The Miracle of Rural Art Blooms in Springville
Springville Center for the Arts cultivates the craftsmanship that holds every small town together
By AJ Govenettio
(Photos https://springvillearts.com/)
The village of Springville is home to around 4,200 people, surrounded by acres of nature and farmland on all sides. Seth Wochensky, Director of Springville Center for the Arts, has been fanatical about fostering the art hidden all over the 3.7 square miles of his hometown.
From starting as a theater/art gallery in a renovated shoe store, to an organization spreading several buildings and receiving millions in funding, the SCA is a thriving success story still in the making. They’ve revealed the heart of a small town in an extraordinary way that distinguishes their place on the WNY map.
The Buffalo Hive’s AJ Govenettio spoke with Wochensky about the remarkable journey of simply giving artists the means to do what they love.
As I looked around for the entrance to the SCA, a man stopped me and said with a smile, “Seth’s in there.” I had never seen someone’s reputation precede them so literally.
Inside the SCA I was met with two sights: a quaint church, walls lined with paintings for sale, and a friendly and gentle dog. Seth Wochensky welcomed me in the middle of figuring out a repair to the front doors. This introduction proved to be a poetic summary of the man.
Wochensky’s list of artifacts grew as he guided me around the church space. Between the smattering of kid’s art projects and various props of shows prior were photos of an old SCA under construction.
(L-R) Seth Wochensky and Queen
He explained the storied history of how the SCA started in a shut-down boot shop back in 1998 as a joint theater and gallery. By 2007, they had managed to raise $100,000 dollars to buy a Baptist church built in 1868. Since then, they’ve made substantial upgrades to the building such as brand new heating infrastructure and a basement.
Key Turning Ceremony 2007
“Five years ago, this was just a dirt hole,” Wochensky said as he led me around the newly installed basement. Despite this project starting right as covid hit, he’d managed to gain the funding and help to turn it into a soon-to-be gallery space, complete with a sleek bathroom.
My tour of the SCA’s projects stepped outside to cozy fall streets, and Wochensky took me into another mosaic of a building. The “Springville Center for the Arts Laboratory for Social Aesthetics,” or The Lab for short, is a shared studio space and boutique area. You’ll find custom shirts, early synthesizers, vines dangling off ceilings and graffiti murals for a remarkably diverse showing of culture hidden in a sea of farmland. The renovations to the former Witter-Davis furniture store is still being very much in progress, but the news artist studios are already abundantly loved by the community.
Wochensky hopes that one day Springville can provide more than stages and venues for art to be displayed, but that it will also be a home for the process of making art as well. It’s a distinction that would separate Springville’s support of the arts from some of WNY’s other arts scenes.
“Everybody would say, ‘Oh, an art center in Springville? Who’s going to come?’” Wochensky said people asked. “There are always more people painting at home than you think. There’s this connection where people don’t always see themselves as very connected to the arts, but they’re making. It’s not a huge leap for this guy who builds cabinets to build sets, you know, he’s still creating. It’s just a different environment.”
As Wochensky walked to the Springville Arts Cafe, he went on to talk about the collection of odd jobs that gave him his appreciation for art. Between stories of arranging church music as a kid and doing work for MTV, he kept getting caught up in friendly banter with customers and employees alike.
No matter where this trip took us, he always found himself ensnared in the company of countless friends. What was more impressive than his magnanimous nature was the care he gave to each little chat he had along our route. He managed this all while returning to the subject at hand with ease.
The Art’s Cafe is populated with all sorts of photographs, and my eyes landed on a dull photo of building wreckage. Between the absent ceiling and the debris-enveloped floor, it would have been fit for the set of found-footage horror. I was shocked to hear Wochensky tell me that was the very building I was standing in.
The building that would eventually become Art’s Cafe, September, 2011. Art’s Cafe’s green roof back in summer.
Art’s Cafe was home to many things. Once a completely collapsed building appraised at one dollar, it had been transformed into a café, a venue for performing arts, artist residencies and eventually, a green roof for communal gardening.
