"Okay, please switch now," says the voice of the instructor, a friendly woman named Adrienne Bea Smith.
The model thinks for a second, then crosses one leg over the other, rotates her torso to face the other side of the class, and drops both arms to her side. She stares at her feet. There is a brief hesitation from the class as they take her in pose, but seconds later everyone in the room is sketching furiously.
The students are varied in age, with one wearing Converse sneakers and another wearing loafers. So, too, does the class have a variety of levels of experiences: Some focus their sketches purely on the model's general position, while others detail her fingers, muscles and face in a short minute.
The model will strike many poses in the next few minutes, and the class will rapidly draw each as their warm-up before starting the evening's portrait. The model's name is Jennifer Apgar and the class is called Painting the Figure, one of the many courses currently offered by the Community School of Music and Arts.
All Ages
Some people in Ithaca see CSMA as a place just for kids, but that's really not the case," explains Lee-Ellen Marvin, publicist for the school, citing dancing and language classes that focus on teens and adults. "We really want students all across the age spectrum."
Program variety is something that CSMA prides itself on, according to Executive Director Barbara Hopkins.
"While we may have 'Baby Ballet' going on downstairs for 4-and-5-year olds, a grandparent might be taking a sketch class upstairs in an arts studio."
Besides catering to all ages, the school also caters to the varieties of creative art. CSMA offers courses in painting, sketching, music, language and writing, to name just a few of the offered categories. The schedule changes every term to reflect public interest and available instructors. According to Marvin, some of the most popular classes lately have been in dance.
"In dance, in particular, things have gotten really exciting in the past few years," says Marvin, citing the popularity of shows like ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" as a possible influence. "Our salsa, hip-hop and ballroom classes have taken off."
Jennifer Brown is one of the school's many dance instructors and currently teaches several Salsa classes each week. Since starting at the school two years ago, she has seen the popularity of dance increase.
"We've added a number of classes, including some more advanced ones to go with the beginners classes," Brown says, adding that she personally likes "being able to teach new students and reach people who might otherwise not dance."
This type of focus on providing opportunities for inexperienced students is consistent throughout all of the departments in the school. A variety of beginner and introductory classes are offered along side more advanced courses. Lee-Ellen Marvin explains that the school offers a lot of beginning classes to try to influence students to try new things.
"We want people to see professionalism as a separate issue from creativity, to stop thinking that art is only valid at its pinnacle, and to realize that the art that matters most is what you're doing at the moment."
This message has been a key factor of CSMA's recent campaign to open up to Ithaca. While the school was first founded in 1956, it has only been teaching out of its current location, 330 East State Street next to Ithaca Commons, since 1999. And for a few years after moving, the school struggled.
"When I first started two years ago, the school was coming out of a very needy period," Executive Director Barbara Hopkins recounts. "The community was a bit confused about the leadership - who was in charge, what was going on, what were the plans- and probably a bit wary about committing to classes here."
Hopkins worked closely with the CSMA's Board of Trustees to create a unified vision for the school, both financially and commercially.
"I don't think we were in any worse of a financial state than any arts organization ever really is. Non-profit arts organizations, unless they have a huge endowment or a wonderful benefactor, are always living on the edge, financially. I think it is a credit to the Board of Directors, as well as to the organization, that we're always able to pay our bills on time."
"We're very stable right now. I always say that CSMA, because it's been around for 60 years, is one of the most stable arts organizations in the state."
Beyond the finances, Hopkins's social vision for the school is broad in scope.
"The place is really a community resource center, above and beyond even a school."
The school advertises across Ithaca, but as is often the case for arts organizations, many are drawn to CSMA through word of mouth, instructors and students alike.
"I'd heard about their programs and was new to the community," says Adrienne Bea Smith, who teaches Painting the Figure, as well as a few other painting and drawing classes. Smith has taught for CSMA since 2000.
"The school's grown; there are many more official arts and language classes now. And I am doing quite a lot of teaching - children and adults."
Smith praises the school's willingness to listen to its instructors: "When I've suggested things, they've accommodated me."
Jennifer Apgar was a family friend of Smith's, and Smith offered her the modeling position when the class first was introduced. With the encouragement of a few friends that had modeled before, Apgar found herself posing nude.
"I've always been involved in the arts," she says, adding that posing for the length of a class can get boring.
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The school has ambitious plans for the future, and many of them involve the CSMA's home itself.
"We'd really like to make the building we're in a model for energy conservation," Lee-Ellen Marvin says. "We hope to renovate parts of the heating and electricity systems to make it green-friendly."
The building has quite a history. According to Marvin, the school's ballroom on the third floor has seen a variety of uses over the decades, from men's social club to speakeasy to concert venue.
"Ask someone who has been in Ithaca for a while, and they'll remember this place as The Unicorn Club," says Marvin. "There were a lot of concerts here in the '60s; Taj Mahal played here once."
Marvin hopes that the school will be able to renovate the building from top to bottom, including energy-efficient heating.
"This is a historic building, and we're very glad to have it," Marvin adds. "And while it is in very good condition, we hope that we can restore and modernize parts of it as a model for other historic buildings in the area."
"Renovation is definitely a goal," agrees Barbara Hopkins. "And it's a long-term goal, a goal that is going to take ten years to accomplish. But certainly I believe that, after seeing utility bills this past year, and talking to architects and engineers, that renovation is a priority."
Hopkins, though, has another issue that she sees as more immediate and important: "We have so much space in this building."
Which may not sound like a problem, at first. CSMA first moved to the building in 1999, renting their teaching space as needed, and later bought the entire building when the owner decided to sell. The school rents out large sections of the unused floors to private businesses - Barbara mentions Cornell and a few architecture firms as current tenants - but still finds itself frequently using only a portion of their available space.
"What typically happens is that the school fills up around three o'clock in the afternoon," describes Hopkins, further explaining that despite the variety of student ages, most of the programs and classes at CSMA take place in the afternoon and evening, after students are out of school and adults are done with work.
"A lot of people come to CSMA in the later parts of the day, and I'd like to try to attract people for the mornings."
Lee-Ellen Marvin goes even further with her suggestion of how to make sure that the mornings are filled with classes: "I would love to see the school develop specific programs for the retired.
"With the Baby Boomers now retiring, we're looking at a generation who has never accepted the status quo, and I hope that CSMA will be important for many of them."
Hopkins ultimately hopes that everyone, regardless of age, starts using the building more often, whether they are a student or not.
"I hope that the school starts to be used for meeting by the general public, or for groups to have special events here. I would like to see more people use it as
a resource center, or just a place where you can stop by and eat lunch with a friend."
