Remember those forward-thinking politicians who recognized a solid revenue-generator when they saw it, and built that sleek, modern performing arts center in Nashua? Remember how it had an art gallery, three stages to accommodate different size audiences, and a state-of-art sound and lighting system? Remember how everybody came to see the dozens of plays, musicals, symphony performances, dance recitals, local bands, top national musical artists, art exhibits and all the other performing artist disciplines? Remember how quickly that return-on-investment built up our city’s coffers, and grew the valuable and thriving arts sector? Remember how the arts center established Nashua as the go-to cultural epicenter of the state?
Me neither.
Why doesn’t Nashua have a performing arts center? Concord has the Capitol Center for the Arts; I’ve seen huge names play there. Portsmouth has the Music Hall, and more recently, the 3S Artspace, which houses an art gallery, a performance space, a farm-to-table restaurant and artist workspace. Nashua is stuck in the previous century, forcing our arts community to shoehorn into antiquated, less-than-stellar venues to present their works. By comparison to these smaller cities, we seem stodgy, outdated and left behind.
But what’s worse, we seem like we don’t care about the arts, the talented people producing the myriad forms of it, and the many, many people eager to shell out money to see it.
Oh, yes, please cite the Keefe Auditorium again; a century-old building that is, oh yeah, part of a middle school.![]()
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