State Representative Holmes, Local Officials met to discuss plans for the Cole Center

A local effort is underway to promote the arts and aviation in downtown Zanesville.

The Cole family has two galleries dedicated to giving back to local artists and bringing people interested in the arts to downtown.

Ron Cole wanted to make a center where people could come to learn about the history of aviation and aerospace as well as art.

Cole said the Cole Centers’, Cole Art Center, LLC, mission is to combine these aspirations into one center located in the heart of downtown.

“We have never aimed to make money from our other galleries downtown.” Cole said. “Our galleries downtown have always existed to give back to the artists community, to bring people interested in art and design into our community, and our for-profit business has been selling art all over the world. It’s natural then that we would ultimately embrace something like this that will extend our brand.”

The once Montgomery Ward department store building was built in 1926 and is still structurally sound, but many repairs need to be completed before the Cole Center opens.

“We have a very preliminary number at $4 million.” Cole said. “Which, seems a lot to me, but really in the grand scheme of things it’s not an outrageous sum of money to do what we want to do.”

97th District State Representative Adam Holmes was in downtown today and spoke about the plans for the Cole Center. 

“This is going to be a center not only to show art work but also a community center where students, youth groups, people interested in aerospace and aviation history.” Holmes said. “We also think it will be a place for artists to show their work and support other types of artwork.”

For more information on the Cole Center you can head to https://colesaircraft.world.