Palmer Arts Council The Palmer Arts Council

About the Palmer Arts Council

*The Financing of The Palmer Arts Council* The arts will never pay for themselves. The Palmer Arts Council is a study of the search for an answer. With a six year history now behind the Council, PAC can share its experience. At the end of 2012, the Arts Council is financially healthy. PAC has a respectable balance sheet, even though the board knows that our reserves are inadequate for the size of the operation. All bills are paid and PAC has accumulated equipment and assets necessary for successful operations. The PAC budget for 2012 calls for raising and expending over $130,000. Your Arts Council will earn over half of the needed funds (about $70,000) from the collection of tuitions, advertising and memberships. The balance will be raised from grants and gifts from foundations, businesses, service clubs and individuals. PAC first turns to the membership. Members pay $25 for an annual membership. In addition most make a gift to the Coun-cil. PAC then turns to people who can make larger gifts of $500 or more. Your Council has a growing list of individuals who respond to personal requests for gifts of $500 and $1,000. In 2012 for the first time the Arts Council will be receiving gifts through the Pic Click Give program of the Alaska Permanent Fund. To complete its funding, PAC turns to businesses, service organizations and foundations. In the past PAC have received funds from The National Endowment for the Arts, Alaska State Council on the Arts, Mat-Su Health Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, Rotary, Conoco Philips, Target, Daybreak Inc., and British Petroleum.	*Palmer Arts Council Board of Directors* Rose Hendrickson~President Susan McCauley~Vice President Howard Bess~Secretary Jeffrey Charvet~Treasurer Bill Aube~Board Allison Little~Board Paul Morley~Board Dusty Silva~Board Tricia Barnett~Board
A Traditional Band Stand in Palmer The Palmer Arts Council has proposed to the City of Palmer the building of a traditional bandstand. In the Arts Council’s efforts to bring performances to Palmer, the greatest obstacle has been the lack of venues for public uses. Your Council is eager to add performance venues to the core area of Palmer. The City of Palmer is a unique place in Alaska. The farming colonists, who settled in the Palmer area in the mid-1930s, were transplants from the upper mid-west of the United States. They brought with them their culture. Palmer was built and developed as a transplanted small town from the upper Midwest. Planners laid out a small town complete with architecture from their past. Folks from the Mid-west are familiar with a central park with a band stand that served many purposes for community gatherings. The Palmer Arts Council has offered to lead the effort to build the bandstand in a central location in Palmer. The Arts Council has given its proposal to the City, and the Palmer Planning Commission and City Council are processing the plan. Apparently there is no community opposition to the plan. But a key question has been raised. Where should the bandstand be located? The Arts Council anticipates public hearings before all the details are put in place. PAC hopes for a wide participation in the community discussions. Music and theatre groups are enthusiastic. Offers of help in the construction are coming in. Job Corps believes it would be a great project for its students.
President’s Report to the Membership For the Palmer Arts Council 2011 was a good year with some bumps along the way. We began the year with financial health, exciting programs, and an excellent Board of Directors. Then we were decimated. Two fine educators, Mark Hoffman and Genie Siedler, took advantage of an early retirement offer from the school district and moved from Alaska. Cheryl Risley, a great board member, resigned for health reasons. And then the big shoe dropped. Our beloved and capable president, Bridgette Preston resigned for health reasons. The three remaining board members knew we had a challenge. We called on old friends to fill in and then went through a careful process of recruiting new board candidates. PAC survived the crisis. 2011 was a year in which we did a lot of things right. Our April Poetry Celebration is truly phenomenal. Our programs for children and youth are high in quality and filled to capacity. Our concert schedule was better than ever. Our business operation was clean and efficient. We formed new partnerships and relationships. We work well with the Mat-Su School District, City of Palmer, the Chamber of Commerce, Palmer Economic Development Authority, Song Writers of Alaska, Radio Free Palmer, Palmer Museum of Art and History, Palmer Senior Center and businesses such as Vagabond Blues and Fireside Books. Our office operation is now in the good hands of Sabra Sturgis. We are excited about the future. In 2012 we will become a co-sponsor of the Palmer Mid-Summer Art and Garden Fair along with Palmer Economic Development Authority. We will be adding two new programs to our summer schedule for children and youth. We will be adding an extensive summer-long youth theatre program and a middle school band program. The Arts Council has proposed building a traditional bandstand in the core area of Palmer. Music and theatre groups are excited about the plan. We anticipate Spring, 2013 construction. PAC owns property on the downtown Palmer block known as the Mat-Maid block. We purchased the property with the intent to develop an arts center. The City of Palmer has decided to acquire all properties on the block. We are in negotiations with the City for the sale of the property. We do not know the future, but we are committed! ROSE HENDRICKSON, President
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The Palmer Arts Council