Bands will raise roof to help Calvin Center

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Several rock bands and dance troupes will perform at a special event that will raise money for roof repairs to the Calvin Center for the Arts building.

Titled “Raise the Roof,” the event will begin at 10 p.m. Saturday in the gymnasium at Calvin Center, 755 Mahoning Ave., and run until 2 a.m. Admission is $10 at the door.

The event is BYOB, and light hors d’oeuvres will be served. There also will be a chance auction featuring local artwork, as well as gift certificates to local businesses, restaurants and events.

Calvin Center houses several arts and entertainment groups, including Rust Belt Theater Company and Tribe of EOS Whole Fitness, as well as private studios. The gym is the home of a recreational basketball league.

Performing at Saturday’s event will be the bands Turbo Lovers, Punk Willie, the Hawkeyes, the Limbs and HamWater, plus dance and flow arts groups Tribe of EOS, Third Street Bellydance and Infini-Tribe, all of whom donated their time and talent.

Raise the Roof is taking place in the memory of Sean Timms, who died suddenly in November at age 45. Timms was the owner of Calvin Center. He bought the building in 2010 and transformed it into the vibrant arts colony that it is today. His parents have taken over operation of the building.

Calvin Center is a 114-year-old, three story, brick school building that was designed by renowned architect P. Ross Berry. It was originally constructed as an elementary school, and was then used by the neighboring Hungarian Presbyterian Church for many years.

After closing, it sat vacant for years until Timms purchased it and reopened it.

“Sean was a people person,” said Robert Dennick Joki, director of Rust Belt Theater. “He was a huge supporter of the arts and a friend to everyone he met. He would joke that he was constantly surrounded by talented people, but that he had no actual talent of his own. But that was his talent – bringing people together.

“The goal of this campaign is to keep Sean’s dream alive. His friends and family have come together in order to keep his beloved building open, but in order to do that we are asking for assistance from the community that Sean so selflessly served.”

In addition to Raise the Roof, a crowd-sourcing campaign has been set up in Timms’ memory at gofundme.com/seantimmscalvin.