Arts center at former military fort celebrates 50 years

GEOFF BENNETT: A former military base on the shores of Puget Sound is home to artists, from amateur to professional, who have come together for the past 50 years to celebrate their craft and learn together.

Special correspondent Cat Wise paid a visit for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

CAT WISE: On a sunny summer afternoon, lines began to form on the grounds of Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, Washington.

At 4:00 p.m. sharp, check-in began for Fiddle Tunes, a weeklong program celebrating diverse styles of fiddle music, with workshops, band labs, dances and more.

Many of this year's 600 participants, from locals to those who traveled in from around the country and overseas, have been returning year after year since the program began in the late 1970s.

On opening day, old friends reconnected and started to jam.

Fiddle Tunes is one of more than 250 art events put on each year by the nonprofit Centrum Foundation.

ROBERT BIRMAN, Executive Director, Centrum Foundation: What we say here is that we're really about immersive experiences in the arts.

CAT WISE: Robert Birman is the organization's executive director.

Founded in 1973 by Washington state and partner agencies, Birman says the goal was to create a thriving center for the arts and lifelong learning.

The World War I era former military fort at the entrance to Puget Sound, largely empty at the time, provided an ideal home.

ROBERT BIRMAN: The students that come here range from age 4 to 98, but it's a residential experience.

They're in community for an entire week and they live and they learn and they eat together.

It's about personal growth and learning, and we try to share skills and pass culture and tradition from one generation to the next.

CAT WISE: This year marks Centrum's 50th anniversary of year-round programs, which include exhibits, concerts, artist residencies and educational programs for migrant youth and others.

ROBERT BIRMAN: What they learn when they come here is to take risks and they discover that they are capable of things they never would have tried otherwise.

CAT WISE: Over the years, acclaimed artists have served on the faculty, including author Margaret Atwood and vocalist and musician Rhiannon Giddens.

Others, like jazz vocalist and pianist Diana Krall, got their start at Centrum.

(SINGING) CAT WISE: Tuition costs about $600.

Optional meals and housing are another $600.

Last year, 224 scholarships were given out.

GARY COPELAND LILLEY, Artistic Director, Centrum Writers Conference: I think there's a whole lot of writers now that I would really like to find scholarships for.

CAT WISE: Poet Gary Copeland Lilley is the artistic director of Centrum's Writers Conference.

We spoke at one of the other nonprofits based at Fort Worden, Copper Canyon Press, which has published over 400 books of poetry.

This is one of your favorites?

GARY COPELAND LILLEY: Yes.

CAT WISE: Including one of Copeland Lilley's.

He says what sets the writing workshop apart from other programs is a focus on craft and community.

GARY COPELAND LILLEY: Here, it's only about the writing.

We just love what we do and stuff.

And we love being around each other.

I mean, it's the most noncompetitive writers group I have ever been around.

CAT WISE: There is a similar vibe during Fiddle Tunes week, where love for the toe-tapping art form that's drawn people together for hundreds of years is spreading to younger generations.

Sami Braman, Riley Calcagno, Leo Shannon, and Vivian Leva are close friends who perform together in a band called The Onlies.

Sami, Riley, and Leo, who grew up in Seattle, have been coming to Fiddle Tunes since they were kids.

Last year, the four were selected by Centrum for a big role, artistic directors.

I met up with Sami during a break in her busy schedule, helping coordinate the week's events.

SAMI BRAMAN, Co-Artistic Director, Centrum Fiddle Tunes: It was like, at first, I was in total shock.

I was like, there's no way they would give us this job.

Like, we're just... CAT WISE: Why?

SAMI BRAMAN: Well, because we're young.

We're in our 20s.

We have never had a job like this before.

We have played a lot of music.

We have toured around a lot.

And so by virtue of that, we have met a lot of people.

The artistic directors in the past and something that we're trying to carry forward is bringing people to Fiddle Tunes who are tradition bearers and who have a lot of wisdom and life experience and music experience.

CAT WISE: One of those soaking up the traditions of Fiddle Tunes, 9-year-old Lydia Brown.

She lives in Port Townsend and came with her mother, sisters, and a neighbor who also loves to play.

LYDIA BROWN, Fiddle Tunes Participant: When I play, like, fast fiddle music, that's, like, I'm, like, happy.

It makes me feel kind of joyful.

CAT WISE: Lydia's mom, Starla Crowell, agrees.

STARLA CROWELL, Fiddle Tunes Participant: I felt like I was going to camp, and I haven't had that feeling since I was a kid.

And so it's really fun as an adult to have like-minded people that are -- even though you're from different sides of all kinds of issues, like, you can all get together and play some music together and have a good time.

CAT WISE: Robert Birman says those connections are a big reason why people keep coming back.

ROBERT BIRMAN: The best thing of all is, this multigenerational programming teaches young and old to respect and listen to one another in ways that in their normal world you don't encounter very often.

CAT WISE: Centrum is closing out its 50th year looking to the future.

A fund-raising campaign is under way to help refurbish Fort Worden's aging buildings.

For the PBS "News Hour," I'm Cat Wise in Port Townsend, Washington.