Historic Building To Open Its Doors to City's Multicultural Arts

Like other local arts groups, the Underground Railway Theatre each season searches for new audiences. For lack of larger, affordable places, the Indo-Asian puppeteer group does a lot of performing at churches and schools.

Says Debra A. Wise, one of the group's puppeteers, "If we perform in more traditional spaces it's because of the generosity of others. There's been precious few places to perform around here-it's been ad hoe."

This spring, that search may have ended for main groups thanks to the long-awaited construct on of the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center (CMAC).

The culmination of $9 million and 10 years and planning, the East Cambridge site will open the doors of its galleries, workshops and theater to grass roots arts enthusiasts this Thursday.

"Nothing Comparable"

For the city's wide array of arts groups-ranging from ethnic folk-dancing troupes to painters' collectives, the center is long overdue.

"There is nothing appropriate in either Cambridge or Boston, spacewise or acoustically. This should be great to work in-there's nothing comparable around," Cheryl Webber, of the women's chorus Libana, says of the Center's 200-seat auditorium.

The Center, located in the remodeled Bullfinch Courthouse in the heart of one of Cambridge's oldest ethnic neighborhoods, is designed to showcase the city's rich ethnic diversity, according to CMAC spokesperson Victoria Dederian.

"We want to appeal to the international community of Cambridge-the list of ethnic groups is enormous," said Dederian of the center's potential to serve as a forum for cultural exchange.

Social Change Through Art

CMAC Director David Kronberg emphasizes the center's work with children and youth as the key to improving cultural intolerance. "It'll be over the longterm-we'll be here for the next century and we could be affecting kids of every generation."

"It's no quick fix, but we're intent on working at it continually. We're gradually embracing all the [ethnic and racial] groups by giving them space," he adds.

Artists will also be able to reach new audiences through the center. "Part of out mission is to provide access to different cultural communities this needs to be a priority," says Wise.

She adds that in the past, performance locations and prices have restricted theater and other performing arts to white, middle-class audiences. The CMAC is "a boon for small professional companies who want to be seen by lots of people, but can't afford to perform locally."

10-Year Struggle

Although the project is now receiving unanimous praise, its founders have faced a 10-year uphill battle to get the center built.

A decade ago, the deteriorated, 100-year-old Bullfinch Courthouse building was to be leveled to make way for a parking lot. But former Senator Paul Isongas and Charles Sullivan of the Cambridge Historical Commission intervened to save the building by having it declared an historic landmark.

When a 1976 study commissioned by City Councilor Saundra Graham showed that Cambridge lacked the theater space to support its thriving local arts groups, the stage was set for the Bullfinch-CMAC union.

Kronberg, the project's director since 1976, coordinated funding for the multimillion dollar renovation from a variety of city, state, federal and private sources.

For Art's Sake

For Cambridge, the plan met two unrelated goals; to help grass roots arts groups survive and to rebuild the part of East Cambridge which had become an industrial wasteland.

Said Kronberg, in addition to being the city's arts headquarters, the building is to be the "centerpiece of East Cambridge, the showpiece of the river front revitalization plan."

But the bulk of the costs had to be met by private sources, most of it coming from architect Graham Gund, who led the remodeling plan. As chief investor, Gund will get returns from the building's small number of retail outlets, according to Kronberg.

Multi-Media Lineup

A myriad of performers will grace the CMAC stage in the coming months. Dance enthusiasts will have their pick of the Arts of Black Dance and Music (April 13) or the Chinese East-West Dance Theater (April 20).

Mime fans will enjoy the Studebaker Movement Theatre Company (May 17), while those with a real love for the unusual can catch Native American dance and chanting this Friday.

The center has tried to keep ticket prices low, most ranging from $4 to $7, Kronberg said.