We started to map out some of the facts about VAA, and what emerged is a detailed picture of a vibrant art scene on Vashon.  Here are some things you might have heard, but here are also some facts that might take you by surprise.

Vashon Allied Arts

• Established in 1966 makes it the oldest non-profit community-based private art center in the state of Washington
• For 32 years VAA has operated out of a 100 year old landmarked building
• In 2012 VAA retuned $300,000 to artists for teaching, performing and for the sale of art

Arts Education

• $51,155 given out in scholarships for Dance, Visual and Performing Arts classes
• In 2012 paid $84,000 to teaching artists

Dance Program

• 1/3 of students have been with the program 10 years or longer
• 50 classes offered every year
• Student age ranges from 2.5 to 65
• 250 students trained each year
• Over 1600 audience members attended the Nutcracker and Spring Ballet in 2012

Visual and Performing Arts Classes

• VAA offered nearly 70 classes in a variety of mediums during 2012
• 26 Vashon artist instructors were hired to teach in-house classes
• Arts class enrollment reached 500 students in 2012

VAA Gallery

• Last year, 235 artists had their work shown in the Gallery.  Over 200 of those live on Vashon

VAA Performance

• In 2012, VAA produced, co-produced and presented nearly 40 individual shows including: Chamber Music, Jazz Series, rock, Youth Musical Theatre, comedy and New Works Series, Family Series, mixed media and more.
• Vashon artists comprised more than 50% of performances.
• Audience members range from infants to 100 and more than half were sold-out performances

Vashon Artists in Schools

• VAIS celebrates a 25-year partnership between VAA and Vashon Island School District
• In 2013 there are 24 VAIS residencies, each between 10-30 classroom hours long
• The program serves nearly all of VISD’s 1,500 students every year

Heron’s Nest

• The Heron’s Nest started as a small shop in the back of the Blue Heron in 1985
• 95% of the art sold in the Heron’s Nest is created by Vashon/Maury Island artists
• 100% of proceeds earned by Heron’s Nest directly or indirectly supports island artists and art programs
• More than 100 artists show their artwork at the Heron’s Nest

Membership

• 650 Households are VAA members
• Members receive discounts of up to 15% off all VAA classes.
• Members receive discounts of up to 22% off performance tickets
• Members receive 10% discount at the Heron’s Nest

GiveBIG on May 15 and watch your gift grow!

On May 15, Vashon Allied Arts will be one of over 1400 non-profits participating in the single biggest day of charitable giving in King County.

GiveBIG is a one-day, online event designed to inspire our neighbors to give generously to non-profits that make our region a great place to live. Every credit card donation made between midnight & midnight on Wednesday, May 15 at  SeattleFoundation.org receives a pro-rated portion of matching funds.

Throughout GiveBIG, random drawings give additional $1,000 gifts to winning charities. In 2012 an amazing demonstration of the philanthropic spirit in King County generated $7.43 million in online contributions.   When you GiveBIG, please remember VAA. All gifts count for the match when made online that day. Please support our other Island non-profits, too.

Thank you!

VCA Main Entry

Below is a letter from former Board Member, Fred Albert.  Fred served as Seattle Children’s Theatre Public Relations Manager and Seattle Repertory Theatre Publications Manager.  His rich background in theater certainly gives him insight into our new arts campus.

In the movie Field of Dreams, a ghostly voice whispers to Kevin Costner, “If you build it they will come.”  Building an arts center is different from building a baseball diamond in an Iowa cornfield; an arts center requires thorough financial planning to ensure sustainability.  

Since Vashon Center for the Arts was proposed in late 2007, Vashon Allied Arts has worked to be certain VCA will be on solid ground well into the future.  VAA Board and staff members looked at similar projects in other communities and learned what worked and what didn’t work with their projects.

Consulting with Vashon arts groups, VAA Deputy Director Angela Luechtefeld mapped a typical year of events in the new facility, then projected revenue and expenses for the building’s first five years.  She explained that you can look ahead as far as you like, but if programming were to significantly change, formulas would also need to change.  This is why business models for arts organizations typically encompass a period of about five years.  Her goal in establishing the business model was to develop an economic strategy that would steer VCA toward financial stability starting Day One, while keeping user fees and ticket prices affordable. 

