March 17, 2004

Family aspires to open Orion's Gate

Mother-daughter duo promote artistic cafe as place for youth

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       "What are you doing tonight?"
      By summer, a family of entrepreneurs hopes to offer a new option: hang out at Orion's Gate Artistic Caf‚ for an evening of music, poetry or painting.
      The mother-daughter team of Sarah and Kathryn Dalgliesh are creating the nonprofit venture from scratch. They are determined to offer a place for artists of all ages to meet, hang out and inspire or be inspired.
      Finding and funding a building and start-up equipment is the real-world hurdle they are struggling with, but the pair are determined to make their dream a reality.
      They have their eye on a facility but everything is still tentative, with money being the main obstacle. They plan to investigate Governor Jennifer Granholm's Cool Cities Initiative, announced in September of 2003 to harness creative youthful energy to revitalize the economy of 250 Michigan communities. Grants, donations and fund-raisers are other options to finance Orion's Gate.
      "We are now where we really do need the money, that is the biggest obstacle to opening," noted Sarah Dalgliesh. "What we have is a core group of kids who are willing to use elbow grease and get in there and work it."
      This weekend they gave their caf‚ a public awareness boost by hosting an alternative rock concert at the American Legion Hall Saturday night. More than 200 people came to hear six alternative rock bands, including three bands based in Traverse City.
      Rory Carroll, a 2001 West High School graduate now attending Michigan State University, performed with his band P.G.C. Carroll is pleased to support and promote a venue for alternative artistic expression in the area.
      "It's very important to have somewhere for kids to go that isn't a bar," said Carroll, the band's vocalist who recalls a dearth of safe and interesting hangouts from his high school years. "Keeping kids off the streets, is a nice way to put it."
      Deliberately choosing the nonprofit route, the Dalgliesh's are determined to keep what others have termed a 'million-dollar idea' grounded in authenticity.
      "With the venue, we don't want it to be all about the money, we want it to be about the kids," said Dalgliesh, 20, a 2001 homeschool graduate. "When we're open, it's going to be all about the bands, all about the kids, all about the art."
      "Everything we make will go back into the community, to the kids through art scholarships or recording opportunities," she added.
      Kathryn is plugged into the alternative music scene and has extensive experience in booking and contacts with bands nationwide. She drew on this and also an online community of alternative artists for the concert, drawing bands from Detroit and Brooklyn, N.Y.
      She is a devoted volunteer at Jacob's Well, an area alternative arts hangout for youth that runs on a collective philosophy. Creating Orion's Gate will give area youth, which the Dalglieshs' research conservatively estimates at 14,000 strong, another option for fun that is drug- and alcohol-free.
      Kathryn also knows there is a huge untapped well of creativity waiting for expression among her peers: high school and college students and other young adults.
      "There's so much creativity, it's really sad that this generation just gets ignored with all their potential," she said, adding that the caf‚ also welcomes artists and interested people of all ages.
      As artists themselves - Kathryn is a prolific and published poet - the Dalgliesh's inhabit their right, artistic brains most of the time. They knew they needed help with planning, details and numbers to make their idea both a reality and a success.
      They turned to SCORE and have been working with a volunteer retired business executive from the program for months. With his guidance, they have created a business plan, budget and even menu for the caf‚, researched and documented target demographics and found legal and accounting advice.
      "SCORE has been just fabulous, they have been mentoring us and are just great," said Sarah Dalgliesh. "Anything he doesn't know he'll research."