Hopes high for revitalizing Buffalo Grove arts panel

The Buffalo Grove Arts Commission is dead. Long live the Buffalo Grove Arts Commission?

Village trustees last week passed an ordinance formally disbanding the commission, whose mission was "To draw upon the diversity and artistic talent within the Buffalo Grove community and to promote a broad spectrum of the arts which will serve to enrich our village."

However, Evan Michel, a village staff liaison to the panel, said officials now will explore the creation of an arts council or another method to promote the arts within the village, such as partnerships with school or park districts.

The dissolving of the commission will not affect the Buffalo Grove Symphonic Band or the Artists' League, Michel said.

Village President Beverly Sussman said that when she attended the final meeting of the Arts Commission earlier this month, there was no specific mention of an arts council, but of "re-energizing the community arts program."

Members of the panel were disappointed, feeling the commission needs revitalization, so that by 2019-2020 "it would be new and exciting," Sussman added.

Interestingly, the breakup of the arts commission comes about the same time the Buffalo Grove Park District reopened its vastly improved Community Arts Center, which had been closed since the fall while undergoing a roughly $3.3 million facelift.