On May 18, 2025 Spirit/Joy Dance of Downtown Clayton invited the public to the “world’s shortest dance concert,” where, in a small studio, we premiered a work by one of our members.  After the dance, we invited the standing-room-only audience to think about how a multi-event venue—a community hall, if you will– could enrich our community, especially if located downtown.  The response was overwhelming.    People were excited to imagine how such a space could bring new energy and commerce to our downtown while supporting our local visual and performing artists.

But, you say, we already have the Clayton Center.  Why do we need another similar space?  The Clayton Center is a genuine asset for bringing in professional touring acts, but for local artists, it is simply too expensive and at 600 seats, very hard for an emerging artist to fill.  And these are the people we want to nurture – local musicians, local writers, local dancers, local community theatre groups, etc.

Above are slides of the kind of space we envision–a space that would support even more groups than those artists listed above.    It would be both more intimate than the Clayton Center and more malleable.  It would have the ability to accommodate many different kinds of events because of transformative design elements:  movable curtains and stadium seating, for example,  could be utilized to create a black box theatre and then be pushed back to open the space for larger events, such as community dances or indoor holiday markets.

The many kinds of artists, events, and exhibits such a hall could accommodate are spelled out in the attachment.    So rather than listing them all here, I encourage you to scroll through those slides to get a sense of the possibilities.   You will also notice that this rendering of a multi-event space is modeled on the Mule Company Building.  We chose that building because it had been recently purchased by the town and because it occupies the perfect downtown space.  If that location proves to be untenable, however, the design concepts are certainly transferrable to other spaces.

Thank you for considering this exciting opportunity for expanding Clayton’s commitment to the arts. With more people moving to our area every day, we think this is an opportune time to invest in growing our local arts culture and to really make Clayton an arts destination.    

If you have questions or would like to help make this vision a reality, please do not hesitate to contact us.   All of us involved in this project eagerly look forward to further conversations.