Center builds community through arts

Tell us about your organization:

■ Mission: The mission of the

Arts Center of the Ozarks is to build community — economically, socially and culturally — by engaging people in the arts.

■ Services provided: We are a regional hub for community performing and visual arts. We offer professional development for artists of all disciplines through the Artist INC program.

■ Average number of people served annually: Through collaborations and

multicultural programming we are rapidly growing our audiences in downtown Springdale. This last year we served over 50,000 on our campus but reached an estimated 120,000 more people through outreach projects and the Prairie Grove Clothesline Fair.

How is your organization’s mission unique? The arts ecology in Northwest Arkansas is a growing wondrous phenomenon. In this new landscape, we are very intentional about three areas: growing multicultural programs that welcome all and build social and cultural bridges; being a resource to other local arts organizations across the region — this has an economic and cultural impact for their organizations as well as for the people we serve in our neighborhood downtown; and lastly doing this by remaining true to our founding principle of being a center dedicated to community arts and artists.

Why do you work for a nonprofit organization? Do you have a personal connection to the mission? If so, what is it? I believe the arts elevate and impact society at the micro and macro level. As a person who has a deep love for the arts, it is a passion to serve with an organization that is intentionally using the arts to transform individual lives and the greater community in one fell swoop.

What part of your job fills the most of your time? Connecting with people in the arts and in the community at large is a full-time job.

What have you learned on the job that you didn’t expect? That the staff who are dedicated to nonprofits are the hardest working and biggest hearted humans on the planet. Operations and salaries are the least sexy thing to fund, but it’s usually the funding nonprofits need the most. This experience has transformed my personal planned giving, and I now strongly consider funding operations. It should be a priority that people committed to careers in a nonprofit do not feel undervalued or continuously overwhelmed. Supporting staff helps a nonprofit to thrive.

What challenges face your organization? I have recently discovered that many people do not know that we have shifted our programming to include other arts partners and that we have put an emphasis on growing multicultural inclusive programming that more accurately mirrors our whole community, so this year we will be focusing on telling our story to you in a bigger and bolder way.

Are there volunteer opportunities in your organization? What are they? The Friends of ACO is a fun community of volunteers that have a monthly potluck to discuss opportunities to usher, build sets, run concessions and assist with events.

What upcoming fundraisers and/or other events does your organization have planned?

The Arts Rising Gala is Feb. 23. This truly is an event that supports the rising of the arts in our community. Funds we raise help us to sustain operations, so we can keep growing to have greater impact through community arts. We have a lot of fun doing this, not just at the Gala with the dueling pianos, wine studio, Roots Fest listening room, games to win Botox or a TV, auction focused on highlighting downtown Springdale businesses, and tasty bites from Chef Miles James, but we have a lot of fun with the planning! Sponsorships and tickets to the Arts Rising Gala are available at acozarks.org.

Manning