“There will be increased costs to take care of the building,” acknowledges Luechtefeld.  ”But we are also going to have increased ticket revenue because our seating capacity will triple and we will have the opportunity to attract a wider variety of performers.  ”We’ll be able to pay a fee, rather than a cut of the door,” Luechtefeld says,.  Expanded classroom and gallery space will also increase revenue.

No one is suggesting that every VCA performance will sell out.  But even conservative estimates suggest that annual attendance will increase by 250 percent.  Larger audiences will allow VAA to compete for sponsorships from corporations.

Vashon arts organizations demonstrate a long track record with proven audience histories, unlike some other communities that built buildings and then scrambled to develop programs to fill them.  Even so, Luechtefeld anticipates there will always be an operating revenue gap although it will reduce each of the first 4-5 years.  Most of the revenue gap will be covered by a substantial operating reserve (currently valued at $8 million) and ongoing fundraising will preserve the principal.

Why not use that money to fund the building’s construction instead?  The majority of the sum is in a Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust, and at the donor’s direction will be used for long-term sustainability.  This fund will serve as a valuable cushion to cover any future shortfalls and to keep programs affordable.

With this safety net in place and continued rigorous planning, VAA hopes to create a building that will serve the Island’s arts needs now and for many years to come.

On January 14, Jazz at the Lincoln Center will be presenting the NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy to Lorraine Gordon, who has been listening to, and then running and promoting jazz at the Village Vanguard in New York since the 1930s.  Now 90 years old, she is still there every day, supervising sound checks, booking talent, and getting people into the club to hear the best and most innovative jazz greats of today.

The remarkable fact is that this is the first time the award has ever gone to a woman.  Lorraine used to sneak into the club as a teenager, where she met and later married the Vanguard founder Max Gordon.  Jazz in New York has always been a rough and tumble world, and women in key roles have been rare.  But she found her place, advocating and advancing the careers of none other than Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, and more.  She let Thelonious Monk play to near empty houses, because she heard something even her audience hadn’t yet heard. 

We’re far from New York, but VAA is putting on a series of female performers, jazz titans all.  Women in Jazz offers three of the regions top female jazz singers: Halie Loren, Cocoa Martini and Cheryl Jewell.

So props to Janice Randall; Director of Communications & Performing Arts at VAA, for taking giant steps to put the new generation of jazz women on our stage.  When Janice visited the Village Vanguard in New York some years back, I wonder if she knew then she would be following in Lorraine’s steps by promoting women in jazz!   

Frank Stella’s “Polombe” Grimaldi Forum Monaco                Courtesy Moby Picture

This summer, the tiny city state of Monaco will be hosting a large-scale art exhibition, showing the fifty biggest pieces from the Pompidou Centre in Paris.  They’re exploring a theme rarely touched on in any exhibition: the idea of monumental scale, and how artists use gigantic formats to make fresh creations.

The exhibition will show huge artworks by Joan Miro, Matta, and Daniel Buren, just to name a few.

The curator, Arieane Coulandre, said that “the main challenge of this exhibition was to be able to create a space where the works can breathe.”

We just packed up our miniature show and I must say the miniscule sized works of art had their space to breathe. However, much more challenging is showing a comprehensive collection of “regular” sized art.  That our curator, Janice Mallman, keeps coming up with wonderful hangings that respect the art, give them space, and still make a remarkable exhibit, is, well, not miraculous, but a testament to her skill and taste.

Our new VCA campus will feature a spacious gallery, not Pompidou sized, but something the Island has needed for a long time.  Let’s give our art some room to breathe.

This Wednesday, December 19, 7:00 pm, at the Land Trust Building, there is going to be a very valuable talk given by Ted Kutscher on the tax code  for charitable giving.

The talk is called “Cliff Notes on Charitable Giving: Implications of Potential Tax Code changes for Donors and Nonprofits“, and will be packed with important information for the donors to VAA, the Chorale, the Opera, Drama Dock, Land Trust, VYFS, and anyone trying to make a difference.

Ted will discuss how charitable  deductions currently work and will speculate on how they may change.  He will also touch on other aspects of the tax code and fiscal policy affects on individuals and families.

Come hear Ted and get informed, and you’ll be facing the New Year forearmed.  See you there.