Picasso in the Wilderness, Part 7.
RAISING A COMMUNITY

What does it take to get loggers and forest preservationists to work together?

In Elk City, Idaho, the answer is as simple as a group of children who need a place to perform.

During the past two years, the community has rallied around an arts integration program at the local school. Many residents are parents who have seen the excitement that's now connected with learning. Others have attended recent performances by visiting musicians and theatrical groups, as well as presentations that showcase the new skills and talents being developed by the students.

If they have ever warmed the bleachers at Elk City School, however, they know that the gymnasium has the acoustics of a potato bin.

"When we have graduation," says Principal Susie Borowicz, "we can't even hear who's graduating."

As a result, the community has rallied together to build a new performing arts center. Shearer Lumber Products-the local mill and largest employer in town-is donating the labor. The Forest Service, the second-largest employer in town, is donating the raw timber for the project. And the Western Framers Guild, an offshoot of the organization that helped to rebuild Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, will be working with community members to raise the frame this fall.

"The plan is to for everybody to get together and put it up in just a few days," says Borowicz, "kind of like a barn raising."

The performing arts center project is being used as a learning tool for students, as well. Students have been involved in determining the optimal position for the building near a mountain ridge called Buffalo Hump, considering the angle of the sun throughout the year to keep the building coolest in summer and warmest in winter. Students have also helped to calculate the quantity of dirt that must be removed for the foundation, and some will assist in building the actual structure.

The new center will provide much more than a place to hold school plays. According to Borowicz, when one of the town's pioneers passed away a couple of years back, there wasn't a place big enough to hold all the folks who wanted to pay their respects. Soon, that will be a problem of the past.

The new center will provide a much-needed space that the entire community can enjoy.

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