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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
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THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AS
‘HOLY GROUND’
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Many local arts organizations — including the North Coast Symphonic Band, pictured here at rehearsal — use the Clatsop Community College’s Performing Arts Center
in Astoria, which stays open through donations, fundraising and programming to cover the cost of operating the building.
By KIT KETCHAM
For The Daily Astorian
W
hen Moses encountered the
burning bush, in the ancient
Hebrew story, and heard the
words “take off your sandals for you are
standing on Holy Ground,” the idea of
“holy ground” became enshrined in human
consciousness and has been traditionally
associated with religious observance.
When our congregation, the Pacific
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, became
a Partner for the PAC in September, I
looked into the history of the site on which
the building stands, at the corner of 16th
Street and Franklin Avenue in Astoria.
I learned that, for centuries, that lit-
tle knoll was part of the homeland of the
Clatsop/Chinook tribes, that human beings
loved and lived on the patch of ground
where we now hold our Sunday services.
Years later, a convent, the Sisters of the
Holy Names, occupied that corner, and
then the congregation of Trinity Lutheran
Church built the current beautiful struc-
ture, completed in 1936. When Clatsop
Community College acquired the site in
the 1970s, it was remodeled as a music
and performing arts educational facility
and became Clatsop Community College’s
Performing Arts Center.
Though “holy ground” has tradition-
ally been considered a religious concept,
I have a somewhat different take on it. I
look at human history and see that what
has empowered human beings throughout
time has been the innate ability and desire
to create: to create meaning in daily life,
to create children, to create art and music,
to create community that nurtures and sus-
tains life, to create understanding of our
place in the universe.
Some theologians have even thought of
the creative drive within the human psyche
to be the embodiment of God, the ultimate
living force of the universe.
So my take on “holy ground” is that
the Performing Arts Center — once the
sacred ground of early human ritual, reli-
gious teachers and Lutheran believers —
is still holy ground. Sanctified at one time
by human religious rites and beliefs, the
Performing Arts Center has evolved into a
larger center of connection, of community,
and of consecration to the ideals of human
creativity and communication.
We weren’t sure at first what it would
mean to be a Partner for the PAC; our con-
gregation isn’t a performing group like the
North Coast Chorale or the North Coast
Symphonic Band. We don’t put on plays
or conduct rehearsals or music lessons in
the many rooms of the historic building.
But we are a faith community that saw a
beautiful space in which to grow our thriv-
ing membership.
When we inquired with the Partners for
the PAC governing committee, we learned
that while the Performing Arts Center is
owned by Clatsop Community College,
programming at the facility occurs primar-
ily through the efforts of the PAC partners,
who keep the arts center open through
Submitted Photo
This typical Unitarian Universalist altar arrangement includes a candle, symbolizing
light in the darkness, and a chalice, which has been a symbol of Unitarian Univer-
salist faith since World War II.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
The college’s Performing Arts Center is located at Franklin Avenue and 16th Street.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Daric Moore, left, and Nancy Montgomery rehearse a scene from the play “Love/
Sick,” which was presented by Partners for the PAC and the American Association
of Univeristy Women at the Performing Arts Center in September.
donations, fundraising and programming
to cover the cost of operating the building.
Each of the partner groups operates with
a certain amount of autonomy, contribut-
ing an annual fee for financial support and
working to increase the PAC’s usefulness
to the community.
An annually renewable agreement
between the partner groups and the col-
lege sets policies specific to the needs of
the historic building, and the annual fee is
based on the previous fiscal year’s actual
costs.
In return, the partner groups collabo-
rate on the use of the building, scheduling
rehearsals, lessons, plays, concerts — and
our fellowship’s services — cooperatively,
acting in supportive ways to each other by
ushering or folding newsletters or “cookie
fluffing” and attending each others’ events.
Each partner group is expected to contrib-
ute via fundraising events to help cover the
expenses of the building.
This partnership with other commu-
nity groups appealed to our desire to be
a stronger contributor to community life.
We saw our responsibility as a Partner for
the PAC to strengthen the Performing Arts
Center, to bring our own commitment to
human growth and creativity, as do the
other partners.
During a typical week at the Perform-
ing Arts Center, singers meet to create har-
monies and rhythms that enhance their
sense of connectedness to one another;
orchestra and band members fine-tune
their instruments so that their blend of
sounds evokes beauty in the ears of lis-
teners; teachers offer their skills to music
students; a cast of actors works collabora-
tively to produce a play that speaks to the
meanings of human life. And on Sundays,
our growing congregation gathers to expe-
rience the reverence and sense of purpose
that our faith community provides.
Because of what happens within its
walls, the Performing Arts Center contin-
ues to be holy ground. Its partners con-
secrate its being with music, with dance,
with learning and with reverence, as they
bring their passion, discipline, coopera-
tion, ideas and energy, all in service to the
ideals of creativity and collaboration.
Holy ground has the power to transform
us when we come together there to create
something larger than ourselves, when we
create a sense of community from which
we reach out to touch others.
The value of the Performing Arts
Center to Astoria and the North Coast is
worth fighting for, investing in, nurtur-
ing and maintaining a blessed space ded-
icated to creative expression for the whole
community.
And I am pleased that our congrega-
tion, the Pacific Unitarian Universalist Fel-
lowship, can contribute to our community
in this way.
The Rev. Kit Ketcham serves the Pacific
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in
Astoria. She retired to the North Coast in
August 2012 and is minister emerita of the
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Whidbey Island, Wash.