Erin Padilla. (Courtesy photograph.)
Creative Haverhill is making big moves as the organization looks to partially open the long-awaited Cogswell ArtSpace in the near future.
Executive Director Erin Padilla is stepping down from her position, as WHAV previously reported, after being with the nonprofit eight years. She explained how work will be divided in support of Cogswell following her departure.
“What we’re doing right now is we’re splitting my role into two part-time positions, and a part of that is because of how we’re operating our downtown space right now. So, what we’re doing is we are moving it into an exhibitions and public art manager and a programs and operations manager,” she said.
She added, “One of the things that does is it sets up those two roles to grow with the organization, so they’re starting part-time now but, as we grow and if we’re able to open the first floor of Cogswell and have more revenue and things like that, those roles can automatically turn into two full-time roles. We’re creating that infrastructure to support growth for the organization.”
The former George S. Cogswell School was a fully operating school from 1891 until closing its doors in 2004. Creative Haverhill purchased the 351 S. Main St. building for $175,000 in August of 2019. Limited repairs proceeded to keep the building from completely wasting away as the organization continues to raise the full amount of money needed to transform the school into Cogswell ArtSpace. Over time, plans envision exhibition space, community rental rooms, art rooms for adult art classes, arts/STEAM after-school clubs, youth vacation camps, artist studio rental rooms, ceramics studios, printmaking studio and a wood shop/makers space.”
Former executive director Jenny Arndt, now serving as Merrimack Valley arts and culture specialist with the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, told WHAV her journey has helped her appreciate the possibilities.
“It’s opened my eyes even more so how special Haverhill is and also seeing other communities that have these type of creative spaces and artist studios. It’s made me even more excited about what that space is going to be in Haverhill and what it is going to catalyze,” Arndt said.
In her time at Creative Haverhill, Padilla oversaw initial construction at Cogswell, a task she described as “both an exciting project and project that requires a lot of patience.”
“When I came over here and got to know the Creative Haverhill team and got a tour of the Cogswell building, for me, I could immediately see what could happen in this space and the benefits that it could provide to the community and that is continuously exciting to think about,” she said.
While Padilla may be leaving the organization, she will remain intimately involved as a member of Creative Haverhill’s board of directors. She explained, “A big part of my want to do that is to actually build out our board a bit more. We have a very small board, which can be really great, but we also could do a bit more with Cogswell and with the work towards that if we had a few more people at the table. Through that volunteer capacity we’ll be adding to our board, meeting more regularly and having the Board really focus on Cogswell.”
As for the future of Cogswell, Padilla said, “What it is for Creative Haverhill is the sustainable infrastructure that allows the organization to grow, which means the resources for our artists get to grow. I oftentimes say Creative Haverhill’s biggest disappointment to our community is our limited capacity, so getting to see this organization grow into the capacity we that we know is there and we know we can serve the community on with more staff and more resources and more infrastructure is such an exciting thing to think about and to visualize.”