Springville is more than close-knit rural community. I followed Wochensky to the upstairs of Art’s Cafe, which had turned into a makeshift Airbnb for traveling artists who’ve been brought in to perform. Artists, who have been traveling from farther and farther away just to be here, Wochensky informed me with delight.
Colorado band Sturtz, performing for the Art’s Cafe 11/15/25
Like all of the SCA’s biggest projects, the Art’s Cafe was only made possible through generous donations and volunteers. They managed to raise $30,000 in 30 days through an online fundraising campaign. With the help of 30 trained professionals, they were finally able to install the rooftop garden. For a more in depth documentation of Art’s Cafe, visit https://artscafespringville.com/our-story/
We made our way to the basement of the cafe. In the company of a 6-foot-long octopus puppet, Wochensky’s self-taught stained glass art and other remnants of workshops gone by, we began to discuss the then-upcoming musical at the SCA, “Lumberjacks In Love.” It ran in late November.
“Lumberjacks In Love”
Before the SCA closed the Mongerson Theater — the theater space in what had been the old Baptist church — down to complete reconstruction plans this winter, they ended their season with a production of the comedy musical “Lumberjacks In Love.” I was sold into seeing it off of Wochensky’s describing the cast alone.
‘Lumberjacks In Love’ is a great example of our core beliefs. Mark Bouquin, one of the lumberjacks, he’s a competition lumberjack. I don’t think he’s ever been on a stage before. They call this other guy, Thor, that tells you how big he is. He works up at Lowe’s. Everybody knows this guy. The other guy, Golden Groves, ’nuff said. Brayton, has been in shows he’s the only one that has a history performing. But when you see these guys perform, they’re so into it, the rough edges just add to the whole experience.
From left to right: Golden Groves (Dirty Bob), Tyler “Thor” Moody (Muskrat), Brayton Wilson (Minnesota Slim), Mark Bouquin (Moonlight)
No one else in WNY means “community theater” the way Springville does. The joy of witnessing such unbelievable distinct people take the stage in this Midwest farce can’t be found elsewhere. It’s a unique warmth to hear a crowd laugh with performers, not just because of a script, but because of a history shared between most everyone in the room.
That’s not to say this kind of theater can only be loved ironically. I was captivated by the densely detailed set, including a tree with real branches and a mechanical hinge that lets it get chopped down. Songs from Samantha Hunt managed to achieve an authentic level of emotional grounding in a show that could’ve easily been written off as no more than messing around. Jokes by Golden Groves were always delivered with the unabashed enthusiasm of a kid, and the timing of a pro.
Alongside the cast was a five-piece folk band who opened the pre-show seating with half an hour of covers. Right before the show opened they performed a lovely sing-a-long version of Country Roads. It was my first time going to a musical with an Americana band instead of a pit orchestra. After seeing how naturally the style lends itself to story telling, I’m only left looking for more shows like it.
From left to right: Samantha Hunt (The Kid), Brayton Wilson, Ashley Lowry (Rosemary Rogers)
Typically a show’s program serves as an interesting bow on the package of a play, a brief reminder of the community creating your art. “Lumberjacks In Love,” has a program that reshaped my view of every face on the stage.
Actor Brayton Wilson returning to the theater after years of working in media. Director Edwin F. Heary has been working with the SCA since 1977. Upright Bassist Gary Hanley decided to get back into music at the age of 50. No name on the list feels replaceable; the 14 members of the production are a humble tapestry of connection.
“Lumberjacks In Love” was an unforgettable theatrical experience. One that reminds us of what art can do for a community. This is achieved not in spite of it’s unique conditions, but entirely because of them.
Springville is wonderfully distinct from any other place in WNY, but there’s a beautiful message to be learned from its success. Art lies in every community, and Springville may be the blueprint for finding it.
The history for the SCA is paved with selfless efforts on all fronts. As a result, the town continues to display its love for all sorts of arts at an unbelievable rate. Springville’s place in WNY’s arts universe is unique, and it’s well worth the drive to experience that yourself.
The most endearing love is found in the details, and the SCA’s endless appreciation to detail is ceaselessly charming.
For more information visit https://springvillearts.com/
AJ Govenettio is a Buffalo Hive intern. He is a junior majoring in acting and audio production at SUNY Fredonia.
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