By Peg McCarthy
May 08, 2009

COBOURG -- An idea for a different career direction has blossomed into a new arts centre for the area.

Cindy Taylor, with husband Jim Henderson, has created the Northumberland School of the Arts (NSOTA), a venture that will offer education and programming by professional, experienced teachers and artists for all ages, in every facet of the arts.

Ms. Taylor, a commercial photographer, and Mr. Henderson, a musician and educator, developed workshops and instruction by people who have made art their careers - from prima ballerinas and session musicians to painters, master chefs, screen writers and master gardeners. Mobile outreach and scholarship programs, private lessons, a reference library, after-school-programming for kids and special events are also planned.

“This has gone beyond my wildest dreams,” said Ms. Taylor, who said she wanted to reinvent her career last fall. That led to a kitchen table meeting in January with a dozen people who tossed the idea for an arts centre around, and they ran with it.

“My strengths are ideas and entrepreneurship,” said Ms. Taylor, “Making people believe in things, pulling things together and selling them.”

Currently, the couple are trying to secure a permanent location for the centre with funding from Community Futures Development Corporation and personal and private financing. In the meantime, a full slate of courses and camps for children and teens are offered through the summer at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, at King and College streets, Cobourg.

Once in place, hopefully by the fall, the permanent home for NSOTA will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Ms. Taylor said there are already 47 confirmed and 36 in-the-works top class instructors, including painter Brent Townsend, Hollywood actor, writer and director Daniel Matmor (who wants to create a children’s theatre company in the area), musical director Michael Lyons, painter Susan Statham, textile artist Alice Vander Vennen, horticulturist Sian Pritchard, chef Darren Johns, and negotiations are ongoing with prima ballerina Giselle Witkowsky, who danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov for 15 years.

The vision for what NSOTA could become is huge. Loosely modelled on the Haliburton School of the Arts, Ms. Taylor said they have a commitment to excellence in the arts, and believe that “creativity in all of its forms is the foundation of a prosperous and enlightened society.”

Even the current economic climate does not faze the couple.

“Arts survive, even bloom, during a recession. The great depression brought great art,” said Ms. Taylor, adding the courses will be affordable to everyone, and they will pay instructors well - most making $50 per hour for their expertise.

A group on Facebook already has more members than the Haliburton School of the Arts, and Ms. Taylor believes, based on the interest to date from professional artists, writers, musicians and artisans, that the centre will continue to attract the cream of the crop.

“The success of this will be based on how the community embraces it. There’s a calculated risk here, but I really believe in the project. The first year will be crucial,” said Ms. Taylor.

“Everyone believes in me and I don’t want to let them down.”

The arts centre has a website with summer course details and registration and general information. Visit www.northumberlandschoolofthearts.com.