I looked, and before I suggest ideas - let me show you a template I found which uses the same basic palette and I feel better represents a "cozy" and "artsy" feel while still coming across as a community site:
http://osc.template-help.com/wt_26417/index.html
(Allow the template to load, it's a fully functional preview, not just a screenshot, and if you like the template can be purchased for about $64.00
here, or just use it for ideas and inspiration if you have $0 budget)
Some of the elements you might consider adding to yours:
- A nice pic of the venue or people who own or use it in a masthead w/ logo
- Warm brown background - a much more "cozy" feel than sand color
- Introduce other warm complimentary colors (yellow, orange, more beiges)
- Introduce a single contrasting color (green) - it works well in distinguishing important content and is a common design device
- More context boxes with header text and content in addition to the menu
- Use the palette colors to distinguish one content box from another
I see your layout as the first step progressing towards a more fully realized site as exemplified by the template I chose at random. The styling is more oriented towards "artsy" by being fancier overall, "warm" by keeping your core colors but introducing more contrast and even half tones of your core colors and still make it work, and finally an overall "local" feel by using pics or photos not only in the masthead area but even in content boxes. You could add a community calendar on the page, some blog excerpts, and so on and so on. Note the template has Flash, I am *not* suggesting that - focus more on the layout and palette choice.
The key point I am making here is all these things I suggest were based exactly on your description of how you'd like the site to come across, and its intended audience. To each their own as to what that constitutes, I know that, but this is my .02. Hope you're inspired even if you don't like this exact look/feel.
-jim
