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Museum
Places apartments are the 65 units distributed among five
apartment complexes at the corner of Collingwood Boulevard
and Monroe Street, 35 of which are currently occupied. The
Toledo Museum of Art purchased the apartments approximately
18 months ago and wanted to collect the community’s input
and ideas for the property.
Daniels
explained that one meeting will be held at the Toledo School
of the Arts as they have partnered with the Museum as a host
site. High school students and those who would consider
themselves creative are encouraged to attend the meeting.
After
brief introductions during which community members expressed
their love for the Old West End and their willingness to
learn and get involved, the audience was divided into two
groups to engage in a more detailed discussion.
Four
questions were given to the groups the first being, what
kind of art do you like and what do you like about it?
Community members revealed that they enjoyed visual arts,
sculptures gardens, photography and interactive arts.
“Now
having young kids, it’s kind of hard to walk around and just
look at things that don’t move, or have action-oriented
features,” said a community member.
Graffiti
was also mentioned as a preferred art form when an attendee
stated, “its self-expression.”
The
second question was one of personal interest asking what do
you currently like about this neighborhood? Some answers
were that the neighborhood is diverse and culturally rich,
vintage housing and, being only a few hours from Cleveland
and Chicago, it is, “geographically, beautifully placed.”
Question
three looked more towards the future.
“If you
took all the stuff you said you loved and tripled it and got
rid of whatever else you want to get rid of, what does that
look like,” asked Daniels. Ten years from now the community
members expressed the hope for a Toledo free of vacant
houses with better paved streets and sidewalks.
They
also envision a bike trail with community bikes and a
historic district trolley tour that takes visitors around to
historic focal points in the community including Art Tatum’s
house.
Along
the lines of a more interactive neighborhood, the community
members imagine an interactive and disability friendly play
area.
The
fourth and final question, how could we reimagine Museum
Place? “The Museum wants the building to stay residential,
there will be people living in them,” said Daniels.
Condominiums were the preferred style of housing for the
properties. Some participants imagine the living space for
University of Toledo arts students with four of the five
units being dedicated to a specific area of art. “One is
technology, architecture, music and performing arts,” said a
participant. The building would also have a community space
used for art shows.
Another
idea for the apartments was an Airbnb or residency programs
for visiting artists/ “There’s a lack of accessible
resources for visiting artists and those doing artist
residency,” said one person. Community members think that
this would make Toledo more attractive for the more
well-known artists and could bring more art related events
and activities to the city.
Daniels’
will be compiling the notes from all 10 meetings into a
report that will be sent to Toledo City Council and board
members of the museum. Notes from the first five meetings
can be found on the Toledo Museum of Art website,
www.toledomuseum.org/museumplace. The seventh meeting
will be held Tuesday, March 6 at the Toledo School for the
Arts starting at 3:00 p.m.
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