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SAC Town Hall Meetings for the Arts
The Siskiyou Arts Council is putting out a call to meet with Siskiyou County musicians, photographers, craftspeople, writers, performers, artists, jewelers, painters, ceramicists, sculptors, and all other creative people who would like to learn more about how the Arts Council works and how people can get involved to advance their creative efforts. On October 22, 2003, the Yreka Community Center will be the location for our initial Town Hall Meeting. Meetings in other communities will be scheduled through the coming months.
The mission of SAC is to "Bring heart and vitality to Siskiyou County, and to foster a spirit of creativity and prosperity through excellence in the arts". To this end, representatives from the Council will be presenting at this "townhall" style meeting an overview of its current activities and plans, and they hope to discuss with the group how individuals can step forward to volunteer to help further the prosperity of the Arts and artists in our communities. Currently SAC has produced a stream of special events that give exposure to artists, they have a website serving as an on-line directly for SAC member "Friends", and the Council is working in partnership with JEDI and other groups to maximize art education and business growth for artists.
"We have developed comprehensive near future and strategic plans, but we need more people to get involved, especially in the north county area", says SAC President Pam Newman. "In order for us to implement activities that meet the needs of our communities, we need to hear back from the people in these communities about what they want and how we can work together to achieve their goals. We are interested in working with energetic people from the visual, literary, and performing arts groups. Collectively we can accomplish many more goals because of our expanded resource base. Every individual stands to benefit while they simultaneously contribute to the common good. This informal yet lively discussion meeting will help all of us to develop a better understanding of the artistic opportunities that await us".
Community leaders and business people are encouraged to attend. "The arts are important to tourism." writes Joanne Steele, director of Siskiyou County Visitor's Bureau, in support of the Town Hall meetings. "The latest data I received from the Tourism Industry Association of America shows that cultural tourism is an extremely important sector of our industry, and one we generally don't pay much attention to in our adventure-based tourism economy. By supporting our arts community we can work to diversify our tourism economy, and begin to attract these cultural tourists, who stay longer and spend more than almost any other industry group."