Month: March 2015

President Joan C. Lester’s Letter for March 2015

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PRESIDENT JOAN C. LESTER’S  MARCH 2015  LETTER TO THE MEMBERSHIP

This is a very special President’s Letter to every member of the Arts Center with exciting news and a call for your financial help and involvement.

We are in an agreement to buy the wooded lot adjacent to our property, one of the last in the area that is not developed nor built upon,  with the goal of Preserving  this land at 225 North Main Street in its natural state while we create an ART PARK within it.

Our Vision for the ART PARK is noted at the end of this letter.  Please read these ten points of our Vision.  When you do hopefully you will sense our enthusiasm and get excited personally about this unique opportunity.

In order to realize this Vision,  we must raise $80,000.

This is a great deal of money but we will raise it through Grants, fund raisers, donations, and pledges.  That is where each one of us comes into this venture because, even with a Grant, we must raise at least half of the monies needed by the end of May.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am asking that every member consider contributing to this cause. The ART PARK is planning for the future of the Marlborough Arts Center and all the people in our regional communities who will benefit from having it as a natural site for the arts.

You can do so by making a pledge that we’ll ask for at the end of May. Just send me an email using my home email address: lee.lester@att.net  noting your name, address, phone number, and the amount of your pledge toward the ART PARK. You could also note your pledge in a note mailed to Marlborough Arts Center, 231 North Main Street, Marlborough, CT 06447,

 

ATTN: ART PARK.

If you prefer to make a donation now, you could mail a check made payable to “Marlborough Arts Center” to our address as above.

I am delighted to tell you that we have already received our first pledge of $1,000 from a past member who now lives in North Carolina!  We also have a donation of $10 from a non-member when he heard about the idea. Whether you are, or can be, a major donor, it is the aggregate of the monies that counts. And, the likelihood of being awarded a Grant is increased if we can show a high percentage of members’ involvement. It would be quite a tribute to our members who have always supported the arts at MAC if we could say we had a 100{eba5a16469fb4a7f18f8ea69c1431b00c5f2da579f8ac6bd75c322ccea0d0754} response.

So please read our Vision for the ART PARK and give what you can to make it a reality.

 

With my sincerest thanks,

Joan

Art Park Vision

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The ART PARK Vision

1) We will preserve this parcel of land at 225 North Main Street in its natural state as an ART PARK, an extension of the arts and culture of our Mission as the Marlborough Arts Center.

2) The ART PARK in its natural state will provide an idyllic setting for a major sculpture in its midst, or even a more extensive sculpture garden.

3) This site will provide myriad opportunities for en plein air artists of all ages. This would increase our already many contacts with the local and regional schools, while increasing public awareness of the arts.

4) In keeping with its natural state, we will create walking paths among the trees for people to enjoy the beauty, birds, plants, etc., with perhaps the occasional bench for seating as they do so.

5) We do plan to create an area as a labyrinth, a curving walk through which people reflect and meditate. There are many possibilities of community ties and collaboration with the churches, schools, and art centers of the area in providing a labyrinth which could be widely available for groups or individuals.

6) This will be a lovely setting for open-air concerts, utilizing the trees and plantings as an acoustic bowl with audience seating in our cleared parking areas.

7) It could also be a site for events of other kinds such as receptions or parties.

8) Certainly there are creative purposes beyond these, but the advantage of having MAC own the land is that we are not only preserving this natural space, but that we can utilize it over time as we make these ideas a reality. And, we can do it at our own pace. We do not have to do anything immediately except hold and protect the land.

9) Creating the ART PARK on this adjoining land is taking advantage of an unique opportunity to plan for the future of the Marlborough Arts Center and its ongoing vital role as a regional center for the arts.

 

Joan C. Lester, President 2013-2015