Welcome to the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center-online! The arts center is located at 1001 East B Street in Russellville, Arkansas. We are a nonprofit community organization.
In June of 1981 the first public meeting was held to organize the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center. After an initial donation from Russellville Junior Auxiliary and commitments from community leaders, the Center officially opened its doors to the public at an all day celebration on October 7, 1981.
The Mission Statement of the Arts Center was adopted early in its history. The mission is to create opportunities for education, participation, appreciation and enjoyment of the arts for all people. Our vision is to encourage youth and adults to improve the quality of life for themselves, their families and community and strengthen their capacity to make meaningful contributions to society through art. We serve the River Valley area of Pope, Johnson, and Yell counties.
The Arts Center receives support from a variety of sources. At present we receive income from business and individual memberships, Arkansas Arts Council, other corporate grants, and fundraisers. The remainder is generated from class fees, commission on sales of artwork, ticket sales, workshop fees, donations for specific programs and various other miscellaneous contributions such as memorials.
One of the unique features of our Arts Center is that we have a teaching artists who is a permanent staff member. Winston Taylor joined the Arts Center in 1990. He is an outstanding potter who produces and shows his work throughout the state and nation. Winston developed the renowned "Kids-At-Art" program for which he received the Arkansas Arts Award for Arts in Education in 1993. Kids-At-Art is a dynamic program that meets the need for a fully developed multi-disciplinary art curriculum. With the assistance of Carla Swanson, Winston taught the program to all 4th and 5th grade students in the Russellville School system until the 2006-07 school year when legislation decreed that public schools must hire art teachers. Kids-At-Art is still taught as requested to private school students and home school students.
The Arts Center offers a full schedule of classes and workshops throughout the year for adults and children. The purpose of the classes is to provide art instruction and appreciation to our residents and also to utilize the wealth of local artists' talents.
Present services include:
Visual Arts:
Classes, in all disciplines at graduating levels. At least 40 exhibitions annually of local, regional, national, and international artists. Art in education programs in the schools. Quarterly art walks featuring the artists along with their works, live music and refreshments. Sunday Funday, monthly series of free creative art activities for families with all supplies and an instructor. A weekly class for persons with special needs.
Performing Arts:
Classes, in all disciplines at graduating levels. Art Walks and monthly fund raising dinner parties feature musicians, readings, poetry.
Theater program
Many residents are familiar with the annual summer musical theatre performances. This is a collaborative effort with Arkansas Tech University and is a hand-on training ground for drama, dance, music and all aspects of production through live theatre with orchestration. This is one of the most popular annual events.
Our motto has always been "Art is for Everyone". No one is ever turned away because of race, color, creed, religion, gender, or economic situation.
The Arts Center hosts a Local Artist Registry, which includes information about area artists name, address, description of work, and training. Through this registry we are able to help community members locate a particular type of art work or commission artist, solicit teachers for workshops and classes at the Arts Center or offsite, use this as a resource for gallery shows and gift shop art, and are able to host a fellowship among area artists where they can help each other improve their works.
The Arts Center has a gallery with new exhibits monthly. Admittance is free to the public, there is a gallery opening reception held for the artists at the beginning of the exhibition that allows interacton with the artist. Annual shows include Collegiate Competition open to any college student in the state, a statewide High School Competition, student art and exhibits by local and state-wide artists. Other exhibits are from area, state and nationally renowned artists. Two other venues offer monthly rotating exhibitions: Pope County Library and Lake Dardanelle State Park Visitor Center.
Another summer program offered by the Arts Center is Summer Arts Camps. Through this program, children enjoy a day camp setting, immersed in a variety of art forms led by artists.
We hope to become know as THE Birthday Party Place by quickly transforming the classroom atmosphere into a fun party room.
Our plans are to be able to offer more classes off-site to some un-or under-served residents. Many reliable studies reflect that Art is an effective tool to help troubled youth shift direction into a more positive lifestyle...help medically impaired residents rehabilitate...help senior citizens enjoyably fill otherwise lonely hours...help physically and mentally challenged citizens develop their own abilities.
Our major annual fundraiser is a ticketed event with live and silent auction, refreshments, heavy hors d'oeuvres, and entertainment.
We encourage residents to contacat us by phone, fax, E-mail and visit this Web Site. A monthly newsletter to the membership and frequent press releases are an integral means of communication and sharing information.
The Art Center contributes a great deal to the quality of life and economy of our community, which only adds to the value of the Russellville area. The ARV Arts Center is always pleased to have residents as members, Board members, patrons, and volunteers.
Thank you for visiting with us...
Location:
The first location was at 1008 West Main Street, Russellville. In the fall of 1984 the City of Russellville gave the center a long-term lease on its current home at 1001 East B Street in the Russellville City Park in a building that once served as the bathhouse for the Russellville City swimming pool. The building was, of course, marvelously renovated to our current facility that holds a gallery, gift shop, offices, and classroom. On the premises is also our pottery studio, kiln building and storage facility.
