MILESTONE
early efforts to get the symposium going and who today serves as its executive director.
“It was for the whole community,” she said. “A lot of people came who weren’t students.”
It didn’t matter who sat in the workshops — students, established artists, aspiring artists, people with an abiding interest in art. What brought them together was a common interest in what was being done in art in other places.
Over the years, Neely says, she heard people say the symposium should showcase the talents of Yuma artists, but that was never the point of the event.
The idea was “to bring new, fresh ideas to Yuma, for the local community,” she said. “That is still the idea behind it today.”
The visiting professors Tomkins and Jagoda had recruited as presenters would, in turn, bring their own students to the symposiums. An exchange of creative ideas began to take place between the locals and the out-oftowners, and, says Neely, “that’s how it snowballed into what we have today.”
Growth in attendance over the years forced the symposium to be split up between several venues off campus in Yuma, among them the Yuma Art Center, both in its former location on Gila Street and its current location on Main Street, Historic Yuma Theater, Eagles Hall and even Lutes Casino. The college, however, continues to play a role in staging the symposium and hosting some of its events.
Neely says the Yuma Symposium over the years has hosted more than 250 presenters who typically teach art at colleges and universities, as well as create it themselves. Presenters are chosen based on their approachability by students, their experience as speakers and the timeliness
or relevance of their demonstrations.
The 2019 Yuma Symposium kicks off Thursday at AWC with a preview event that’s free and open to the public. Four visiting artists will make presentations in rooms 103 and 105 in the Art Building. Speakers
and times of their presentations are Barbara Downs, speaking from 9:25 to 10:40 a.m.; Wesley Anderegg, 10:50 a.m. to 12:05 a.m.; Danielle James, 1:40 to 2:55 p.m., and Daniel Coburn, 3:05 to 4:20 p.m.
People wishing to register to attend nonpublic
presentations can do so Thursday between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Lutes Casino, 221 S. Main St.; on Friday from 8 to noon at Tomkins Pottery, 78 W. 2nd St., or Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. at Tomkins Pottery. Online registration is no longer available.