“Art is not a luxury. It stands at the essence of our humanity…” Salman Rushdie
On this Main Street blog, I write about buildings, their beauty, their endurance. They tell us what a town once believed about itself, and ask what we believe now.
But architecture is only one part of a living Main Street.
Art is another.
When I look at downtown Rocky Mount today, I see an art scene that is expanding. It is not imagined or aspirational. It is real.
Salman Rushdie reminds us that art is not a luxury. That distinction matters. Too often, especially in towns working hard to stabilize themselves, art is treated as something extra, something to tend to after the practical work is done.
But art is not the icing. It is part of the structure. It is how a community expresses its values, invites participation, and reminds itself that life is meant to be lived fully.
Many towns our size would give anything to have a place anchoring their cultural life.
We do. The Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences is not an accessory to downtown Rocky Mount. It is an essential civic asset.
Housed in a beautifully repurposed industrial building, the Imperial Centre already does important work, visual arts, performances, education, and community programming.
From a civic perspective, it works best when it is fully integrated into the daily rhythm of Main Street. It already holds the essential ingredients: a central location, a trusted presence, and a mission that invites people not only to attend, but to return.
When cultural places become part of everyday routines, woven into how we meet, linger, and mark time, they move from being destinations to becoming anchors of civic life.
I’m reminded of the restaurant that once operated inside the museum. It became a favorite rendezvous, a place to meet a friend or hold a small meeting. It slipped easily into my routine and, almost without noticing, carried me through the museum doors as part of that visit.
I still wish for that kind of opportunity again, not out of nostalgia, but because it demonstrated how cultural institutions thrive when they are woven into daily patterns of use, not reserved solely for special occasions.
Participation in cultural life does not begin with marketing alone. It begins with a shared understanding that this is our place, and that returning to it, supporting it, and speaking about it are part of civic belonging.
This observation is not a dismissal of effort. It is an acknowledgment of unrealized potential.
An arts centre should feel like a light left on. Something you notice, enter, and return to. A steady presence that becomes familiar over time, not because it demands attention, but because it earns it.
When that happens, downtown becomes more than a destination. It becomes a habit.
Main Street Rocky Mount 