The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PRESCOTT - Slovenian artist Milenko Matanovic has exhibited his work all over the world, including the Mu­seum of Modern Art in New York. Unlikely as it may seem, Prescott area residents will soon work directly with Mata­novic in designing a community gathering place in the heart of Prescott. Pomegranate Center - a nonprofit founded by Matanovic - is coming to Prescott for a community-building project; bringing talented designers and a grant of $25,000 to fund the process.

From 1902 to 1913 the Prescott post office was located in Howard J. Fender's Men's Furnishing Store. Today, that historic "D" Street location is a burned out vacant lot casting its empty gaze on the Tuxedo Bar & Grill next door and the current post office across the street - an eyesore on what serves effectively as Prescott's Main Street. The land is cur­rently owned by the Walla Walla Rural Library District that recently applied for and received the grant that will turn the eyesore into a community treasure.

Matanovic has a passion for empowering and strength­ening communities. He left a successful artist collective at the age of 24, feeling the need to better connect his art to everyday life, rather than simply having it on display in museums and private collec­tions.

He shifted his focus to discovering ways that art could serve communities.

When he moved to the United States in 1973 Matanovic was struck by the neighborhoods filled with "traffic, waste and lack of imagination." He founded the Pomegranate Center in 1986 as a way to address the isolation he saw in communities to and bring the creative process to community problem solving.

Over 27 years, the Center has developed an effective model that has been used in the U.S. and across the globe. The Center focus is on community connection as much as the projects themselves. They teach community-building and leadership skills through creating gathering places - like Italy's plazas -- where people can meet their neighbors and connect, often having a dramatic social impact.

While Matanovic and the Pomegranate Center will fa­cilitate the project, the people of Prescott will make it hap­pen. The Center's model actively involves local residents in designing, building and stewarding the gathering spot. The Center will work closely with the community to cre­ate a design. The project will culminate with a five-day "Community Build" during which the entire project will be completed.

Walla Walla Rural Li­brary District Trustee Patsy Walsh Adams said that both Sherwood Trust and the Blue Mountain Action Council (BMAC) have played a role in the project. BMAC is ad­ministering the grant funds and Adams first learned about the Pomegranate Center and Matanovic's return to the Walla Walla area from Sher­wood Trust executives.

"They asked if Prescott had any projects that would fit their requirements of a 'shovel ready' project that could be completed in five days' work time," said Walsh. She began working on the grant in Decem­ber and gave the official presentation on February 25. The Prescott site was chosen that very day, win­ning out over several proj­ects from Walla Walla and Dayton.

Pomegranate Center has already had a significant impact in the Walla Walla area. In 2008 the Center turned the Edith-Carrie neighborhood into a park. The land had previously housed three dilapidated trailers -- one of them a meth lab - and the area had the highest 9-1-1 call rate in Walla Walla.

"This wasn't a very good spot," said Walla Walla's Shirley Kern, describing the area in a Pomegranate Center video. "It used to be trashy, dirty and full of drug addicts and alcoholics. It looked like a city dump." The elderly Kern rolled up her sleeves and joined the Center and fellow Walla Wallans in transforming the area to "Hand Park," built by the hands of a community that cares. After building the park, the crime rate in the area dropped by 40% and remains low today.

In 2010 the Center col­laborated with local enti­ties to renovate 12-acre Washington Park on N. 9th Street in Walla Walla. A walking path, covered shelters and a community dance floor transformed an area that was once notori­ous for crime, graffiti and gang activity.

What the Prescott gath­ering spot will look like is for the community to determine. On March 15 Matanovic and his design team will meet with a steer­ing group of local lead­ers to begin the process. Residents of the Prescott community and surround­ing areas are invited to a larger community meeting at the Prescott Lions Hall on April 13, to provide input as to what the project should accomplish.

The Pomegranate Cen­ter Fellows group will design the space based on data collected at the community meeting and present their plans in an Open House from 5:30 to 6:30 on April 15. The Pomegranate team and community volunteers will join hands to create the gathering-spot in a "Com­munity Build" slated for June 17 to June 22.

Area residents wish­ing to provide input or participate in the project are encouraged to attend the April 13 Community Meeting from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Prescott Lions Hall on the corner of "D" Street and Highway 124. "We are very excited about this project," said Walsh. "Milenko has many special talents to share and is very nice. People will enjoy working with him."