Annual Report

Year in Review - 2009 - 2010

Transition:
July 2009 can be remembered as the turning point of the year for the U.S. economy and the beginning of the slow recovery still in progress. Our retiring Executive Director, Robert Myers served until December 2009 and worked with Mei Wei Wong to achieve a smooth transition. She has served as Executive Director for the remainer of the fiscal year 2009-2010. This transition and Sedona Arts Center's relationship to the community have been primary concerns as we begin a new program to gain the support we need to rehabilitate the Art Barn.

Relationship Building:
Since Board approval of the Sedona PhotoFest concept in November 2008, Derek von Briesen, Jim Peterson, myself and members of other organizations formed a core committee to bring the Sedona PhotoFest into being. The planning process brought together volunteers from Keep Sedona Beautiful, Sedona Visual Artists Coalition, Sedona Camera Club, Northern Arizona Watercolor Society and the Sedona International Film Festival. For the first time, Sedona PhotoFest brought the photography and arts community together in a new and exciting way.

In the midst of these challenging times the Sedona Arts Center has a long list of accomplishments that speak volumes of the love, generosity and dedication from patrons, volunteers and members.

Nurturing Creativity through Arts Education:
The Arts Center continues to be a shining beacon of creativity attracting over 60,000 visitors and students from around the world who return again and again. Our worldwide reputation of high quality arts education continues to attract visiting faculty to our campus offering local students a distinct privilege of studying with distinguished masters in their own backyard. Administering the Sunderman Fund, we have provided $10,000 in educational scholarships to 39 students, the Marilyn Sunderman Creativity Award at the juried Member Show, and funding for the Art for Kids Summer Camps and winter programming. At members' request, we also funded the Art History lecture series, community outreach programs to schools and ceramics education on the Navajo Reservation. Additional funding was also provided by the Eugenia Everett Fund and underwriting by the Robert Wright Fund provided classroom instruction to the high school competition finalists attending the Sedona PhotoFest.

Innovative Leadership:
With determination of spirit and hardwork, the Board of Directors guided the Arts Center with a focus on long range goals of financial stability, the foundation of a new Sustaining Board of Trustees, new fund development programs, new policies, and a new festival. This year made it quite clear that "business as usual" would not suffice. Sources for grants were severely cut or no longer available. Indeed, more was asked of everyone and both Board and staff rose to the occasion.

The Board initiated an exclusive Master Sculptor Limited Edition Bronze Series. The first in this series features Susan Kliewer's "Sedona's Bounty," based on the monumental Sedona Schnebly sculpted in 1993 in the Art Barn and installed at the Public Library. Susan Kliewer's generous donation will continue to raise funds for our educational programs until all 50 in the edition are sold. Each year, a new limited edition bronze by a new Master Sculptor will be introduced.

The 5th Annual Plein Air Festival maintained Sedona's reputation as a world-class plein air destination and one of the most prestigious invitationals. The week of festivities brought an estimated 3,000 visitors to Sedona, daily free events to the public and collectors an opportunity to get to know the artists and take home their favorite paintings.

Facilities Improvements:
Through the generous donations of our patrons, we have been able to replace the roof on the Gallery building, replace the Ceramics Studio door with double doors enabling receipt of clay shipments and finally eliminating rainwater flooding in the studio by diverting drainage underground. The front stairway and walkway to the Administrative Offices has been rebuilt with special thanks to Sitts Construction and you can now look inside the Special Exhibition Gallery in the Art Barn through windows in the doors.

Strategic Planning:
We were fortunate to receive the services of BrandSculpt's Randi Miller in early 2010 to conduct a series of focus groups. The resulting report gives direction to our future Capital Campaign by revealing (1) what role the community think the Arts Center can play and (2) what new or renovated facilities will best accommodate what the Arts Center should be doing. This report will help us implement our Strategic Plan in the years to come.

Bringing back the Love...
One of the highlights of the year, spearheaded by Volunteer of the Year Dennis Ott and a generous donor, was the revival of the Loving Bowls benefit. The rebirth of our "Loving Bowls" program engaged the community to join us in creating handmade bowls during the year, culminating in the December event and helping to raise monies for the Sedona Community Meal on Wheels program, the Old Town Mission of Cottonwood, and the Arts Center's Scholarship Fund. People were lined up around the building waiting to get their favorite bowl for just $10 including hot chili, beverage and wonderful chocolates for dessert. Celebrity bowls went on silent auction and combined sales raised close to $12,000. It was the community charity event of the season that filled the hall with laughter and warmed the hearts and tummies of close to 700 people. We still get compliments on what a great event it was. And that is why Loving Bowls happens again on December 11th this year.

We thank you for your continued support and welcome your imput as we move forward toward raising monies to rehabilitate the Art Barn, continued excellence in arts education and our mission to nurture Creativity in Sedona.