Sinfonietta board president Robin Baxter, Jacob Rushlow, director of operations and executive director Debbie Fitts.

The Lake Placid Center for the Arts is more than the sum of its parts. One bucket of parts is the art exhibitions, concerts, arts, crafts, and dance classes, and screenings it produces. The other is the arts agencies it houses and the cultural events they present, some at the LPCA and others held throughout the community and beyond. Together, their synergy and energy expand the reach of the arts to a greater degree than if they were all housed separately.

Part of that synergy is a shared box office and presenting venue, such as with the Adirondack Film Society-Lake Placid Film Festival and the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and more recently with the Lake Placid Institute and the Lake Placid North Elba Historical Society.

“Having so many partner agencies is the result of an organic process that evolved over the years,” said James Lemons. “The Sinfonietta has been a longtime partner for thirty to forty-plus years. They have always been a key collaborator for us. We’ve picked up more in the last few years as we’ve identified that part of our mission is to help other organizations do their work in the arts and culture field because we’re all serving the same community. We think our job is to help elevate the arts and culture in our community and region because we can’t do it all; it takes all of us working together.”

This collaboration helps the LPCA advocate for the arts and culture in our region, exemplified by Lemons serving on the Board of ROOST, as Jon Donk, the managing director of the LPCA, does now. Further, most of the partner agencies serve as members of Lake Placid Arts Alliance, which recently assisted the Golden Arrow in finding a muralist and, the previous summer, painted a walkway for the public beach with a design created by community youth. In addition, the Arts Alliance worked with ORDA to relocate the 1980 Olympic Games sculpture Vans for Ruth from in front of the Olympic Center to Mt Van Hoevenberg. They recently applied for a New York State Council for the Arts for grant to paint a mural on the BikeLP building by the rail trail, a mural to be designed by Nip Rogers.

“We are fortunate that we own our building, our land, and have a good support base,” said Lemons. “We have more staff than the other arts agencies, which allows us to help with our work and support other organizations. If an organization does performances here, we can assist with or handle their marketing, such as the graphic design and layout, strategize with them on their social media posts, and assist with their production and box office needs.”

James Lemons

The LPCA provides office and performance space at reasonable rates for several organizations, such as the Adirondack Film Society, Historical Society, and Sinfonietta.

“The Film Society couldn’t effectively produce our events without the LPCA,” said Film Society co-founder and past president John Huttlinger. “They’ve been a partner with us since the first Film Forum in June of 2000, and we’ve used the LPCA as a major venue ever since. We all have offices there; it’s a great collaboration as it adds to camaraderie. They help us with our marketing and, in addition to their theatre, they’ve always been very flexible. We’ve screened

films in the Annex and the Green Room, behind and underneath the stage, and some of those were amongst our most memorable screenings.”

Huttlinger said that the LPCA has made the festival’s short film series and winter See-Something, Say-Something series possible and that he’s especially appreciative of their box office. Access to their theatre was an added benefit for the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society last year, where it presented its winter lecture series as it will this year.

“Obviously, they have been very generous in providing us office space for a decent price,” said Society past-president Parmalee Tolkan. “Also, they’ve hosted our lecture series, and their staff has helped us present our photos, which is a real boost for us. I like the feeling that it’s a mini-Lincoln Center with us, the Film Society, and the Sinfonietta all housed there; I wish there were more. I think there is strength in numbers. We don’t do a lot of collaboration with the others arts agencies; that could be strengthened.”

Parmalee Tolkan and John Huttlinger.

Like the Historical Society, the Lake Placid Institute has held its Adirondack Roundtable summer lecture series at the LPCA, a move from the Olympic Center stimulated during its renovations but which will continue. No organization has been more involved with the LPCA than the Sinfonietta, as the art center has provided its most important rehearsal and performance venue since its inception as a standalone not-for-profit.

“We appreciate having a great venue where it’s easy to sell tickets, invite our patrons in, and have a nice reception after our concerts,” said Sinfonietta executive director Debbie Fitts. “Without that our concerts wouldn’t be so successful. And we help them by bringing many people through their door, which includes seeing their exhibitions, and our website links to theirs; it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

A challenge for the Sinfonietta and the Film Society, in particular, is that they will have to move out of the venue for a year, which means finding alternative performance and office spaces while the main building is renovated.

“In 2026, we will be out and about as they will be doing a major renovation,” said board president Robin Baxter. “We need to find a place where we can host thirty rehearsals and eighteen concerts. Not having a home here for that year is making us even more grateful for the one we have; thankfully we are assured that we will be back here in 2027.”

“We appreciate that we will be coming back to a greatly upgraded venue, and we are excited about the expanded possibilities it will offer,” said Fitts.

Tricky at times is that some people think of the Arts Center and Sinfonietta as the same organization, which can be true to a lesser degree with the other organizations. They are not; the LPCA and its partners do their best to clarify such misunderstandings.

“Our job is to help facilitate our partner agencies to do their work,” said Lemons. “We and our partner organizations collectively benefit the region economically, educationally, and socially. The ability of us and our partner organizations to provide high-quality work in a community this size helps make this section of our region especially unique and enhances our quality of life.”