ART AND FAITH

Mr. Smith goes to RPI's Chapel and Cultural Center

BY KATE BLAIN
ASSISTANT EDITOR

J. Eric Smith stared up -- and up, and up -- at a 20-foot Christmas tree erected at Christ Sun of Justice parish in Troy.

"That was a chore," he said, shaking his head. "It took five of us with ropes."

It's not exactly the kind of duty he expected last fall when he took the position of director of the Chapel and Cultural Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where Christ Sun of Justice is located.

Then again, Mr. Smith's job is nothing if not unusual: He's a Methodist working with a Catholic foundation that has an ecumenical mandate and a focus on the arts -- and is located on the grounds of a secular college. He called it "an optimal combination of the things I want to do."

Background

A native of Beaufort, S.C., Mr. Smith graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland and then spent 10 years in the naval nuclear propulsion program, working in several states and ending up in Schenectady. (He and his wife and daughter now live in Latham and attend Calvary United Methodist Church there.) His work included contract writing, public relations and advocacy for the program.

He always loved music and the arts, playing guitar and bass in bands, and freelancing music reviews and articles for Metroland, the Capital Region's alternative weekly newspaper, all while he was still working for the government.

When his time in the Navy came to an end, Mr. Smith wondered how to combine all his interests into one job. He wanted to work for a company that wasn't strictly profit-driven, use his skills and stay involved with the arts.

RPI position

Development and public relations seemed like the path to choose, so Mr. Smith did fundraising for the Albany Institute of History and Art, and the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York, and served as development director for Doane Stuart School in Albany. He also became associate producer and host of "Sounding Board," a music television show on Time-Warner Cable, and continued to write for Metroland.

Then the opportunity arose to work at the Chapel and Cultural Center, funded by the Rensselaer Newman Foundation. Excited that he could continue his work with "Sounding Board" and Metroland, and still take the job, Mr. Smith eagerly applied.

"I lost my father in the fall in an auto accident," he told The Evangelist. He saw the loss as "life telling [me] what [I] want to be doing."

Art and worship

The "C&CC," as it's commonly known, houses an art gallery, meeting rooms and Christ Sun of Justice parish, whose worship space is regularly converted into space for concerts and theater-in-the-round. Next door is the rectory where Rev. Edward Kacerguis, pastor, lives.

The C&CC also owns a "hospitality house" for visiting artists and musicians who need a place to stay, and has just purchased another home which will be rented out in the spring.

"When I was in Idaho [in the Navy]," Mr. Smith remarked, "I oversaw the operations of big industrial facilities -- and this is a place that needs management!"

Unique site

Since October, the new director has kept busy filling the art gallery with exhibits, booking concerts, supervising a staff of 20 RPI work-study students who keep the C&CC operational and planning future events. Father Kacerguis, of course, is responsible for the parish end of things.

"This is the home for a parish," Mr. Smith explained. "But when the Newman Foundation was set up in the early 1960s, it was set up to be an educational foundation: a spiritual home for the Catholic community [with] opportunities for the larger community.

"We are an art gallery, a performing arts space, a church. The charter and mandate are very ecumenical: Tuesday nights, we host a Buddhist meditation group; the programming raises questions of faith and spirituality without saying, `Here are the answers.'"

Much to do

Aside from researching and booking artists and musicians, Mr. Smith also does more mundane chores: everything from creating the programs for Christ Sun of Justice's holiday liturgies to working on a written schedule of events to send to local media.

He laughed about "being out with the snowblower" during winter storms when the students were on winter break and subcontractors who usually care for the grounds weren't available.

"I don't sleep much!" the director claimed. "What I like about this job is it fits most naturally with the two other things that I do."

In fact, Mr. Smith said that Metroland and "Sounding Board" are often resources for finding performers for the C&CC (see sidebar). He attends concerts and writes his reviews of them at night, and spends one weekend each month taping four "Sounding Board" shows, which are aired at a later date.

Looking for artists

The director is particularly interested in performers who combine different elements, such as the visual and musical, but invited any local artists, poets or musicians to approach him about showcasing their work.

"I don't have deep pockets," he cautioned, but because the Newman Foundation funds the C&CC, "I don't have to make money on the performance. I can tell a musician, `You can decide on the door [charge] and take [the money] at the end of the evening."

He's also trying to keep up with the needs of the building. Recalling a struggle to fix a leaking valve, he joked about "an element of my job that's like being the sexton."

He couldn't wait for the students to return from their vacation and pitch in, warning: "I'm going to have to find extra punishment for them when they get back!"