Jamestown  (Cassie DuBray)  The United Way of Stutsman County welcomed Lawrence Kopp, Director of The Arts Center to present at its monthly meeting in November.

The Arts Center is operated by the Jamestown Fine Arts Association, which according to their website has been promoting the arts in Jamestown since 1964.  Kopp said that The Arts Center started out in the old Star Theatre building which was later donated to the organization. The Arts Center is made up of three complexes: the main building, The Hansen Arts Studio and the Art Park. The main building features an exhibition gallery, performance stage, classroom, office, artist-in-residence apartment and studio. The Hansen Studio houses the ceramics studio and adult classroom space. The Art Park is located across the street as a recently redesigned venue for outdoor activities.

With its annual budget of $300,000. The Arts Center strives to reach all populations.  Mr. Kopp announced they have approximately 2,000 through their doors monthly. They have three fulltime employees and one part-time employee.  Twelve percent of their revenue comes from membership dues and nine percent from class tuition.

The Arts Center has many programs like Artist Residencies and Children’s Classes.  The Arts Center offers Arts After School, which is arts based curriculum for students in grades 3-6 with an after-school snack provided and in-town bus transportation available. There are scholarships available for that program. They also have programming for clientele of Triumph Inc and Community Options Inc on a regular basis. One of their focuses is with the Art for Life program. A grant-funded program which pairs The Arts Center with a local elder care facility to provide intensive art and artist interaction with the care facility residents and families.

Upcoming January programming includes Digital Photography- Level 1, Jewelry Making, Family Pottery, Ode to Joy Lecture, as well as it’s regular programming.

To learn more about The Arts Center visit their website http://jamestownarts.com/. The United Way of Stutsman County Board thanks Mr. Kopp for sharing information and answering questions regarding The Arts Center and looks forward to continued collaboration with the agency.

The United Way of Stutsman County will be supporting the following agencies during this year’s fundraising campaign: Alano Society, Boy Scouts – Northern Lights, Camp Rokiwan, Child Care Aware, Community Corrections, Girl Scouts – Dakota Horizons, Imagination Library, James River Transit, MOST/21st Cen. After School, PATH, Safe Shelter, Salvation Army, SANE/SART, Senior Companion Program, and The Arts Center.

 

The next Lunch and Learn will be December 21,  2017 at noon at Shady’s Restaurant with SANE/SART presenting.

The United Way of Stutsman County is part of United Way Worldwide. Its mission is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good. The current impact model emphasizes that 99% of all funds raised stays within in Stutsman County.