Project Timeline - Visual Arts Education Center - Arts Council of Snohomish County, Everett, Washington

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"Access to the arts through art education, art production, and affordable artist housing."

Project Timeline

For more than 30 years, the Arts Council of Snohomish County has carried out a mission to celebrate and promote the arts for the enhancement of community life. Today the ability to accomplish this mission is increasingly compromised, because the Arts Council has outgrown its current space in the Monte Cristo.

The timeline below provides a brief history of the Arts Council’s progress towards a new home.

Early 1990's

• The Arts Council set a goal of securing a permanent

home that met current programming needs, allowed for program growth and development and a plan for sustainability.

Early 1999

• The Arts Council retained AMS Planning Services to

conduct a feasibility study to evaluate visual arts programs, facility needs, and fundraising capabilities. Since then the Arts Council has been working diligently to strengthen partnerships and relationships, define patrons, artists and educator needs, and prepare for sustainability.

2004-2005

• Over the course of several days in late 2004 the Arts Council, City of Everett, and representatives

from the Snohomish County Economic Development Council met with Artspace Projects, Inc. After conducting a preliminary feasibility study, Artspace determined that the market, site possibilities, finances, overall concept, and leadership for a regional art center in Everett were very strong.

• To ensure the project reflected the expressed needs of the entire arts community Artspace and

the Arts Council conducted surveys of artists, patrons, educators, and local college art departments.

2006

• The Collins Group was retained by the Arts Council to conduct a Fundraising Feasibility Study

for their portion of the project. The findings found strong support for space and program expansion as the community values art and its role in helping to create a "full service community".

• Due to the scope of the project and strong community support the Arts Council Board

unanimously voted to support a multi-year capital campaign in April of 2006.

Current Status

• We have $2,216,000 pending in grant requests to foundations and corporations.

• We have been busy planning each of the production studios - hot glass blowing, warm glass

(fusing and torch glass), a ceramics, printmaking, multi-purpose and silversmithing/lapidary. Our wonderful task force of teaching artists has spent hours providing input on each studio's design and researching the needed specialized equipment.