Washougal couple launch effort to bring performing arts venue to city’s downtown

Musicians Christopher and Stephanie Corbell founded Washougal Songcraft Festival in 2022

By Doug Flanagan
February 2, 2023 1:33 pm
Latest News, Life, News

Jim Warford performs during a Washougal Songcraft Festival song circle event on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, at 54-40 Brewing Company in Washougal. (Contributed photo courtesy of Christopher Corbell)

In late 2022, Christopher and Stephanie Corbell launched the Washougal Songcraft Festival, a nonprofit organization that strives to foster, share and celebrate the craft of songwriting and develop the performing arts and creative community of Washougal and the surrounding region through “song circle” events and an annual music festival.

The Washougal residents said they have enjoyed their relationship with local businesses that have hosted their initial events, but are now searching for a place that would not only host their performances, but others as well, on a permanent basis.

The Corbells have launched an effort to bring a small performing arts center to downtown Washougal.

“We want to really further build our economy here in Camas and Washougal because there’s quite a buzz happening here,” Stephanie told the Post-Record in 2022. “During the pandemic, our population rose so much, and houses are going in like hotcakes. Our community is already on the up-and-up of thriving, and what do people want? People want to go see plays, people want to hear live music, they want to have community.”

Stephanie and Christopher perform as a mystic-folk duo named Raven Fables. Christopher previously served as volunteer executive director of Classical Revolution PDX, a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to enriching and educating Portland metropolitan area residents by making classical music accessible to the public, and founded Cult of Orpheus, an independent vocal music and opera group.

“I understand as a small arts producer how expensive it can be to produce a show,” Christopher told the Post-Record earlier this month. “A small venue with maybe 75 seats or 150 seats (would) let local groups produce shows, whether it’s a theater or a musician or a presenter or anything like that. A 1,200-seat venue is just too big for most of that small, homegrown grassroots culture.”

The Corbells are looking to house their venue in a new or existing building in or within walking distance of downtown Washougal.

“As an economic driver, having a venue close to the Main Street area is really a huge win,” Christopher said. “A venue is an amplifier of spending, because, unlike some other kinds of shops where you just go in and buy something, if you’re going out to a show, you’re going to go to other businesses in the downtown area, too. I think it just makes all kinds of sense from an economic standpoint. And also, I think having a cultural identity is important for a city, and that comes from creative expression that’s local and shared.

“And for me, personally, (downtown) is the ideal spot. When I go to a show, I want to go out to the restaurant beforehand or whatever. And also, Main Street can get you away from driving culture. That’s one thing that I really loved about some of the other places I’ve lived, not only in Portland neighborhoods, but Astoria, (Oregon), as well. You could walk everywhere you needed to get to for culture and for shopping and stuff like that. Starting to revitalize that downtown area in Washougal seems like a win.”

The Corbells are confident that Washougal could support a performing arts center.

“People don’t realize that Washougal is a small town, but it’s not really as small as it looks,” Christopher said. “I’ve done a lot of research into other small towns in Washington and in Oregon that are smaller, and sometimes much smaller, than Washougal, and have performing arts centers. I definitely think we have the demographic here to support a venue.”

They are also confident that their project stands out as a unique and distinct entity from the Columbia River Arts and Cultural Associatoin’s proposal to develop a facility on the southeast corner of the Port of Camas-Washougal’s Hyas Point waterfront development, taking up between 2.5 acres and 4.5 acres with a 50,000-square-foot building that would include 1,200 seats, a main stage, a rehearsal stage, orchestra pit, studios, a lobby and flexible-use spaces.

The CRACF started out as a grassroots, 14-person steering committee put together by Washougal residents Martha Martin and Alex Yost in 2019, and incorporated into a nonprofit organization in 2021.

“(Our plan is) a separate thing (from theirs),” Christopher said. “We’re fulfilling a separate need. I’ve offered this feedback to CRACF — as a small show producer, I can say that it’s very unlikely that a local, homegrown startup theater troupe or musician group is going to be able to use a venue of that size. Even if it was free, which it never is, the effort that it takes to sell tickets for a venue that size (would) need a whole full-time marketing department. That’s not the way most small community groups operate.

“I don’t think it’ll be a direct competition in any way. There are plenty of towns out there that do have a large venue and a small community venue, and they’re part of the same ecosystem.”

The Corbells aren’t sure exactly how they’d go about acquiring funding for the project, but are preparing for the possibility of creating another nonprofit organization to do so.

“I think the funding will be a part of (the process) as the vision comes around,” Christopher said. “Obviously, there’s a huge difference (between) funding an existing building (and constructing a new one), or if you have a nonprofit or something to make it affordable with volunteers and stuff like that. … I think the nonprofit model, that’s neither totally civic funded nor managed nor totally private, is probably the most likely course. And that takes a while to get everything in place.”

Christopher has created a survey that asks respondents to provide their thoughts on a variety of performing arts center-related topics and hopes to present the results of the survey to his fellow members of the city’s Washougal Art Commission soon.

“The top things that people are saying so far are music, theater, comedy — comedy is pretty popular right now. Lecture series and literary stuff would be great. And I would love to premiere my new opera in Washougal,” he said. “And also, a lot of people are interested in kids programming. There’s really no place to bring your kids other than school right now because most of the places that have music are bars or pubs. Someplace for kid-oriented theater or (other) kinds of performances would be appropriate. Basically, once you have a space that has a stage and some lighting, it’s really up to the community what they want to put in there.”

The survey can be accessed at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVX1snpFUBNa_2A6308F-NY7WQ0NmMYgZyDshYvgQpgXA_sg/viewform

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