I was recently shopping in ACE Hardware, yes one of my favorite stores, when I bumped into a long time Salem educator and theatre arts advocate who I have come to know over the last few years and admire greatly. After the usual greetings we ended up talking quite a bit about the arts opportunities in Salem, so much so that I was still thinking about all of the great things Salem has long after I had made my purchase and left the store.
Our conversation began around the loss of Salem Repertory Theatre and the effect that it will have on the Salem arts community. There is a lot of speculation as to why the decision to fold was made, and really none of that matters, SRT added a lot to the fabric of Salem and will be missed.
That being said, there are still a lot of wonderful things happening in Salem and its surrounding communities. I look at the wonderful holiday programs that have been brought by the Salem Pops Orchestra, Willamette Master Chorus and the Salem Youth Symphony along with the sing-along Christmas carols with Festival Chorale Oregon as examples of some of the great things that have happened this month alone. We need to support these and other great organizations if we don’t want to be closing the doors again. Visit www.artsmartsalem.org for a listing of events for the current month and remember, “There’s Something to do in Salem”.
