Trumansburg Conservatory looks back at 2024 as pivotal year 

The year 2024 may prove to be pivotal for the future of the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts (TCFA). The organization, tasked with providing a vast array of arts and culture programming for the Trumansburg area and beyond, recently released its 2024 annual report, detailing TCFA’s growth and future.  

The organization’s 2024 was marked in part by growth and a continuation of the momentum that has turned TCFA into a core pillar of the Finger Lakes’ arts and culture scene. 

“This year [2024] has been marked by innovation, resilience, and a commitment to our mission of providing affordable opportunities for exposure to all areas of the arts,” TCFA Executive Director Dona Roman wrote in the yearly report. “TCFA continues to provide education, collaboration, performance, and exhibition.”

For instance, the organization’s dance programs grew their base of participants and students to more than 200. Music instruction also expanded during 2024 to include private lessons in piano, guitar, banjo and violin.

“Our spring music recital illustrated the growth the music program has experienced over the

past two years,” Roman wrote. 

But 2024 may also come to be remembered as a pivotal moment in the organization’s immediate structural future. On Sept. 9, TCFA’s building temporarily closed its doors for renovations. These upgrades to TCFA’s historic 1851 Greek Revival building are ongoing.

The organization has been fundraising for the building’s remodel for years. Phase one of the project has been divided into two: 1A and 1B. 1A has been funded to the tune of $756,462, with the bulk of that, more than $678,000, coming from both grant revenue and TCFA’s capital campaign, the organization’s annual report shows. 

The improvements to the building include the following: 

• Code and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance work, including a new ramp and restoration of the portico and entrance doors
• Installation of an ADA-compliant restroom 
• Renovation of the lobby, including new gypsum wallboard, electrical upgrades and insulation
• Installation of an ADA-compliant lift for the stage 
• Restoration of the building exterior, including repairs to deteriorated wood siding and ornamental woodwork
• Painting of the entire exterior of the original 1851 structure and the 1901 addition to the building
• Replacement of the roof on the 1901 addition

“We started demolition and kind of stabilization of the space there was,” Roman said in an interview. “We had to work on the foundation and do low repair work. It’s been a process of tearing stuff down and rebuilding it.”

That work meant that TCFA had to plan for its programming to go on the road. 

“Since October, with our annual Fall Invitational, we’ve been on the road,” Roman said. TCFA repackaged its programming under one banner: “TCFA On the Road” with the tagline of “get your kicks down Route 96.” This campaign has taken important TCFA events like the 40th annual Fall Invitational and the St. Paddy’s Day Weekend Kickoff fundraiser to towns like Ovid and the village of Burdett. 

“That show out there in Burdett …  they have the most magnificent sunset out there overlooking Seneca Lake,” Roman said. “We’re using this opportunity to reach out to the other counties, and we have also come into places like Ithaca. This is a fun opportunity to go out into the community  as well as to come into Ithaca, and keep our regular programming. We are exploring the area.”

Roman said that she hopes construction will wrap up before the end of 2025, so that the organization can start the following year with a full slate of events to be hosted in house. 

To get the construction to that point, TCFA will still have to raise funds to shore up the costs of Phase 1B, totaling around $532,000. The upgrades to the building in this phase include:

• Removal of damaged interior plaster and installation of new sheetrock
• Renovation and painting of interior plaster walls and ornamental details
• Insulation of exterior walls
• Upgrading of lighting and electrical distribution 
• Installation of an acoustic ceiling and sound-absorbing wall panels
• Refinishing wood floors

“I just want to thank this community for being so supportive of the conservatory and the county,” Roman said, concluding the interview. “We just have so many wonderful supporters. I feel really fortunate and very grateful.”

Ulysses Connection appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The Ulysses Philomathic Library is hosting an opening reception for artist Minna Resnick’s “The Past Is Present” art exhibit. The reception will take place at the library on March 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The exhibit will be shown at the library until April 26.

Below is an excerpt from Resnick’s artist statement:

“2024 marked the fiftieth year of an active studio practice for me. In five decades working in my studio, my concept has been reasonably consistent.

“In the 1970s, my focus was on the personal and internal debate which occurs when women confront themselves and their role in present day society. It examined the dual nature of a woman’s personality, the private and the public, and commented on themes of expectation and reality, the ideal and the everyday.

“Over the decades, it evolved to include imagery incorporating information both inspired and provoked by text and images found in early and mid-twentieth century publications on themes such as home management and decoration, health, education, home repair, and fashion. Some visual language that was commonplace to a certain generation could not be understood several generations later. This allowed my work to examine the changing nature of experience over the course of time and aging. The appropriated pictorials and accompanying text summon up feelings of both nostalgia and horror at how far women’s roles have advanced and at how much they have remained stagnant.

“Since a library serves as an information center for both current and historical knowledge, I thought this would be the perfect setting to view ‘my personal history’ on these walls, and my continuous dialogue between past and present. Hope you enjoy the many decade-old images, which I still find relevant today.”