09-18-2000 Planning Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

V Project Description from the Minnetonka Center for the Arts Fifty years ago, the Minnetonka Center for the Arts was simply a good idea, bom out of the enthusiasm, confidence, creativity and determination of a small group of people who agreed to take a summer painting class and see where it might lead. By the time it was incorporated in 1952, MCA already had a reputation for quality programming on a shoestring budget. For its first three decades, the Center thrived in a variety of rented spaces while it refined its mission, gained a sense of identity and enlarged its programs. In the late 1970s, the community took a leap of faith in purchasing the Center’s present home. From its beginning, the Minnetonka Center for the Arts’ purpose has been to help a diverse group of Minnesotans - particularly families and children - make art a part of everyday life. We believe in the value of art making and art appreciation. Art not only transforms materials - wet clay and paint, dry canvas and dusty marble, molten bronze and gold - it can transform lives. Our mission statement is as follows: In the belief that the visual arts are indispensable to a healthy community, it is the mission of the Minnetonka Center for the Arts to provide teaching excellence, quality exhibitions and cultural enrichment for people of all ages, interests and abilities. Our current facility, built in 1950 as an elementary school and purchased/renovated in 1978 by MCA, is past its useful life. For over twenty years, the building has provided space for classes and programs twelve months a year, six days a week, twelve hours a day and has reached the point where it is literally falling apart. Unless it is replaced, MCA will have a future measured in months rather than decades. Though it may not be apparent to visitors, every structural and mechanical system - from climate and security controls, plumbing, structural integrity of the foundation and condition of the roof, to such hazards as asbestos and lead paint - has deteriorated beyond cost-effective repairs. Furthermore, emergency maintenance and high fuel costs are deflecting financial resources from programs. In recent years, MCA has experienced dramatically increased enrollments/attendance at the Center, thereby pushing our facility to its limits and forcing the Board to approve, at its March 17, 1998 meeting, the Crossroads Campaign. In the past seven years, for example, class enrollments have increased by over 80% to more than 5000 per year, with students coming from as far as Aitkin, Willmar, St. Cloud and Delano. The classes include sculpture (clay, stone and bronze), ceramics, painting and drawing, photography, fiber arts, and jewelry making. MCA has the only publicly-accessible metal foundry in the Upper Midwest. For its part-time faculty, MCA draws from a group of approximately 100 professional artists who teach and/or conduct workshops at the Center. Our Summer Arts Camp for Children enrolled nearly 800 “campers” this past summer, an increase of nearly 200% since it began in 1990. Furthermore, professional artists, os well as advanced talents who no longer need to take classes, use the Center’s sophisticated equipment for their work. i?. W' JLHIHHETOHKIl tEBTEIHBRTS 2240 NorihShore Drive. WayzaU.MN 35391.9127 1el(952) 473-7361 Fax:(952)473.7363 1'^ i i Q