Public-Private Partnership Announces Creation of Buffalo Arts and Technology Center

Buffalo, NY (January 30, 2012) -- The John R. Oishei Foundation, First Niagara Financial Group, Empire State Development Corporation and Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo are joining forces to establish the Buffalo Arts and Technology Center (BATC).

 

The center, potentially to be located at Artspace Buffalo, 1219 Main St., is expected to debut in late 2012, offering after-school visual arts programs for at-risk urban high school students, as well as health sciences career training for under-employed and unemployed adults. Training will be geared toward specific positions at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and throughout the local health care sector.

 

More than $3 million in public-private seed money has been earmarked for design and build-out of vacant commercial space on the first and lower floors of Artspace to accommodate the youth and adult programs. The unusual marriage of art and vocational training programs is modeled after entrepreneur Bill Strickland’s highly successful Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh, a two-pronged template for social change which dates back four decades.

 

“As a foundation, we often look for best practice models that we can learn from and potentially bring to Buffalo.  We believe Bill Strickland’s program in Pittsburgh is one such model,” said Oishei Foundation President Robert D. Gioia.

 

“Bill’s work across the country to use the arts as a hook to keep at-risk teens engaged in their own education with an eye towards high school graduation and to establish specific adult training courses directly related to local industry needs is getting good results and is a model that will provide hope and opportunity for those who need it most in our community,” Mr. Gioia added.

 

Announcement of the Buffalo Arts and Technology Center follows an 18-month feasibility study, which included direct input from nearly 150 community thought leaders in the areas of education, the arts, employment recruiting and training, the health care industry and urban neighborhood revitalization.

 

John R. Koelmel, President and CEO of First Niagara Financial Group, who partnered with Mr. Gioia to lead the analysis of the program’s potential to positively impact at-risk youth and unemployed adults in Buffalo, has taken the helm of the public-private endeavor.

 

“First Niagara is very proud to have a lead role in launching this unique initiative, which not only provides the next generation with the tools they need to succeed in work and life, but also addresses the current workforce challenges of an underserved population in our city,” Mr. Koelmel said.

 

He noted the public-private partnership is another piece of the education reform puzzle that will build on the momentum of the recently announced “Say Yes to Education” initiative, which promises support and a college scholarship for students who live in the city and attend Buffalo Public and Charter schools. It also ties in with Governor Cuomo’s $1 billion economic development pledge for Western New

York aimed at jobs creation and retention.

 

Mr. Koelmel emphasized that while First Niagara, the Oishei Foundation, Empire State Development Corporation and Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo are committing seed money to ensure the center’s doors open as soon as possible, he’s calling on other private and public sector entities to pledge contributions to support ongoing operations and the future build-out of the center.

  

“Over the past several years, the Pittsburgh model, established by Manchester Bidwell Corporation Founder, President and CEO Bill Strickland, has spread to six other urban areas, with plans for 14 more sites, world-wide. Mr. Strickland, whose programs have given thousands of students new reasons to finish high school, while providing adults with saleable job skills, said Buffalo is ripe for the two-tiered model.
 

“Our center in Pittsburgh has blended successfully two different educational approaches—youth arts and adult career training—into a powerful combination that is adaptable to fit the specific needs of other communities. The one thing we keep in all our affiliate sites is the mentorship philosophy. That type of student-teacher connection can change lives,” Mr. Strickland said.

 

Mr. Strickland, who credits his relationship with his high school art teacher as the reason for pursuing higher education, has been described as an architect of social change, working to break the cycle of poverty by offering alternative paths to those left behind or not given a chance to succeed.

 

“We believe in creating empowering educational environments for people who might otherwise fall through the cracks in the system. By carefully architecting spaces where students of all ages and backgrounds feel safe and nurtured, these same students—who might have failed in other settings—succeed, grow, and become assets to their communities,” he explained.

 

The BATC partners are working with local and national Artspace representatives to finalize details for use of approximately 15,000 square feet of vacant commercial space on the first and lower floors of the Main Street building. HHL Architects of Buffalo, the firm which designed the building’s adaptive reuse from a Circa 1900 automobile factory and later a car dealership to Artspace Buffalo’s work/live lofts in 2007, has begun preliminary work on creation of the new arts/vocational training center.

 

Will Law, Chief Operating Officer of Minneapolis-based Artspace, said the BATC will be a good fit for Artspace Buffalo.

 

“We’re very pleased to partner with the Buffalo Arts and Technology Center. In 2005, Artspace recognized the potential for the arts to be a catalyst for economic development in Buffalo,” Mr. Law said. “As we’ve learned from our work around the country, when like-minded individuals and organizations come together to create solutions, the results can be transformative. We look forward to continuing this partnership and serving as a model for similar projects across the country.”

The BATC will potentially serve over 400 at-risk high school students and train 200 under employed or unemployed adults over three years.

 

“The BNMC is thrilled to see this effort gain traction and recognize the need for skills training and education specific to local employment opportunities. The Project represents a benefit to both at-risk populations and the local health care industry,” said Matthew K. Enstice, President & CEO, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

“Preparing our workforce for the growing industries in our region is absolutely critical to successful economic development,” said Western New York Regional Director Christina Orsi.  “This Center will be a model for training that addresses the critical needs of the health care industry.  By educating and training underserved populations, we enable them to more fully participate in the work force.”

 

“The Buffalo Arts and Technology Center will bring a unique set of effective programs to Buffalo's youth and adults,” said Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, President/CEO, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

 

The BATC team has launched an immediate search for an executive director. More information on the initiative and an online application is available at the BATC website: www.buffaloartstechnologycenter.org. Deadline for submitting resumes for the executive director post is March 1, 2012.