Michigan’s oldest art center celebrates centennial

By Abby Chatfield

Sun contributor

A cultural hub of the Leelanau community since its establishment in 1922, the Old Art Building (OAB) in Leland celebrates its Centennial birthday through 2022 with an ambitious lineup of events including four stage productions, 10 art exhibits, 15 musical performances, a varied selection of classes for children and adults, and other special events. This doesn’t account for the numerous private celebrations and gatherings that also take place there.

In addition, the OAB also hosts weekly groups, some that meet year-round, including Wednesday night jam sessions for musicians of all skill levels and the Tuesday Open Studio Painters. In the summer, a plein air painters’ group gathers at various locations to capture local beauty and caps the season off with a clothesline show on the OAB’s front lawn.

A look back at this establishment’s rich history explains how so much magic happens there today. It began with founder Allie Mae Best, wife of a world-famous magician named Walter T. Best, also known as Maro: Prince of Magic. Although Maro passed away well before the OAB was built, Allie Mae’s love for him may have been what inspired her to lead the Walter T. Best Women’s Club in fundraising for the construction of a social club to host social and cultural gatherings for the community.

In 1915, Allie Mae purchased the property where the OAB now sits. After years of fundraising by the women’s club, it was finally built in 1922 by Leland resident John Buehrer and his crew. It was originally called the Leland Community Club and acted as a community center for 17 years, until the Great Depression nearly brought it down.

To save the building and property, Allie Mae donated it to Michigan State University (MSU) in 1939, at that time called Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, as a place to hold a summer art program lasting 50 years.

Many of the 370 alumni listed in the program’s archives are people who now make northwestern Michigan home. Their stories uncover what life was like for an art student spending summers in Leland. The students were on their own for part of the day but met back at the building for critique sessions. They received credits if they worked in the mornings and afternoons. Leland residents welcomed them, and they easily fit into the community, often renting spare rooms from locals and partying at The Bluebird Restaurant and Tavern.

However, by 1989 the program was shut down due to weak enrollment. Staff and students were affected by the lack of options for seasonal rentals. More and more people were discovering the Leelanau Peninsula, and both students and faculty had a difficult time finding affordable housing as vacation rentals took over.

It was this same year that the OAB was added to the State Register of Historic Places. For three years it remained vacant, until the rumblings of development spurred a group of community members to find a way to reinhabit the building and grounds to preserve and maintain a cultural hub for the community. The group went to work by visiting Lansing and laying the groundwork to protect the Old Art Building. They convinced Leland Township to enter a 20-year lease with MSU, initially for one dollar and each additional 10 years for another dollar.

In the process, the township required the community to put a Board in place to oversee operations at the building. The group started a nonprofit to operate a community center that became official by 1994. The building was brought back to its original purpose to bridge culture and community, and is now known as Michigan’s oldest art center.

The OAB Board leased the property from MSU for 28 years, when an opportunity to purchase the building and property arose. The deal provided the Board with 10 months to raise the money. With help from over 450 donors, enough funds were secured to not only gain ownership but also increase an existing endowment fund to maintain the 100-year-old building and support its programs. On Dec. 31, 2020, ownership was returned to the local community.

From origin to Centennial, community has carried this special place. Without the help of countless volunteers and donors throughout its history, the OAB would not exist today. One of the earliest and most interesting renovation projects was accomplished by a group of volunteers who removed every fourth board from the building’s interior walls to add insulation before placing the boards back exactly as they were, so as not to disturb the colorful marks that generations of MSU art students had left behind.

This May, some of the students responsible for these marks will be part of a retrospective exhibit sharing their artwork from past to present. The exhibit will also include memories and photos from the program.

Something else unique to the OAB’s 2022 calendar is the sheer number of musical performances set to take place on its stage and lawn. The Accidentals kicked off the schedule on March 6 with two sold-out concerts. The band reached out to the OAB and advised they wanted to make it their performance landing pad in the Grand Traverse region as they embarked on a tour for the release of their new album, “Time Out.” They brought along accomplished singer/songwriters Kim Richey, Beth Nielsen Chapman, and Maia Sharp.

The year will end with a holiday variety show produced and performed by some of the regions’ best-known talents, but what really amps up the number of musical performances on the docket is a series of free concerts on the OAB’s front lawn called Music in the Air. Started in 2021, these family friendly concerts are an example of the kind of intergenerational programs that have turned into annual events over the last couple of years, as younger adults and their children show more interest in the OAB, where participation by senior citizens was always strong.

OAB’s full schedule of events can be found on its website, OldArtBuilding.com/calendar.

As support for the OAB expands, so does its footprint in the community. It’s an example of the possibilities of what community can achieve when it works together in reach of a shared desire to make this area a more enriching place for all who care about it and for those who are yet to discover it.