"Community News Weekly" by: Lauren Carpenter
McMillan’s vision of what this building could become was even beyond what his wife, Dorothea, could see. Agreeing to disagree, McMillan went ahead and started the process of turning the old church with its mold, failing roof and falling stone into his dream.
Not new to restoration, McMillan once helped a close friend renovate a courtyard next to an old castle in Wales. He also purchased the Mechanicville Elementary School next door using the gym as a hub for training at his Spacial Dynamics Institute (SDI) for those united in their desire to pursue a study of spatially oriented movement.
McMillan’s vision of what this building could become was even beyond what his wife, Dorothea, could see. Agreeing to disagree, McMillan went ahead and started the process of turning the old church with its mold, failing roof and falling stone into his dream.
Not new to restoration, McMillan once helped a close friend renovate a courtyard next to an old castle in Wales. He also purchased the Mechanicville Elementary School next door using the gym as a hub for training at his Spacial Dynamics Institute (SDI) for those united in their desire to pursue a study of spatially oriented movement.
With the activity in the church floundering and limited to the rectory, the building was judged to be in dynamic failure. McMillan hired John Waite Associates to do an engineering study which found the building to be sound but deemed immediate action to restore it properly. With the professional assistance of architect Dick ButlerMcMillan went through the required building code officials and planning and zoning boards finding everyone along the way very supportive.
“We saw this architectural gem just falling apart. The high arched ceilings are absolutely beautiful to behold. We didn’t want to see it slowly rot away and we took to saving it,” McMillan said McMillan hired contractor Jim Roberts of Home Works for much of the main restoration and brought in specialists for the plumbing and electric.
He, Dorothea their sons and nephew banded together to do the “donkey work” cleaning, painting, gutting and such. Through SDI, McMillan also has a huge source of pro bono labor from loyal students and colleagues, literally from around the world, willing to lend a hand. He is also very pleased that St. Luke’s existing parishioners, with the purchase of the building, built another church just a few miles away to accommodate their needs.
The Arts Center on the Hudson’s grand hall which easily accommodates 400 guests includes the original stained glass windows throwing rainbows of color on the red oak floor that shines to perfection in the newness of the project.
The original organ, minus its console, lines the left wall of the alter-turned-stage. Hoping to replace the console some day, McMillan keeps it on his endless to-do list, but must prioritize self-funding more immediate goals such as the now finished basement gallery is home to three separate areas accommodating up to 320 visitors and designed for meetings and gatherings with modern restrooms and a roomy kitchen. The kitchen is perfect for caterers to use and includes a turn-of-the-century Garland stove with 16 burners and 4 ovens.
Needing no restorative assistance are the acoustics in the grand hall. “No matter where you are in the room or which way you are turned, the music comes from everywhere,” McMillan says proudly.
With most of the restoration completed, McMillan officially opened in December and has already held several events including master storyteller Ashley Ramsden’s one man show of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Other shows included a combination of drama and music and the Girl Scouts celebrated World Thinking Day there with over 100 in attendance. Upcoming events will include Time to Play - a clown act and later in July puppeteers will perform. There are also five weddings on the schedule for the coming year.
When he is not digging trenches, painting or refurbishing the Arts Center McMillan, as founder of SDI, is a sought after educator and lecturer holding workshops worldwide and training movement educators and movement therapists.
He spent over 20 years in Germany where he continues to travel several times a year; SDI is also instrumental in the international peace effort Hands in Peace where a model using movement and arts to bring children from warring countries together was created. McMillan has traveled to Greece, Ecuador and China for its festivals uniting several cultures and nationalities. On a smaller scale, he is hoping to do the same at the Arts Center on the Hudson, uniting locals and patrons of the arts.
Aileen Durrant, a former student and Stillwater physical education teacher who went through McMillan’s SDI training program for over five years, encouraged the family to choose this area when considering a return to the United States.
Sadly, Durrant lost her 10- year-old daughter Emma, in a car accident just before the McMillans made their move to a new home in Schuylerville.
“One of Jaimen’s teaching blocks at SDI was on death and dying. When the accident happened, I knew I had to call him right away. Jaimen is a master of the human body and a master in his work in spacial dynamics…I believe that Emma’s life forces helped facilitate him finding these buildings,” she said. Thanks to McMillan’s meandering path from Michigan to Germany to southern Saratoga County along with Emma’s Durrant’s spirit, the incredible Arts Center on the Hudson has indeed found a new purpose and a new life of its own.
“We saw this architectural gem just falling apart. The high arched ceilings are absolutely beautiful to behold. We didn’t want to see it slowly rot away and we took to saving it,” McMillan said McMillan hired contractor Jim Roberts of Home Works for much of the main restoration and brought in specialists for the plumbing and electric.
He, Dorothea their sons and nephew banded together to do the “donkey work” cleaning, painting, gutting and such. Through SDI, McMillan also has a huge source of pro bono labor from loyal students and colleagues, literally from around the world, willing to lend a hand. He is also very pleased that St. Luke’s existing parishioners, with the purchase of the building, built another church just a few miles away to accommodate their needs.
The Arts Center on the Hudson’s grand hall which easily accommodates 400 guests includes the original stained glass windows throwing rainbows of color on the red oak floor that shines to perfection in the newness of the project.
The original organ, minus its console, lines the left wall of the alter-turned-stage. Hoping to replace the console some day, McMillan keeps it on his endless to-do list, but must prioritize self-funding more immediate goals such as the now finished basement gallery is home to three separate areas accommodating up to 320 visitors and designed for meetings and gatherings with modern restrooms and a roomy kitchen. The kitchen is perfect for caterers to use and includes a turn-of-the-century Garland stove with 16 burners and 4 ovens.
Needing no restorative assistance are the acoustics in the grand hall. “No matter where you are in the room or which way you are turned, the music comes from everywhere,” McMillan says proudly.
With most of the restoration completed, McMillan officially opened in December and has already held several events including master storyteller Ashley Ramsden’s one man show of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Other shows included a combination of drama and music and the Girl Scouts celebrated World Thinking Day there with over 100 in attendance. Upcoming events will include Time to Play - a clown act and later in July puppeteers will perform. There are also five weddings on the schedule for the coming year.
When he is not digging trenches, painting or refurbishing the Arts Center McMillan, as founder of SDI, is a sought after educator and lecturer holding workshops worldwide and training movement educators and movement therapists.
He spent over 20 years in Germany where he continues to travel several times a year; SDI is also instrumental in the international peace effort Hands in Peace where a model using movement and arts to bring children from warring countries together was created. McMillan has traveled to Greece, Ecuador and China for its festivals uniting several cultures and nationalities. On a smaller scale, he is hoping to do the same at the Arts Center on the Hudson, uniting locals and patrons of the arts.
Aileen Durrant, a former student and Stillwater physical education teacher who went through McMillan’s SDI training program for over five years, encouraged the family to choose this area when considering a return to the United States.
Sadly, Durrant lost her 10- year-old daughter Emma, in a car accident just before the McMillans made their move to a new home in Schuylerville.
“One of Jaimen’s teaching blocks at SDI was on death and dying. When the accident happened, I knew I had to call him right away. Jaimen is a master of the human body and a master in his work in spacial dynamics…I believe that Emma’s life forces helped facilitate him finding these buildings,” she said. Thanks to McMillan’s meandering path from Michigan to Germany to southern Saratoga County along with Emma’s Durrant’s spirit, the incredible Arts Center on the Hudson has indeed found a new purpose and a new life of its own.
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