OLEAN — Local artists will have studio and gallery space through the end of the year thanks to an initiative at the First National Building. The Tri-County Arts Council, New York-based ChaShaMa and Savarino Properties will host an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m.
Friday for the First National Bank Art Studios & Lobby Gallery. The event is free and light refreshments will be served. The space will provide six artists with studio and gallery space through the end of the year, said TCAC Executive Director Paula Bernstein.
“Like so many partnerships, we (at) TCAC and ChaShaMa were put on an email together,” Bernstein said, crediting Luke Cusack, a vice president of Buffalo-based developer Savarino which renovated the bank building. The groups first made contact in February, and quickly decided to work together. “After one Zoom meeting, we started a beautiful partnership,” Bernstein said.
“ChaShaMa and Savarino have been wonderful partners to work with as TCAC continues to advocate for the creation and appreciation of arts in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua counties and Southern Tier Region.” The arts council hosted an open call for artisans throughout the group’s coverage area. The artists to be featured include Theresa Heinz of Cuba, Sean Huntington of Olean, Jason Nysos Lynch of Olean, Fileve Tlaloc Palmer of Great Valley, Eva Potter of Allegany, and Tara Walker of Olean.
The studios are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.
m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 3 to 7 p.m.
Thursdays; and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.
m. Saturdays for visitors to talk with artists and see their work. Built in 1914, the building opened in 1915 as the First National Bank of Olean building with upper floor commercial tenants.
Through several bank mergers, the site received the name of Manufacturers Hanover, or Manny Hanny for short. After another bank merger in 1991, the bank office closed in 1993 and the last tenant left in 1994. For almost 30 years the building sat empty of tenants.
Several attempts to redevelop by for-profit and nonprofit groups fell through before the city's Urban Renewal Agency took title in 2010. Savarino was approached in 2017 and offered a chance to bid on the project. The project would receive a $2 million allocation in 2018 from the state $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award given to the city, as well as New Markets Tax Credit Program benefits and another $4 million from various state programs.
The first residential tenants moved in during 2022 and in June 2023 the ribbon was cut on the completed project. The site has since hosted some events, such as high school proms, but an effort to develop the site for a permanent user has not been successful. While nothing has been set in stone, officials hope to collaborate again.
“The partnership will be ending Dec. 31, but we hope we will be able to work with ChaShaMa and Savarino in the future,” Bernstein said..
