The Center Endowment's Case for Support

THE CENTER ENDOWMENT COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES

Cover and Featured Art: Alissa Davies, Oceans alissadavies.com

Ten Year Reflection Ten years. A milestone for The Center. A milestone for the community. Truly,

audiences to new art forms and new forms of learning. Now, ten years

enormous effort is required to raise a vision: In the early 2000’s, a group

later, The Center has become a hub of cultural and educational activity in

of community leaders came together to materialize Jackson’s core value of

our community and must augment its commitment to these core values by

creativity. They built The Center to support the artists and students in the

endowing its future and facility.

valley, to offer them a modern place to work and perform, and to introduce

The Numbers The Center has become a cultural epicenter of Jackson Hole. Our theater, studios and classrooms are abuzz with activity nearly every day of the year, thanks to the inspiring programs offered by our Resident Partners, other community organizations, and our own creative initiatives.

When our theater opened, we were booked just 30 nights per year with an average of 142 people in the house. Now, we fill the calendar with over 200 events. In addition, our Resident Partners provide diverse arts and cultural programming.

Last year alone, more than 125,000 people utilized The Center.

We’ve translated such banner attendance into financial solvency, reducing our building debt from its high of $6.8 million to just under $1 million—in less than five years. We are now able to cover structural and site maintenance, but need additional endowment to cover the capital investments needed for the next 10 to 20 years.

Our future is bright. In 2016, The Center was granted a 99-year lease, which gives us the opportunity to guarantee our vibrancy for future generations and demonstrates the community’s leadership support of our programs.

Core The Center is home to 19 Resident Partners—independent arts and education organizations that represent more than half of the cultural nonprofits in Jackson Hole. Each Resident Partner enlivens our studios, offices and galleries with excellence.

They also pay an annual lease fee. We strive to keep their lease fees sub-market at affordable rental rates so that they can continue to thrive.

Beyond the flurry of arts events staged by our Resident Partners, The Center produces Center Presents, featuring music, films, and the spoken word, and other creative initiatives to foster vibrancy on our campus. The Center also hosts presentations by conservation groups, social service providers, and government agencies.

We cultivate creativity: visual, physical, conceptual, scientific, and philanthropic.

We cultivate community: among artists, patrons, advocates, producers, and audiences.

The Center is a hub of cultural activity in Jackson Hole, welcoming a diverse audience spanning economic, political, and ethnic backgrounds. At The Center, everyone mingles freely amid our atmosphere of inclusive creativity.

Affirmation

In April 2017, Jackson ranked on the Top 10 Most Arts Vibrant Small Communities, a respected ranking by the National Center for Arts Research as part of its third annual Arts Vibrancy Index. “Jackson is a mountain community of great beauty and innovation...

All art forms are represented, at times recognized nationally or internationally for excellence.�

The Center cultivates the creativity coursing through Teton County.

For

You

AMY BRIGHT UNFRIED, ARTIST AND OFF SQUARE THEATRE BOARD MEMBER “As an artist, I always enjoy seeing the art exhibited in The Center’s courtyard and theater gallery—very varied, well-chosen, stimulating, thought-provoking, frequently beautiful. I was privileged to have my own work shown at The Center in 2016.”

For The Community CLARE PAYNE SYMMONS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OFF SQUARE THEATRE “The Center embodies Jackson Hole’s cultural identity. Even more than the iconic elk antler arches, The Center defines who we are as a community.

From free events to high-end galas, The Center offers a singular space where everyone has a place.”

For

Artists

And Creativity MARK NOWLIN, ARTIST AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ART ASSOCIATION OF JACKSON HOLE “The Center is the focal point for the arts—a place providing stability of facilities, opportunities for artists to exchange, encourage, evolve, and express their artistic voice.”

Belong

Here

ALI COHANE, OWNER OF PERSEPHONE AND PICNIC CAFÉS “People need places to congregate, and The Center has become an integral outlet for cultural socializing in Jackson. Whenever residents come to our café to fill the time between work and a Center event, they brim with excitement for their evening ahead. Beyond the inspired aura we observe, The Center encourages patronage of local businesses; many of our most loyal regulars are the artists who call The Center their professional home. This radiating influence resonates most when we attend Center events and run into a spectrum of friends, folks we would not otherwise see in one place—not even on the slopes—if not for The Center.”

