THE DELAWARE CENTER FOR THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS --- THE EARLY YEARS

Rick Rothrock focused on large scale public artworks encouraging public participation in graduate school. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree, Rick started the collaborative arts group “ArtSquad” while working as the Community Arts Coordinator for the New Castle County Absalom Jones Art Studios.  He began by gathering together professional staff members from The Art Studios, invited guest artists, and anyone else who would like to volunteer to create “episodes”. The first meeting of the group took place on September 11, 1978 where Rick dubbed it the “ArtSquad”.  This team of young artists was certain about the importance of the creative process and anxious to share it with anyone that asked.  As artists, they were welcome and invited to go to any public place and respond to it artistically. Each event was a celebration that was carefully planned and negotiated amongst the group. The first “episode” took place at the Brandywine Zoo on October 7, 1978 with guest artist Alan Sonfist.  The ArtSquad produced several more “episodes” or happenings at Willingtown Square, Lums Pond State Park, Bringhurst Woods, and Winterthur Gardens. Attracted to this new art form, the projects drew large crowds and many area artists who came to explore and participate.  The energy and enthusiasm generated by the ArtSquad convinced Rick of the need for an arts center focused on working artists and expanding the contemporary arts scene in Delaware. He began to dream of a center where Wilmington area artists could create, exhibit and learn from one another. Rick decided to explore the option of creating a more permanent version of the ArtSquad. He gathered together a group of artists to discuss their common needs, concerns, and how to create a place where artists could interact among themselves and the public. This was the conception and the catalyst of the formation of the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.

Rick traveled to several art centers in the south and along the east coast of the U.S to obtain knowledge by visiting and talking to directors as to how their art centers were created and succeeded.  Gina Bosworth, president of the Delaware Crafts Council, visited art centers in the northeast. They found that each arts center was unique to its location, culture and the people involved. Rick began coordinating meetings of artists and community members regularly in private homes, galleries, and schools where they shared their ideas and concepts for a contemporary art space in Wilmington. Seventy four artists and arts enthusiasts who signed up and paid dues to support this great endeavor became the founding members of the organization. This was the formal beginnings of what would become the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts:

Rick and Gina started the process of formalizing the documents needed to incorporate, get financial assistance, and find a building.  Rick, Gina, and Ted Wilson, Director of the New Castle County Art Studios, visited the National Endowment for the Arts to determine what support was available. The NEA offered encouragement, but the group needed to establish as a nonprofit and seek state support before they were eligible for any assistance from them.  This news prompted arts supporter and attorney Lawrence Hamermesh to craft nonprofit incorporation papers and a set of bylaws for DCCA.  In May of 1979 the DCCA was incorporated and a search for downtown space began. The first DCCA building was an old sheet metal factory at 224 French Street. The Judy Dater workshop was held in November 1980 and Roseanne Capaldi Richards was hired as the first employee. In 1981, building renovations began to include studios and gallery space. Steve Tanis and Susan Isaacs curated and hung the first exhibit on French Street which was a juried show of canvas and paper works and sculpture. The DCCA also held several “Arts Alive” festivals to support the DCCA. Rick Rothrock became the first Acting Director and Gina Bosworth became the President. By this time, more than 120 area artists were involved in this new endeavor. The DCCA moved to the former Water Department building at 103 E. 16th Street in 1983. In 1987 it expanded to include the entire first floor with studios located on the second floor. The DCCA moved to its current location,  200 S. Madison Street in 2000. This location offered a 33,000-square-foot building with seven galleries, 26 on-site artist studios, an auditorium, a museum shop, a classroom, and administrative office space.  The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts rebranded as the Delaware Contemporary in 2015.