SPACE has recently lobbied for and received approximately $16,000 from the Student Financial Committee. The funds were used to purchase curtains and mirrors in order to complete renovations in the two-room student-run performance and rehearsal space in South basement, which opened for use earlier this year.

After an arduous four-year journey, SPACE Committee Chair and graduating senior Jonathan Levin has begun to make significant headway in establishing a strong campus presence and procuring a student-run theatre space. Presently, however, SPACE is an un-chartered organization.

According to the Student Union Office, organizations must be chartered in order to receive funding from the SFC. Despite this, the Committee still applied for — and received — funds through the ad-hoc appeals process.

SPACE’s financial situation is dire: It poured money into this year’s ArtsFest, despite the fact that the organization is still over $30,000 in debt after buying and installing the sprung floors in South on credit. To date, only a fraction — approximately $7,000 — has been paid off.

Full-color posters advertised the annual weekend-long ArtsFest; the Committee even sent mailings to all students, which cost several hundred dollars. ArtsFest serves as a large-scale demonstration of the kind of creative activities that would be ongoing year round with the construction of a student-run space.

SPACE has been soliciting donations from alumni and parents of students, as well as appealing to dorm hall councils for funds.

“This is going to be a very pivotal period for the future of the student theatre project…with the new president coming in,” said Levin.

Levin stressed the importance for making this issue as visible as possible to the new administration. Martin Krislov, finalist in the College’s presidential search, has had experience in culling donors for arts funding. Krislov currently serves on the Board of Directors for University of Michigan’s University Musical Society and is the Vice Chair of Detroit’s Mosaic Youth Theatre, a non-profit arts organization. Both are dedicated to furthering arts presentation and education.

If Krislov chooses to make the Committee’s vision a priority, Levin feels that the Oberlin’s art community will continue to advance.

Despite the lack of finances to support SPACE’s mission, arts philanthropy at Oberlin is not extinct. In November 2005, Cleveland businessman Stewart Kohl, OC ’77, and his wife, Donna, committed five million dollars toward the construction of a new jazz building. Just this spring, serious music supporters Alan and Marilyn Korest’s $150,000 gift supported the purchase of the Conservatory’s 200th Steinway piano, the second Hamburg Steinway in the institution’s collection.

However, these donations have gone toward supporting programs in the institution rather than supporting the mission of an entirely student-run organization.

“I think [a student-run space] really fits with the character of Oberlin. We like to do things ourselves, and we can. It’s impressive,” Levin said.