.

The lingering reverb of musicians exuding melodies of glorious madness while street dancers moved joyfully throughout Railroad Square’s most recent First Friday could still be felt. But on that stormy Friday, these memories were replaced by the devastation each artistic organization awoke to.

Benefit: Fundraiser for Railroad Square set for Saturday in Downtown Tallahassee | Brew Bend

The damage is done

Arts leaders are devastated by the destruction the storm's wake left behind.

“I was at home at the time of the storm,” says John Fraser of the Tallahassee Film Society.

Mickee Faust’s artistic director, Terry Galloway, echoes Fraser’s experience. She was "in the hallway of my home in South Meridian, cowering with my wife and our two cats.” Others had already left for work and found out through social media.

“I was hunkered down in a classroom with students when I began receiving dozens of texts about social media photos/videos,” recounts Johnson. “The footage showed complete devastation. All of our livelihoods, passions, projects, and organizations — literally reduced to rubble.”

Aerial drone shots of Railroad Square confirmed roofs torn from several buildings as easily as a Band-Aid ripped from a child’s knee. Still, as is often the case with Florida’s natural disasters, the actual damage was the rain.For hours after the initial impact, rain flooded the now-open arts facilities and outdoor stages.

Southern Shakespeare’s set was soaked through and withered, as was the Florida State University’s Flying High Circus Tent. “The damage was extensive, and it appears that all the fabric and all the steel structure will need replacement,” shared director Chad Mathews on The Flying High Circus’ Facebook Post.

The tragedy evolves to reveal ruined costumes, destroyed irreplaceable art pieces, and endless props and gadgets. Performance venues face massive loss of technical tools scattered about their grounds.

All Saints Cinema, one of the only venues in town that screens independent, documentary and foreign films, “does not know the extent of damage to all the equipment inside, but suspect it will be totally useless,” Tallahassee Film Society President John Fraser said.

For some, the most significant loss is not in the buildings themselves but what they represent: years of grant writing, volunteer labor and love, and a place to call home that was maintained by these Tallahassee artists and patrons for decades.

“Our home for 27 of our 37 years of existence is gone, baby, gone,” shares Galloway. “We loved our performance community space. It was magical.”

A new way forward

Theater historian Alison Findlay argues performance space is both a “representation of space” and a “representational space.” So, to have one’s artistic home eradicated is to feel as if you have been erased from existence.

Yet, any artist can tell you that we are resilient not easily disposed of. Although the damage is vast and the future of these spaces remains uncertain, the consensus across the organizations seems to be the same: rebuild and renovate. “The extensive amount of damage to our buildings is not larger than the will and spirit of the tenants in the district,” reiterates Johnson. “The arts are here to stay.”

What is next? First and foremost, we take a deep collective breath in gratitude that, besides one fatality whom we keep in our thoughts, we are safe and alive. Next, other arts venues whose location north of the tornadoes’ paths spared them, have opened their hearts and venues to those affected.

The Blue Tavern was without power for a day but unharmed. They plan to host a food and live music benefit show to raise money for disaster relief.

LeMoyne Arts has reached out through COCA to offer venue support for individuals or organizations who lost their spaces in the storm and need a place to hold events or carry on their creative work. “Our hearts go out to those whose property and businesses were damaged by last week’s storm,” Board Lead Director Kelly Dozier said. “We will do what we can to help the creative community get through this and come out strong.”

And local artist Lindsey Masterson is generously donating art supplies. How can you help? Attend a show, buy art, make a donation, host a displaced artist or organization, volunteer, give inkind services and support artists and arts organizations impacted by the storm in any way you can.

With your help, the show will go on, as will the vibrant artistic scene that makes Tallahassee the unique, creative, and well-loved center of the Capital City region.

HOW TO HELP - The Show Must Go On

621 Gallery: 621galleryinc.org

All Saints Cinema: Filmnews@tallahasseefilms.com

Able Artist Gallery: ableartists.org/donate

Motivating People Through Arts & Culture: mpacobs.com

The Flying High Circus: circus.fsu.edu

The Mickee Faust Club: mickeefaust.com/donate

Southern Shakespeare: southernshakespearefestival.org

This article provides a snapshot of the organizations and artists impacted by the storm. COCA’s list of impacted organizations and artists, continually updated, can be found at tallahasseearts.org.

Dr. Christy Rodriguez de Conte is the feature writer for the Council on Culture & Arts. COCA is the capital area’s umbrella agency for arts and culture (tallahasseearts.org).

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee artists hit hard by tornadoes plan to rebuild