Many times poverty can be a barrier to participation in the creative arts. Supplies and lessons can be expensive. In Alliance the Carnegie Arts Center works to make sure art is affordable for everyone.
Carnegie displays rotating exhibits in their galleries, hosting artists from different states and cultural backgrounds. All forms of media are represented, and there is a large variety available for sale in the gift gallery. Visitors to the galleries gain exposure to artworks that are diverse in concept as well as content. There is no admission fee.
Not only is Carnegie Arts Center a great place to view art and purchase the creations of area artists, they also have outreach programs, events, art classes, and youth art camps. These are funded by our purchases, memberships, donations, and grants.
Gallery director Kyren Gibson says, “Art is for everyone, for all ages, economic status, intellectual and physical abilities. It benefits everyone’s life.” Because economic status is often a barrier, the gallery works to get grants for art supplies and instructor fees totaling about $14,000 a year. This allows them to provide classes at nursing homes, the Alliance Senior Center, and the Office of Human Development at no cost to participants.
Gibson received the Nebraska Arts Council BITSY award last year, recognizing her work behind the scenes. As Carnegie’s director, her ideas for community engagement are breaking down barriers. Providing arts experiences to our area’s citizens is an investment in strengthening not only Carnegie, but also our communities.
One of the goals of Carnegie Arts Center is to provide area children with opportunities for artistic development and expression. Supplies are provided through grants, so fees are kept low. Carnegie and the Box Butte Art Society offer scholarships for the youth art camps. Youth learn to work with several kinds of media and are encouraged to explore and experiment with different styles.
Bob Peltz is the instructor for youth classes and youth art camps. He retired about ten years ago from an advertising firm in Denver where he was the creative director. Peltz has won three international and seven national awards for his art and designs, including a White House Award and two International Summit Awards.
Art camps work with every material and media imaginable, including clay, chalk, paints, colored pencils, markers, paper. After a warm up activity, students get to pick what they are interested in, and their creative juices flow. Peltz works with each child individually, encouraging their freedom to create, explore, solve problems, and learn.
Youth day classes are more structured, with a specific project and materials selected for all students for the day. They do have creative freedom within that project’s parameters, so each child’s projects may look very different from the others.
The Alliance Recreation Center (ARC) utilizes Carnegie’s student employees several times a month in their AfterSchool Program. Sydnie Waldron and Addison Lewis have organized several projects to get kids’ creative talents flowing. Starting in January, Alicia Brave will be taking on the ARC AfterSchool challenge.
Carnegie’s outreach includes projects at nursing homes. Residents create expressive, imaginative pieces under the instruction of Gibson, Peltz, or APS Elementary Art teacher Sandi Blankenship. The Alliance Senior Center will set up project days as well. These programs are offered free of charge to any participants.
Carnegie offers specialized workshops throughout the year in different media including photography, painting, mixed media, and egg dying. Receptions, tours, and field trips are also part of their outreach.
As I look around my home this Christmas season, I can’t help but notice all the wonderful gifts my children have given me from Carnegie Arts Center once they were old enough to do their own shopping. The treasures they’ve chosen include blown glass balls, jewelry, pots, bowls, mugs, even the pottery clock hanging in my kitchen.
Area residents can support the Carnegie Arts Center by donating when fund raisers are held or by membership fees. Purchases made in the Center cover operating expenses. Consider giving gift certificates or funding art camp scholarships. Art is for everyone!