HISTORY OF INSPIRATION POINT FINE ARTS COLONY Inspiration Point, poetically described as “a mountainous place not too many miles from heaven,” is located northwest of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and overlooks the White River valley some 600 feet below. To create an idyllic scene, the lowlands merge into the incomparably beautiful Ozark Mountains.
THE BEGINNING
Hobart had founded a summer opera program in Enid
In 1928, a German-born architectural engineer, Charles
Gertrude Stockard, Director of Music at Eureka Springs
Mowers, purchased the land overlooking the White River
High School, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony (IPFAC)
valley and began construction of a castle patterned after
came into being in the summer of 1950, with a little of
those of the Rhine River valley. In 1932, the unfinished
everything in vocal and instrumental music and dramatic
castle and the grounds were purchased by Rev. Charles
art. There were about as many staff members as there
Scoville, a Christian missionary and evangelist, who
were students. Dr. and Mrs. Hobart decided to make
completed the castle and gave it its name, Inspiration
Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony into an opera or music
Point. When he died in 1938, his wife gave the estate to
drama summer workshop, conducted under the highest
Phillips University in Enid, OK. For more than a decade
professional standards for talented college, high school,
the property was a white elephant. In 1950, Dr. Henry
and junior high school students. All opera roles would
Hobart, Dean of Fine Arts at Phillips University, was asked
be performed entirely by the students; no lead singers
to start a summer music camp at Inspiration Point. Dr.
would be brought in to sing the principal roles. The
and welcomed the opportunity. With the support of
theme of Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony would be, “The students are the stars.” For the first two years or so, a major portion of the funds needed for operating expenses and capital expenditures were provided by Dr. and Mrs. Hobart personally or by loans obtained from Phillips University. Some construction materials were donated by Eureka Springs businesses and Dr. Hobart frequented government war surplus warehouses. Practice pianos and furniture were obtained as gifts from churches, schools, and individuals, but the financial needs were greater than the Hobarts and a handful of loyal supporters could continue to meet. 10 / www.opera.org
