Capital Campaign ART NOW
The Synergy between Art and Innovation!
Our mission is to foster creativity and inspire innovation by providing challenging opportunities in a wide range
of artistic disciplines for people of all ages.
of Jamestown, RI, and beyond.
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Brief History and Update:
In February 2008 the Jamestown Arts Center launched a Capital Campaign to purchase and renovate the property at 18 Valley Street into a beautiful arts center designed by Estes/Twombly Architects. The property was purchased on December 21, 2009, with support from many contributors, and with the help of two generous private loans.
2010 was an incredible year for the JAC. Our fundraising was hugely successful, and we met our December deadline! Community partnerships were formed, art classes were taught at the Jamestown Gallery and our first, annual community fundraiser, pARTy NOW, was truly memorable!
The Jamestown Arts Center is now on course to begin renovations and bring creative programming to the community.
This would not have been possible without the incredible generosity of hundreds of individuals and over a dozen foundations. Special acknowledgement must go to Tom and Joanie Swift who provided substantial financial support for this project as well as to Billy and May Munger, the former owners of 18 Valley Street.
Thank you to everyone for being pART of it!
Brief Project Description:
The Jamestown Arts Center at 18 Valley Street will be a community facility, centrally located next to the Library, playground, schools, other community centers and island businesses. Once a boat repair shop, this building is perfectly suited for an arts space. The large bays provide flexible spaces that will be renovated in stages, and upgraded as funding permits. Estimated time of opening: Spring 2011.
Highlights for Renovation:
completion of the internal structure of 18 Valley Street:
* creating visual arts studios for ceramics, painting/drawing,
and a flexible space for craft, children’s programming, and parties.
* creating performance and rehearsal space
* reinforcing second floor and finishing for graphic arts, literary arts, and music.
* making all areas handicapped accessible.
* providing appropriate plumbing, such as studio sinks, and 2 additional bathrooms.
remodeling the building’s exterior
landscaping and sculpture garden
Please contact us If you would like to offer your services and/or goods, or hear more about our building plans.
Brief Description of Case:
The Jamestown Arts Center will be a permanent home for the vibrant arts community, which has thrived in Jamestown for generations. Upon completion the JAC will be available for use by other arts organizations and business and professional organizations.
The center will impact the economic development of Conanicut Island by attracting patrons from a five county area. Research indicates that arts organizations contribute directly to economic growth through job creation, development of new businesses, increased tourism and patronage of local restaurants and hotels. Regional arts groups who work in collaboration with the Jamestown Arts Center will have opportunities to increase the size and quantity of their audiences, thereby expanding revenues.
The Arts leverage social, academic, and intellectual skills for all ages. In the State of Rhode Island the Arts are the fastest growing sector of the economy, thereby proving that the Arts are a viable and important way to contribute to our community’s development, as well as being a pivotal way to seek self-expression.
Why Art Now? Why is the Arts Center Necessary?
When a community embraces the Arts, the whole community flourishes.
The Jamestown Arts Center will be:
A permanent home for our vibrant arts community.
Our arts center will be outfitted for performances, exhibitions, and education. It will be a place where people meet, share and come to inspire and be inspired. The JAC will be a place where artists and art lovers of all levels and interests can enjoy self expression and self fulfillment.We will coordinate programming with schools, community centers and other arts organizations to optimize opportunities for interdisciplinary and intergenerational collaborations. The Jamestown Arts Center will be hub for all things ART!
A connection to our state's creative industries.
The Jamestown Arts Center will connect our local arts community to other communities across the state and beyond. The arts center will encourage a statewide draw, benefiting local businesses and tourism. We will offer employment, internships, and job training for a variety of jobs and careers in the art and design world. The Arts are the fastest growing sector of Rhode Island’s economy and are vital to our collective success.
The synergy between art and innovation.
Art is a never-ending learning experience. Practicing any form of art, at any age, in any capacity activates a range of human intelligence to accomplish something of value. Our dynamic brains work in an amazing concert of imagination, experimentation and skills acquisition, as we learn to generate new ideas. When we have the opportunity to work collaboratively our artistic interaction maximizes creativity. By encouraging the thinking processes that rely on variety and curiosity, Art stimulates creative minds to reach outside accepted ideas to seek new solutions.
Creative thinking in the 21st Century:
Learning to think creatively is crucial to the strength of our society and to the health of our planet. Our economy is no longer based on the industrial model of the 18th and early 19th centuries, but on technology and design driven solutions. However, these changes are not reflected in our public schools, whose arts programs are in fact sacrificed to improve school budgets. The benefits of an interdisciplinary curriculum are unknown to most young people, as students learn subjects often as segregated and narrow as tasks in a factory.
The Jamestown Arts Center will provide alternative experiential learning. Through arts education, children and adults learn to leverage the artistic, intellectual, and collaborative skills that will guide future generations.
Art is necessary - it makes our lives worthwhile and our world a better place.