Artists in Orange won”™t be scrambling cross county to find a place to meet or to learn what”™s going on in the community. Not only does Orange county have a new arts council, it has a new home in a picture-perfect setting: The Orange County Citizens Foundation, located on the grounds of the former home of abstract artist Kurt Seligmann, has given the fledgling organization a home of its own.
With the Lycian Theater a short walk from the site and the arts and crafts village of Sugar Loaf just down the road, it”™s the perfect backdrop for the new Orange County Arts Council.
Thanks to a $75,000 grant from the county Legislature, the new council also has a new executive director, Susan Linn, and has assembled a 14-member board of directors from artists to bankers to give art venues an umbrella under which to gather.
After an art assessment study done by the Citizens Foundation in 2004, the art council was formed in 2006 and has been slowly but steadily building interest in its extended neighborhood. The council”™s board of directors is conducting several outreach programs in towns and cities around county to learn what is needed and how the new Arts Council could benefit them.
Linn, a resident of Ulster County, worked as director of arts services for SUNY New Paltz and worked in SUNY Central”™s “Programs in the Arts,” which involved all 64 of the state”™s campuses. She has also been active in her own Kingston backyard via The Art Council of Kingston.
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“We are not going to be a ”˜producing”™ organization, but we will be providing services to artists and art organizations,” said Linn. “We”™ll provide technical assistance, including grant writing, to artists and art venues within the county. The Seligmann estate, where we are now based, is a perfect place for artists to network and exchange ideas.”
Linn says she”™s coming into the job with no “preconceived notions … just a desire to make this the best arts council possible.”
Contributions, opportunities for sponsorships and to become a charter member are welcomed to help keep the fledgling organization going and growing, said Linn.
“We were very fortunate the Legislature saw the need for an art council organization here,” said Nancy Proyect, executive director of the Citizens Foundation. “Right now, the space being used by the Arts Council is being given as an ”˜in-kind”™ service until they are self-supporting. The Legislature has set aside $75,000 in seed money, and we hope they will be just as generous next year. This is really something needed by our county, not just to bring the art community together but to help us bring in tourism, which the Hudson Valley depends on for its economic survival.”
Currently under construction, the Orange County Arts Council Web site, www.ocartscouncil.org, should be up and running by the first week of July and completed by mid- September. Right now, if you”™d like to learn more about its plans to make Orange County”™s arts and artists a magnet for the region, call 469-9168.
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