Clear Lake Arts Center launches $350,000 capital campaign

A fundraising campaign is being launched to make critical building repairs and essential upgrades to the Clear Lake Arts Center.

The Clear Lake Arts Center’s “Arts Alive! Building a Vibrant Community Capital Campaign” has a goal of $350,000.  The critical priorities are to replace the original 40-year-old roof, repair interior and electrical damage from leaking, and relocate the currently unusable handicap entrance to the Sukup Performing Arts Wing.  Other needs include: electrical and painting updates, restroom repair, and additional storage space.  Funds also will be used to start a Capital Reserve Fund, with a portion to go into an endowment.   

The Arts Center directly contributes to a robust business economy, said Campaign Co-Chair Tom Lovell.   “Most employers in smaller Iowa cities are grappling with how to recruit and retain young workers and research has shown that cultural amenities are in the top five of priorities for young families.  Industrial recruiters rank communities higher for potential business expansion when they have active organizations like the Clear Lake Arts Center.  We know of people whose positive Arts Center experiences helped them decide to build summer homes in Clear Lake.”

The Clear Lake Arts Center also attracts and benefits area artists through consignment sale of their work and gallery space.

“The Clear Lake Arts Center has become one of the iconic places that embodies the spirit of Clear Lake,” said Campaign Co-Chair Jan Lovell.  “It has become a community connector with its own popular events, a collaborator with other community events, an educational site with classes for all ages and a gathering site for graduations and other important life celebrations.”

“The Clear Lake Arts Center demonstrates to Iowans from all over the state that

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Clear Lake is a thriving community,” she said, noting numerous positive comments made when the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Board of Directors held its meeting there.

The Clear Lake Arts Center drew over 20,000 visitors last year from over 21 states, 153 counties and 4 countries, held over 500 events and served over 1,900 children with a lively, year-round Youth Arts Education program. The Clear Lake Arts Center staff worked with the Clear Lake Parks and Recreation Department for summer recreation and with the schools for after school programming.  Children’s programs are provided at below cost and scholarships also are available.   Arts Center Director Paula Chenchar Hanus expressed her gratefulness for the over 150 volunteers who logged in over 7,000 hours of service last year to help make so many activities possible.      

The Clear Lake Arts Center’s mission is different from most North Iowa museums which own and display permanent collections or historical artifacts.  The Arts Center does not own any art because its mission is to provide spaces to actively engage the local community in the exploration and discovery of the visual, performing and literary arts.  There is an ever changing array of art work as local and regional artists are featured and their art work sold in the gallery.  Admission to the gallery is free.

“As people invest in their Center, the community, economy, children and families, artists, musicians and visitors will all benefit and continue to be inspired in a safe, enhanced and welcoming environment,” Hanus said.

Jane Fogg lives in Des Moines, but has volunteered countless hours on the capital campaign steering committee and the Arts Center Board.  She and her husband Eric continue an important family tradition with their summer home in Clear Lake.  “We feel the Clear Lake Arts Center is an absolute gem, a hub of cultural and community vibrancy so very essential in today’s often disconnected world,” she said.

Contributions to the Arts Alive Campaign may be mailed to the Clear Lake Arts Center, PO Box 803, Clear Lake, Iowa 50428.

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