Operational Changes

For some time it has been my goal with Image of the Mind Studios to build a studio compound. At one point I had a full set of plans that were very well worked out, outlining a community intended to serve the creative impulse. These plans were mostly laid out in a pocket sized book that I carried with me. I would to add to that book whenever the urge came over me. Imagine how distressed I was when I washed a shirt with that book in the pocket!  Well, needless to say, that book full of designs & specifications disintegrated in the wash.  So I advise you not to use a pocket sized book for important thoughts or designs.

Then later on in this thinking process, along with an associate, we were looking around the Poconos of Pennsylvania for some property, when we came across an abandoned resort. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to develop an artist's community, but of course the cost of acquisition and renovation was not in the immediate future (although the possibility of those funds did and still does linger on the horizon).

Well, I am posting this as a proclamation that I have decided to move out of Southampton. The circumstances of the studio space I have been working to build have become untenable. I do not see an immediate solution to certain forces which are working against me in this regard.

Now the space I have been working to build was - an adaptation of the vision that I had for a studio space. Because of circumstances which were thrust upon me, I concluded that adaptation of my plans was appropriate.   However, I no longer see adaptation as the most desirable solution to implementing a larger operation.  If I were to proceed under the present circumstances, even if I could manage to do so, it would come back to bite me later. I see the situation clear enough now to know - I cannot remain in this environment.

Construction of a facility from scratch I no small endeavor and not something i relish attempting to do, but it almost seems like this is the best approach to establishing the long term survival of Image of the Mind Studios.  I have had ten studios set up over the years and it is time to have the proper and final studio compound. I thought this would be it, but apparently not.  So I am rethinking what the facility I need to have must be and what the circumstances are that must exist for an unencumbered growth potential.

Clearly this effects the production line I have been working to establish. Whether or not this production line can be easily set up in another facility is yet to be seen. But I will be looking to build something in the Poconos. I believe the proximity to other major cities, New York in particular is reasonable, being that we are engaged in theatre and film.

The studio compound, as an artist colony environment, is in my greatest fantasies, something that I would love to see happen. I know the amount of work involved in doing something like that. I also know that the resources to do that are well beyond my immediate means. However, I would proclaim my interest in partnering with financial individuals/organizations who are capable of joining together to achieve this goal.

My long term goal with Image of the Mind Studios has always been to restructure the operation into a well planned corporate structure with the appropriate departmentalization to support such a studio operation. I had begun to do this at my present location and have identified numerous departmental components. At one time, in the past, I had this departmentalization defined in the context of a studio compound, which I wanted to see implemented in New Hope, Pennsylvania. I have actually designed at least a half a dozen layouts for a studio compounds as well as performing arts centers and amphitheaters.  Those designs still exist, although the most developed concept was destroyed.  I enjoy designing these layouts.  Many aspects of these designs can be adapted for a new location. The most recent of these designs is squeezed onto a seven acre parcel and aspects of that could be easily adapted.  But I certainly think that - for a really viable compound, there needs to be enough land to allow for growth into numerous arenas with an appropriate degree of spacial isolation.

It seems to me that, even though "The Gnomes of New Hope: Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure" has not been released to the public, much less produced, I need to shift my thinking and planning over to moving out of the present facility and establishing another final resting place.  I really thought this would be it, because a number of most advantageous circumstances exist in this locale. I would say that those circumstance seem advantageous, because I adapted my thinking to accommodate the existing environment.

But that accommodation is no longer appropriate for the long term health of the operation. Clearly there are factors which are untenable and insurmountable. I have made every effort to keep things copasetic, but I am afraid it takes too much energy on my part to do that, because of forces that are beyond my control and have been completely unpredictable. These forces have become increasingly destructive & distracting, forcing me to exert undue effort to focus in that direction, thus taking away from my ability to maintain forward momentum and growth, for the studio as a whole and The Gnomes of New Hope in particular.

The only solution is to relocate and separate myself from these (predictably) destructive forces, which I am unable to change.

So I am now working on the relocation efforts and welcome any assistance, financial or otherwise. If you are a friend, feel free to talk to me about that. If you feel yourself to be a potential partner in some larger aspect of this, do contact me to discuss matters. This puts me in a position where I might be moving to sell some aspects "The Gnomes of New Hope",  although that would not be my first choice.

AG