Smart Business Magazine, October 2015
26 Smart Business Akron Canton October 2015 Artistic opportunity Arts advocates Ann Amer Brennan and Mary Ann Jackson founded the Akron Area Arts Alliance in 1991 to solve a problem The numerous arts organizations in Summit County faced similar challenges and the thought was that if they joined forces they might be more successful in furthering their respective missions That was the primary mission for about 15 years until the organization took over the building that now houses Summit Artspace with the intent of creating a community art center When that happened the resources and the energy of the organization shifted to doing programming here at Summit Artspace says Toby Ann Weber board chair for the alliance We still maintain that membership focus So we have members we convene them at quarterly meetings and we bring them together with a speaker But thats not the primary work of the Alliance anymore Its now to operate Summit Artspace as a community art center Summit Artspace is a place for artists to have studios and sell their work during the art walks and other events throughout the year Weber says We have a gallery where we run shows all year long for local artists Weber says We have arts organizations in the building like Rubber City Artists and the Akron Society of Artists There are classes that go on here We also have Rubber City Prints which is one of only five fine art print shops in the state of Ohio so people can join the organization and come in and use the printing equipment and take classes In April the membership voted to adopt a resolution from the agencys executive board that will focus the alliances future direction on the operation of Summit Artspace Weber says there are challenges in operating the building that houses the art center The challenge is that this is a big old building Weber says We lease it from Summit County for 1 a year and the countys resources are also limited They practically gave the building to us but physical plant improvements and capital improvements are a challenge We want to build out more studios and thats hard INTERVIEWED BY ADAM BURROUGHS WRITTEN BY MARK SCOTT MSCOTT@ SBNONLINE COM BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES AKRON AREA ARTS ALLIANCE SOCIAL MEDIA To learn more like its Facebook page www facebook com summitartspace and follow on Twitter @ AkronAreaArts Akron Area Arts Alliance seeks to bring the value of art to more people BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PILLAR FOUNDATION AND MEDICAL MUTUAL
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