The Arts and Cultural Center would house a museum, showcasing local African-American and Anna T. Jeanes history along with an engaging community center. Then there would be the teaching farm and teaching kitchen, offering opportunities for after school cubs and cooking classes. The group is using the highly successful Jones Valley Teaching Farm in Birmingham as a model for their program.
The membership is as diverse as its ideas. Rebecca Dunn Bryant owns Watershed Architectural Firm in Fairhope and is part of the group. She has the challenge of bringing the site together. “We’re not trying to recreate the history in detail but to build on that and to look to the future, so as a shell, they’ve got Clay City tile. They’ve got large, north-facing windows to let daylight in,” Bryant said. “They’re boarded up now but if you imagine those boards coming off and us bringing that shell to the future, they’re going to be filled with light and filled with people and a great sort of launching point for a community initiative.
So, what will it take to make this happen? The first and most important thing is to get an extended lease on the property from the Baldwin County Board of Education. Hope Community will plead its case later this month.