It’s been quite a few years since owner Bob Dykstra began renovations on the historic
Harris Building at 111 S. Division, and as the city of Grand Rapids teeters on the cusp of this year’s ArtPrize competition, Dykstra says the downtown storefront built way back in 1892 is scheduled to make its official debut within the month.
He expects renovations to wrap up within the month as the space also gears up for this year’s ArtPrize, for which it has hosted over 100 works of art in years past— a learning experience for Dykstra that he says will only make the Harris Building that much more dynamic as an ArtPrize venue for this year’s competition.
“Two years ago we had almost 150 pieces of art in here and we’ve learned a lot from that,” he says, adding that because of the tight construction schedule they weren’t able to accept as many bonafide entries as before. He plans to have many of the official ArtPrize entries in place as of Friday night when they’ll host a craft Detroit event, featuring work by artists from the east side of the state.
At four stories, Dykstra’s initial plans for were to rent out space to individual businesses for office or retail. However, growing interest from groups and organizations looking to use the space as an event venue persuaded Dykstra to retool the interior renovation more exclusively toward hosting, highlighting the historic building’s old character with clean modern lines in the sprawling 38,000-square-foot space that includes a second floor ballroom and with 18-foot domed ceilings.
In the short-term, he says he’s focused primarily on booking the smaller events for local organizations and corporate groups, but says that he expects the recently announced partnership with Opera Grand Rapids to act as a kind of gateway to similar types of smaller, more culturally diverse events that typically seat anywhere from 150-200 people.
As his vision for the Harris Building continues to evolve, one thing remains the same — it has for him created an opportunity to add yet another texture to existing cultural fabric of the downtown arts scene.
“We’re really focusing on being a year-round cultural center that is a little bit different than the Grand Rapids Art Museum or the UICA because we’ll be more of a social club than some of those are,” Dykstra says. “We’re going to be a health club for the arts and sciences.”
Gig Gamaggio, who handles both creative direction and communications for the Harris Building, says she expects the space to prove a perfect backdrop for a whole host of different art forms even after ArtPrize 2015 has run its course.
"The raw-state building definitely lends itself to experimental and more daring art forms," says Gamaggio, citing plans to bring a unique performance workshop to the venue during the last week of October featuring Butoh, an organic, contemporary Japanese dance form. "The modular state of the building is a great advantage for groups who wish to explore their creativity and stylize for their own event needs."
For more information on room options and rates, or to see more photos of the Harris Building venue spaces, visit www.theharrisbuilding.com.
By Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of The Harris Building
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