Of Life PEGGY GILDAY, ARCHITECT AND CENTER BOARD MEMBER “In its former life, The Center site was a public school that my son attended and where I went to events staged by a variety of organizations based elsewhere in the valley.

The Center represents a historical shift in structural use of this important downtown location, and yet its organic mission remains the same: To nurture community. Building on this dynamic site history, The Center centralizes the entire creative process within its well-equipped campus. I applaud the vision it took to integrate diverse groups under one roof. Even more so now, I delight in the spectrum of events presented at The Center, from supporting arts groups I know and love to experiment with new forms—all of which are meaningful to me. The Center keeps creativity fresh in Jackson Hole.”

The Pitch A decade ago, Jackson desperately needed a major venue for dance, theater and film productions. The cultural landscape was challenging: The smattering of available yet inadequate performance spaces could not stage technically-demanding events, and equally dispersed were the arts groups themselves, which meant directors often worked in silos unaware of each other.

Then as now, The Center as a communitywide cultural and educational hub, shelters and nurtures the cultural core of Jackson. By providing an affordable home for artists and groups as well as a performance venue and producing marquee events that feature worldclass musicians and people of notable interest, The Center has provided a platform for many of our cherished and independent cultural and educational organizations to flourish.

To ensure our continued success, The Center has embarked on a $10 Million endowment campaign under the banner of two goals: 1 - Manage immediate and future costs associated with providing a state-of-the-art performing arts center for the community; 2 - Secure ample funding to support a diversity of innovative programming.

The current endowment of $2 million yields an average of 4.5% toward our expenses. Growing the endowment will allow us to cover our annual maintenance needs and fund our ever-growing programming.

The Center Endowment solidifies the importance of education and culture in Teton County community life. By inviting 100 donors to join a community contributing $100,000 or more, we strive to make a statement about the widespread enthusiasm for The Center. Gifts may be spread over five years, and either unrestricted or directed to Facility and Grounds; Quality and Affordable Space for our Resident Partners; Creative Initiatives; and Mortgage Elimination.

Your support is crucial to ensure a legacy of cultural vibrancy for generations to come. Please join our expanding community of support.

Ways of Giving The Center Endowment Campaign will ensure that arts, culture, and education remain central to the Jackson Hole experience. As we celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we have become a community gathering place serving a diverse audience representing different economic, political, and ethnic backgrounds who mingle freely over cultural values.

In 2016, we were granted a 99-year lease and we want to guarantee The Center remains vibrant for future generations.

In that spirit, we are inviting 100 generous donors to contribute $100,000 or more (payable over five years, if desired). Donors may direct their gifts to: • Unrestricted, supporting programs overall, as directed by the Board of Directors. This gives most flexibility to focus on funding on largest needs and opportunities as the future unfolds.

• Facility and Grounds, ensuring the continued proper care of our beautiful building and campus.

• Quality Space for our Resident Partners at sub-market rental rates.

• Creative Initiatives, enabling us to attract high quality artists for our suite of creative offerings. This includes:

- Center Presents, our broad range of events featuring notable musicians, family programs, films, and spoken word - Center Collaborations, our creative partnerships with Center Residents and other community organizations - Campus Exhibitions, our rotating installations of artworks by local and regional artists that allow us to offer intriguing

and vibrant artworks throughout our facility - Creative in Residence, providing​support and space for​artists to delve into an interdisciplinary process, resulting in

an impactful and inspiring end product that activates The Center Campus.

• Mortgage elimination, complete repayment of our mortgage, less than $1 Million, to make The Center debt-free.

Center for the Arts, PO Box 860, Jackson, WY 83001, 307-734-8956

Borbay, The Center at 10 borbay.com

Alissa Davies

Borbay

Alissa Davies is an abstract painter who resides in Jackson, WY, a community that constantly influences her work.

Finding the flow and release is critical to her creative process, while paying homage to painting “rules� that make her paintings pleasant to the eye. She is interested in the interplay of form and the harmony of colors, while being true to the organic forming of shapes and textures as each painting progresses.

Borbay is a world-renowned, self-represented artist living in Teton Valley, Idaho. His electric work has been showcased at the Art Association of Jackson Hole, Center for the Arts, and Major League Baseball’s Fan Cave in Manhattan, among many others. Borbay served as the 2017 Artist-in-Residence at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Jackson Hole.