Alabama River Region Arts Center Volume 1, Issue 4 January 2011
The ARRAC Update Happy New Year!
New Year New Goals! As we move into the New Year we see our momentum growing and many exciting things are happening.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Board / Officers
2
Lease Terms Tweak 2 New Handrails
2
Membership Growth
3
Clean Up Days
3
About us
4
First, we have received a grant from the Alabama State Council for the Arts for $2,500 under the Art license plate program. This grant will be used to support one of our programs to bring more people into the arts. Our Officers will be finalizing how this grant will be used this month. Meanwhile we are gearing up for the 2011 – 2012 grant season with the hopes of securing more grants not only for programs but for operations and some renovation work. We are looking for more assistance on the
fund raising committee to help with grants and local fund raising. No experience is needed. Contact Vickie or Carol to find out more. Next, we will be securing our insurance this week through Michael Matthews a Travelers Independent agent. The policy will be underwritten by the Hartford which is a strong surety. Our biggest challenge for this month is rounding up operations funding to cover us for at least 3 months which is estimated to run $7,500. Once we secure this funding, we can
open our doors and get some breathing room until we can secure an operations grant later in June. We are now getting up to speed with the grant writing cycle so we will be in sync with more programs and will be able to forecast our grant writing needs. Next on our list is to develop local fund raising events. These will be day events held at the Arts Center to raise money through admissions, sales and donations. We are looking for ideas. One fund raiser that is being discussed is a “Hot Chocolate Day”. This will be an event with a $10.00 admission fee (child fees TBD) that will allow people to see demonstrations and try different types of art. (continued on page 3)
More Class Formats Got a Story ? Have you got a story you would like to get printed in the news letter? Contact Frank Sullivan or Vickie Ham for more information.
We have been getting feed back from the community on what the community wants from the ARRAC. As a result, we will be developing a series of one day series classes with reduced cost (grants permitting). Students will be able to sign up for a class, then catch the next in the series or wait till the next cycle of the class and sign up for the next class. We are also working on complete single day classes (workshops) that will cycle around 2 to 4 times a year. We will continue to put standard classes together for those who are interested. We need helpers to research our day classes. No experience required!
Our Strategic Plan 1. Meet the needs of the Community. 2. Expand our high quality Arts programs. 3. Become financially independent. 4. Develop a building fund to support our mission.
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As we grow our financial needs grow as well. If you know someone who would like to help, contact any of our Founding Board Members …. Thank you for your help!
The ARRAC Update Lease Terms Get a Tweak The Elmore County School System and ARRAC have been working diligently on finalizing the terms of our lease for the school building. The last review by our ARRAC staff found only a couple of wish list items to be added. Once everybody agrees on the terms and conditions, we will be ready to sign our lease. The initial term is 3 years with a 3 year extension. ARRAC will have the use from rotunda and offices, hall to the WPA and 4 of the six class rooms. 2 class rooms by the WPA are being reserved by the ECSS for use by future theater classes. ARRAC will be able to use the
classrooms when not needed by the theater classes. This is consistent with our first discussions with ECSS about the school. ARRAC wants to promote the performing arts along with the visual and culinary arts. ARRAC has agreed to allow the ECSS to use what we called the “Portrait Gallery” storage room next to the rotunda. In return ECSS with try to clear out the two class rooms for use much sooner. This is consistent with our strategic plan in that we were not schedule to utilize the additional class rooms for at lease 3 to 6 months.
We have the best School System in the World not only for letting us use the facility but taking a personal interest in our mission. We all need to thank Dr. Langham and the ECSS staff for their help.
ECSS is assisting ARRAC getting any critical safety items addressed before ARRAC opens it’s doors.
Clean Up Days Make a Big Difference We have held 2 clean up days and each has been well attended and much has been accomplished. Our first clean up day concentrated our effort in the Office and Gallery areas. While the second clean up day saw the hole for the office pass through getting cut in and the scraping of walls in the large studio and classroom 103.
or cleaning items. We need a good vacuum to vacuum the carpets. If anyone has a good vacuum that they would like to donate let Vickie know. We will see you Sunday afternoon.
We are planning a new work day on Sunday (1/23/11) from 12pm to 4pm Which will include priming, painting and more spot scraping and general clean up. Come on down and pitch in. Bring a brush, roller , roller cover
Founding Board of Directors and Officers Below are the emails for the Founding Board and Officers. Drop them an email if you have any questions or suggestions!
Pat Johnson – wdturn@bellsouth.net Frank Sullivan – sullivanpottery@aol.com
BOARD John Wayne Taylor Carol Barksdale – bdaleart@aol.com Myra Johnson – huntn4bears@elmore.rr.com
jwtrht@att.net
OFFICERS Vickie Ham – President vjham@aol.com Carol Barksdale – Vice President bdaleart@aol.com Dawn Sullivan – Secretary/Treasurer Seamarie74@aol.com
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The ARRAC Update New Year New Goals! (continued from page 1) Then the individual can choose an arts class. This is a great venue for parents to see what interest their children have and get the children it that class. We will get more publicity and more community feed back. This is a format that can be repeated over the year. Let us know what ideas you have. We have had an excellent response from the art instructor community for our request for instructors. Many of the Artists are designated Master artists through the State Arts Council. We have no shortage of subject matter.
Next, we are working some fund raising ideas for musical event to be held at the Wetumpka Performing Arts Center. We will showcase local, regional and national talent. There are more potential projects to pursue and many great ideas to research. That is one reason we need your participation in the Arts Center.
the Gallery will be open Thursdays through Friday 12pm to 4pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sundays 12pm to 4pm. These hours are independent of any class time. First come first served for your preferred time to volunteer. We will have a volunteer schedule available on line to keep you abreast of the current need. We need your help!
Speaking of opportunities, we need more volunteers for setting up classes, talking to instructors, setting up the office and Art Center monitoring time. The Officers have determined that
Membership Continue its Growth We are pleased to announce that our membership is growing and we are receiving more inquiries ever day. We now have (28) members. This is another reason why we need your help mange our volunteers. You will be scheduling volunteers, answering questions and keeping everyone informed. We have a similar need with our membership. We need your help. No experience required!
Facts ….. ******* Help Wanted ******* The ARRAC is looking for persons interested in filling Committee positions including; Marketing, Fund Raising, Curriculum/Programs, Gallery design and Room clean up Captains. Contact any Officer or Founding Board Members for more information.
• We need our community’s financial help! • Our start up costs have increased to over $8,000! • We need more Volunteers for Our Committees ! • Our web site is www.arrac.org.
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ALABAMA RIVER REG IO N ART S CE NTER
85 Canal Cove Wetumpka, Alabama 36092 Phone: (334) 578-9485 E-Mail: director@arrac.org We’re on the Web!
See us at:
NEWSLETTER TITLE About Us… The Founding members are composed of local Artist from varied disciplines that have a common goal to create a public non-profit organization based in Wetumpka, Alabama focusing on nurturing all categories of arts in the River Region. The Arts Center is a volunteer based, community supported organization that will derive it’s funding from public and private donations, contributions, grants benefactors and the proceeds from memberships, Artist Space, Rentals, Gallery Art Sales and special events.
Volunteer at Memberships at
www.arrac.org www.arrac.org
www.arrac.org
ALABAMA RIVER REGION ARTS CENTER 85 CANAL COVE WETUMPKA, ALABAMA 36092
MEMBER NAME
STREET ADDRESS
ADDRESS 2 CITY, ST ZIP CODE