How Giving Supports AAC
written by Erica Sobers, Marketing Intern
With the holidays fast approaching, giving season is officially in effect, so what better time than now to highlight the ways your giving helps AAC!?
Donations from individuals like you (more than 70% of our contributions) help us meet our mission of supporting the new work by artists in the Mid Atlantic Region, while serving as a bridge between artists and the public.
Arlington Arts Center wouldn’t be what it is today without the generosity of our community of artists, students, friends, and supporters!
We strive to support new and accomplished artists by showcasing their work through our exhibitions programs. Events we host throughout the year, along with classes and workshops for all ages, provide art enrichment to the community near and far.
As a nonprofit organization, we are dedicated to the service of the arts. But the arts are not just abstract things, they’re actually people…
Well, ok, not people, people, but what we’re saying is that people like you are the genius and the hard work behind the arts!
You, your passion, dedication, and generosity, are what makes the arts valuable, not the other way around. This includes our amazingly talented and dedicated all-volunteer board members!
Memberships are a great way to get a little closer to AAC while also supporting what we do. Along with great discounts on classes, you’ll also get invites to intimate events.
These memberships help us to continue to hold engaging workshops and events throughout the year by defraying the cost of supplies.
This year alone we’ve held 21 free events, and 15 exhibitions that have drawn more than 20,000 people into our galleries, classes, and events.
Events like this let us create a space to connect with members of the community and artists alike while increasing awareness and appreciation of visual arts.
During the summer we offer art camps that help introduce artmaking techniques to children, and throughout the year we’ve got plenty of classes and workshops for all ages to have meaningful creative experiences here at AAC.
We also do this really fun thing where we bring our students into the galleries and studios to learn directly from the source.
Your donations provide materials for our 19 instructors to create up-to-date content and teach fun, innovative classes to more than 1200 students.
In this way AAC serves as, in the words of one parent said, “…a wonderful cultural resource that has enriched our family in countless ways.”
Along with materials and supplies, your contributions also provide scholarship resources for students who might not otherwise be able to attend.
AAC accepts all scholarship students who apply, we’re only able to do this, because you chose to support us!
Our resident artists are an ever-important, and foundational, part of AAC. They spend countless hours preparing their exhibitions and creating art.
A space to create is just as important as the art itself and donations allow us to provide subsidized studios for them.
In an area where affordable studios (or even super-expensive ones) are dwindling, we have created a way for more artists to create their art at AAC through our short-term residency program. This project-based residency made space for three additional artists at AAC this year.
Our long-term residency program has a lifespan of six years, and while we are always sad to see artists “graduate” from AAC, we know that they spent their time here improving, growing, and exploring new ideas in a close-knit creative community.
Your donation makes a space for local artists to not only connect with each other, but also to create the work that speaks to our hearts, opens our minds, and delights our souls.
…people like you are the genius and the hard work behind the arts! You, your passion, dedication, and generosity, are what makes the arts valuable…
Our community is important to us and as Arlington’s flagship visual arts organization, your support is crucial. Donating helps us continue to bring the best of the region’s contemporary arts to Arlington, give artists a space to create, offer a creative, educational outlet for all ages.
