MUM DOWNTOWN CLOSES, RETHINKS FUTURE

MUM DOWNTOWN CLOSES, RETHINKS FUTURE

Miami officials have bigger and better vision for cultural center

By Marie Rossiter, Staff Writer Updated 1:52 AM Thursday, February 25, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — A new beginning may be on the horizon for Miami University Downtown, according to MUM officials.

MUM Downtown at 4 N. Main St. will close its doors at the end of this month with the hopes of reopening at a new location, according to Eric Melbye, chairman of the Campus Community Connection and associate professor of English.

MUM Downtown opened in early 2008 as a way to extend cultural arts opportunities to the Middletown community. Live music, movies, lecturers and book discussions were among the offerings held at MUM Downtown.

In recent months, Campus Community Connection has talked about changing MUM Downtown’s role and presence in the community.

“We are looking at rethinking and replanning our programs to something bigger and better,” said Melbye. “We really want to extend what we offer to the community.”

The goal is to have MUM Downtown not only be a cultural arts center, but also a place to develop off-campus learning opportunities, including possible classes, according to Melbye.

Discussions about MUM Downtown’s new location are ongoing, according to Melbye.

“We’ve been looking at different facilities for about four months,” he said. “Things are still up in the air because there are a number of possible renovation issues to consider.”

No date has been set for reopening MUM Downtown, but Melbye said the Campus Community Connection wants it done “as soon as possible.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4542 or mrossiter@coxohio.com.

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Vet if they go to Roosevelt they may as well just stay on campus at MUM.  Personally I think downtown was a flop and they finally realized it.  Everyone on here needs to embrace three words......."times have changed".  The world around Middletown is moving forward and out pacing Middletown and a significant number of Citizens want to continue to reminisce about old buildings and what they were.  Unless someone here is a Millionaire wanting to do rehab on these old out of date structures.....they need to go.

 Pacman, I could not agree more!

Pac I guarantee you Black Clawson moved to Mason- Montgomery Rd. due to image. They were embarrassed to bring the customer to the Curtis St. location. I worked for them in their research facility when they left in 2002. The new, modern Mason-Montgomery Rd. location said to the customer, "we are a successful, quality company that you should be doing business with". AK, no doubt the same situation.

As to the school board calling around asking people whether to build new or repair the high school.......didn't call me. I would have had alot of questions for them before I responded. Questions like.... why do we need to replace a building that was built in 1970 and is only 40 years old? What was wrong with the construction that makes this building totally worthless after only 40 years, did you do any preventative maintenance on the building in those 40 years and why are there people living in homes that are much older than that with no problems? What advantage did we achieve in tearing down the old elementaries and building the newer ones so far using that as a barometer for this decision. If it does come down to an answer, replacement is the only logical answer as to cost, but I would still ask alot of questions to support the decision. I really wouldn't want them to spend money at all on new schools if possible as no one has been able to show me that a kid learns better in newer schools than older ones. Doesn't seem to matter as to results.

Saving downtown.....Section 8..... I think we all have made it abundantly clear how we feel about those topics. They are killing this town the way they have been handled.

Miami Middletown Downtown was a flop because it was poorly located. It should have been prominently placed on Central Avenue, but instead it was hidden in the dark and somewhat hidden Masonic building. Miami Hamilton's Downtown center has been extremely successful and I've attended several very busy events there in the past, which is likely why Middletown has realized that a different space is necessary. Perhaps the former pharmacy space would work. The success of the Broad Street Bash proves that people will come back down for arts and culture if there is something interesting and affordable to see and do.

The success of the Broad Street Bash proves that people will come back down for arts and culture if there is something interesting............

Well, everyone, including individuals, athletes, students, corporations, products, politicians, mankind, the rusted out old automobile, has POTENTIAL. the potential to succeed, to advance, to do well, to win a game. The problem with your definition of 'potential' is how does one measure it. If its a football team going 0-11 last year, is tts potential being met by winning one game the following year?

Memo to Middletown City Economic Development Team: This book will teach you how to position, its written by one of the best experts in the country, you can probably get it at MUM and save yourself $14,000. in expense for a failed marketing campaign.

I think MUM Downtown was awarded some United Way funding last year.  I guess that $$$ just got flushed down the drain.