Cornell Complex set to open as local gateway to art

Oct. 8—With local theatrical performances, giant puppets playing on the lawn and a new Thomas Hart Benton exhibit, organizers hope their opening celebration on Nov. 12 will introduce the Harry M. Cornell Arts and Entertainment Complex as a gateway to making the arts more accessible.

Emily Frankoski, director of Connect2Culture, estimates the complex is about 98% complete. Workers are putting the finishing touches on the interior, and furniture will be delivered soon. She anticipates arts organizations can start moving in next week and expects to have everything ready for the complex's opening on Nov. 12.

The 37,000-square-foot Cornell Complex will be the future home of Connect2Culture, Spiva Center for the Arts and Pro Musica. The building cost $17.5 million, which was raised from private donations. Fundraising started with a lead donation from Harry M. Cornell Jr. for $5 million, with other major donations from Lance and Sharon Beshore, Freeman Health System, Leggett & Platt, and Crossland Construction Co.

In 2010, a grassroots initiative envisioned a performing and visual arts center in Joplin. Plans were put on hold following the 2011 Joplin tornado, but resumed in 2016 with a feasibility study. In 2019, Connect2Culture announced an initial fundraising goal of $14 million had been met, and the land donation from the city of Joplin had been secured. Ground was broken in February 2021.

Opening celebrations

In addition to moving in, arts organizations have also been planning for the opening celebration on Nov. 12.

"The opening events have been taking some time to plan, just figuring out how that first experience will be for people in this space," Frankoski said.

Three main events are planned for the opening celebration, which will be free and open to the community. There will be self-guided tours, highlighting different points of interest throughout the building. There will be hourly entertainment at the Beshore Performance Hall by local community groups such as Heartland Opera Theatre, Joplin Little Theatre, Karen's Dance Studio and students from the Joplin Piano Teachers Association. The piano students will be some of the first to play on the complex's refurbished 1949 Steinway piano. StoneLion Puppet Theater from Kansas City will present an interactive performance with giant puppets on the new grass of the Leggett & Platt Green.

The introductory exhibit at the Spiva Center for the Arts' new home will be the annual membership show, highlighting regional talent. It's the 75th anniversary of the show and was recently renamed after Joy Spiva Cragin.

"It's so great to have our membership show as one of our first shows here, because that's what we're about," said Heather Lesmeister, executive director of the Spiva Center for the Arts. "We're about our members."

Another opening show in the new galleries will display 91 Thomas Hart Benton lithographs from the state historical society. This will be the first time these lithographs have been displayed together.

Organizers hope people will feel free to visit the complex and interact with a wide variety of art.

"It's right smack-dab in the heart of the city," Frankoski said. "We're right on Seventh Street, which is such a high-traffic area. Also, so many of our activities, like at Spiva, are free of charge. So there's no barrier to experiencing world-class art."

The complex is named after Harry M. Cornell Jr., both for his lead donation and his devotion to sharing the arts. A biography written to accompany his bust at the complex, by his daughter and president of the Cornell Complex, Sharon Beshore, describes how art helped feed Cornell's imagination in his personal and professional life.

He collected art for over 50 years, and his collection of Western art has been gifted to Spiva for display. Cornell valued the role arts can play in everyday life.

"He was such a proponent of the arts, both visual and performing," Frankoski said. "He wanted to share his love of the arts with everyone else. He was fortunate to be successful and to experience lots of different types of art, and he wanted to share that with everyone."

New features

On the first floor of the Cornell Complex is the Beshore Performance Hall. The golden-lit space gives art organizations the ability to bring a wide range of shows to town. The highly customizable performance hall can seat 435, when set for a theatrical style. The retractable seating allows organizers to customize configurations, from a traditional audience space to an orchestra pit to a largely flat area for banquets.

The sound space is customizable, too, which staff recently tested with popping balloons around the hall. Adjustable curtains can be configured to amplify human voices for a speaking performance or be changed to allow a fuller sound for orchestral mix.

The Beshore Performance Hall gives Connect2Culture the ability to expand its performance capacity. Frankoski said she is excited for school shows, which are afternoon performances of visiting shows for area students. Often these school shows will have question-and-answer periods afterward for the students, to introduce them to the process of the performing arts. This will make these shows more accessible to students in Joplin Schools, as they used to have to travel to Tulsa or Springfield.

Also customizable for flexibility are the Spiva galleries on the second floor. Pneumatic movable walls can float along the floor, like a puck on an air hockey table. The movable sections expand Spiva's wall space exponentially, and allow for a small intimate gallery or even a fun maze. With the ability to arrange the galleries in any configuration, Spiva can showcase all sizes and shapes or art in any arrangement.

New humidity and temperature controls will allow Spiva to bring in a variety of national exhibits that they couldn't in their old space.

Lesmeister said she looks forward to a more expansive space at Spiva for community-minded exhibits. For example, she hopes to work with the local school districts to have yearly student art shows.

"For them to come see this, and get children excited about art at a young age, would be amazing," Lesmeister said.

New Spiva galleries at the Cornell Complex include the Freeman Health System Main Gallery, the Regional Focus Gallery and the Harry M. Cornell Jr. Permanent Collection Gallery.

Lesmeister said she is especially excited about a new reserve gallery, named after another local art patron.

The reserve gallery will be named after Jo Mueller, director of the Spiva Center for the Arts for 12 years. The advocate for local art died in 2021, and organizers said her expertise and vision were invaluable in creating the Cornell Complex.

Artists can rent this space monthly to show their work. The first show will be the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition emerging artists exhibit. Lesmeister said she hopes this gallery will help find and support emerging artists, often who are high school- and college-age.

"It's a nice way to give back to up-and-coming artists, to be able to make it accessible to show in a world-class art gallery like this," she said.

Other features of the Cornell Complex include the Crossland Rooftop terrace, a performance space that offers a great view of Joplin in all directions. The Leggett & Platt Green will offer outdoor shows in a large green space. Classrooms and offices on the third floor will encourage outreach and collaboration of several arts organizations, as well as provide community meeting spaces.

"This whole building exudes that love of the arts and the ability to make it more accessible so that others can see it," Frankoski said.