By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

It’s never smooth. The nature of existence finds broad plains of time uninterrupted by cataclysm or benchmark that periodically yield to rockier terrain with no warning. But in the crags and canyons of punctuated equilibrium lie the seeds of growth.

The same could be said for Mobile’s arts world. We see decades where things slow down before a flurry of development suddenly arises around us.

It seems since Lagniappe made the Port City scene in 2002, change has been the dominant mode for that realm While Lagniappe certainly can’t take credit for much of it, we have to wonder what role we play in the zeitgeist since our emergence in the last half of Mobile’s Tricentennial celebration.

The Mobile Museum of Art unveiled its own transformation in September of that same year as redesign and construction tripled the size of the outdated facility and opened its aesthetic. Museum Director Tommy McPherson stepped in not long after Lagniappe was born, replacing the visionary Joe Schenk who ushered in a modern era for MMoA. McPherson and staff have continued a stellar string of exhibits and regional outreach that has lifted Mobile’s position in the regional pantheon.

Also of significant presence has been the non-profit Centre for the Living Arts via their management of the historic Saenger Theatre and development of other downtown facilities. Under their direction, the Saenger has been renovated and returned to full glory as an exquisite traditional Southern showplace.

The CLA also moved in a new direction when they converted the old Press-Register building into contemporary gallery Space 301. The building’s industrial atmosphere was more cosmopolitan than customary for sleepy Mobile and its impact was immediate.

Space 301’s 2003 premiere was also the first celebration of ArtsAlive, a biannual street festival of culture. The event was a semi-direct descendant of the now-defunct First Night New Year’s Eve celebration, a limited success for the city during the previous decade, and proved Mobilians can indeed turn out for events without expecting MoonPies and debauchery.

Another first on that inaugural ArtsAlive night was the arrival of new Mobile Arts Council Executive Director Bob Burnett. Initially, the selection of a non-Southerner as director was almost news in and of itself but his presence along with new Community Development Director Charlie Smoke has revealed a fresh visibility and contemporary image for the arts umbrella organization. The shift in facilities alone, moving from an office tucked above the sidewalks on a side street to a sleek street-level gallery on a main toroughfare, has been a sea change fostering accessibility. The 2004 establishment of the council’s annual awards has also elevated arts awareness.

Smoke previously made his mark on the local cultural realm via longtime association with WHIL, Mobile’s fine arts/public radio station. His 2003 departure began a few turbulent years at the station that now find the arts hub with almost a complete housecleaning of staff and a revamp in programming.

Fairhope’s GULF ArtSpace arose in furor but settled into new facilities in 2005 with a recently restructured organization casting an eye toward efficiency and increased funding. The new developmental stage has yet to see full fruition but it’s hoped they can continue to raise eyebrows as their reputation deserves.

Monthly artwalks have grown beyond expectation in Fairhope, almost to the point of saturation. Similar affairs in Mobile have built great momentum since being born in the summer of 2005, a natural offshoot of ArtsAlive but on a more frequent basis.

Strangely though, the promise of developing an arts district in downtown Mobile hasn’t followed suit so well. Some arts entities manage to stay open, other spaces like Off.Dauph Art Space and Alabama Contemporary Dance have faded away.

Still, we’ve had our luminaries. World-class musicians Yo-Yo Ma, Denyce Graves and Itzhak Perlman have appeared with the Mobile Symphony in the last couple of years.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Mobile’s Exploreum shattered attendance marks in 2005 and led the way to subsequent appearances by an actual Egyptian mummy and prized relics from the Roman city of Pompeii.

Departure, too, has marked the last five years with some denizens like Mobile Opera artistic force Jerome Shannon, Mobile Symphony’s Christina Littlejohn and the aforementioned Joe Schenk moving to new phases in fresh locales. Other cultural leaders such as Palmer Bedsole, Sam Eichold, Wendy Klopfenstein, David McCann, Ira Swingle and plucky William Chesser departed this life for good.

Arthouse cinema will finally have a home in Mobile as construction of the Crescent Theater is underway on Dauphin Street near Bienville Square.

Other organizations and events too numerous to mention like the Festival of Bacchus or Heather’s Art With Heart or the Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival or the Davis Avenue Street Festival have sprouted or matured and let us know cultural involvement is branching and taking root.

Sensibilities have been shaken, perspectives questioned and through it all Lagniappe has watched and partaken and our pleasure abounds.

In the longer scheme, our role may be negligible, our importance ballooned by only hubris, but does it really matter? We still have our gratitude at bearing witness to what may finally be that “corner” Mobile has been waiting to turn for too long.

And sometimes that’s all you need to make a bumpy ride a whole lot smoother.

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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