By Charlie Patton
Times-Union staff writer

There's a new effort underfoot to create an arts district in Jacksonville, not in Five Points or downtown, areas on which earlier discussions have centered, but in Springfield.

This effort has the backing of two significant non-artists, Rita Reagan, volunteer director of Springfield Preservation and Restoration (SPAR), and real estate investor Craig Van Horn.

Reagan has hired Stephen Dare as a programmer to place arts events and organizations in Springfield venues. And Van Horn is converting an old church fellowship hall on Main Street into a multi-use arts venue that will include a theater, artists' lofts and anair exhibition space, he said.

He's also leasing property he owns at the corner of Ninth and Silver streets to artists Ryan Rummel, Betsy Czigan and Lee Harvey, who willa gallery there. Van Horn said he is offering the artists favorable terms because of his belief that Springfield is ready for a redevelopment that can be spearheaded by artists.

Reagan cited the same motive in explaining why SPAR is now pushing to attract artists and art groups to the neighborhood. "We want to create an identity for the community," she said. "Arts create a buzz."

Rummel is relocating for the second time in the past two years. He had studio space in the Brooklyn Contemporary Art Center, but left there after the state announced it would take that property to build an off-ramp for the new Fuller Warren Bridge.

He and Czigan thend a gallery on Duval Street near Hemming Plaza, across from the block where the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art and the new downtown library will be located. But he is being uprooted again by plans to turn that block into a parking garage.

Dare, who once operated the Fusion Cafe in Five Points, is also being dislodged. He has been operating the Loft, a combination arts venue/apartment, from a space above the Czigan-Rummel Gallery, hosting poetry readings, art exhibits and regular cabaret performances. Now he plans to move all of these events to Springfield.

The first official event in this transfer of cultural programming to the Springfield neighborhood will be a screening of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which will be shown on the side of the SPAR headquarters building, inaugurating the Movies on Main Street series. Programmed by Tim and Tanya Massett, whose Subterranean Cinema series has been showing in San Marco, this movie series could eventually move inside Van Horn's rehabilitated fellowship hall, which is being named The Deco. The Deco is on Main Street between Eighth and Ninth streets, next to the old Klutho apartments, which are being redeveloped by Fresh Ministries.

Other arts groups planning to move to Springfield include:

The Spoken Word Coalition, which will begin presenting poetry performances and readings at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum on Sept. 1.

Improv Jacksonville, an improvisational comedy group, which will begin presenting weekly shows at the Historic Springfield Woman's Club building at Seventh and Silver streets on Sept. 15.

DCBrella, a group representing dancers, composer and choreographers, which will present Ghost Dance, a multimedia dance festival in Klutho Park on Oct. 27.

Dare's own cabaret series, renamed Klutho's Cabaret, which will replace Improv Jacksonville at the Springfield Woman's Club building on Nov. 10.

The goal, Dare said, will be to "encourage emerging art" by making new artists aware of the opportunities Springfield presents for relatively low-cost housing, studio space and gallery space.

Van Horn, who grew up in Gainesville and currently lives in St. Augustine, was previously involved in inner city restoration projects in Atlanta, where he spent 10 years. Last year, he received an award from the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission for his rehabilitation of the 1800 block of Laura Street in Springfield.

Earlier this month, he said, he spent a day talking with an architect about what could be done with the old church fellowship hall. They speculated about how appropriate it would be as an arts venue, but he dismissed the idea since he didn't know any artists, Van Horn said.

The next day, Reagan e-mailed him that she was hiring Dare and launching an effort to attract artists to the district. "The next day I met with about 30 artists," Van Horn said. "It all kind of worked together."

With The Springfield Gallery and The Deco, he said he hopes to draw the attention of artists willing to make Springfield their home. "Springfield is still relatively inexpensive compared to Riverside and San Marco," he said. "It's a good placed for artists who are not afraid to put in some sweat equity."

Van Horn said he expects this to be the beginning of something important. "... I'm in it for the long haul. I want to build the community. Jacksonville needs an arts center. ... This is Jacksonville's chance to really concentrate that effort. The encouraging part about it is there's just a lot of people coming together all at once."

Harvey, who used to operate his own gallery in Five Points, said he was initially skeptical about going into business with Rummel and Czigan in Springfield. Then he attended a potluck supper sponsored by SPAR at which the artists interested in the area were greeted warmly.

"That's the way it has to start," he said. "The community has to back it. Where there is inexpensive real estate, that's where the artists go. But what matters is that Springfield is supporting this. They see this as a cornerstone, see culture as the seed that makes the neighborhood grow."