General Info
Wikipedia entry
Art Center Association
Building
Membership
Volunteer
Gardner Café menu
Tours
Art Classes
Facility Rentals
Staff Directory
Discovery Dog 2004
Community Mural Project
Prairie Dog Quest
|
MISSION
The Sioux City Art Center will bring the excitement of the visual arts to the community through education, exhibition, permanent collection, and the support of artists.
VISION
The Sioux City Art Center will raise the visibility of the Art Center and City by featuring major exhibitions, building its permanent collection to include important art with significant links to the region, and utilizing its collection to create a valued educational resource.
VALUE
The Sioux City Art Center will provide visitors with an accessible and meaningful experience in the visual arts.
|
|
History of the Sioux City Art Center |
|
The Sioux City Art
Center has served as a cultural focus for Western
Iowa and the surrounding region for more than 60 years. Founded
in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project, it was
established to serve people of all ages and backgrounds. The
Sioux City Art Center is one of only four WPA art centers in
Iowa to survive to the present without interruption.
The Federal Assistance
Program ended in 1940, making it necessary to seek support
from other sources. In 1941, the Sioux
City City Council voted to fund the Art Center and established
the Board of Trustees, the City’s fiscal governing board
for the Art Center. Following the Iowa State Legislature authorization
for municipalities with populations of more than 20,000 to collect
tax mileage for art centers and museums in 1949, City tax funds
were then used to augment income from tuition and membership dues
collected by the Art Center Association. Today the City of Sioux
City and Association each contribute approximately 50% of the Center’s
annual 1.1 million dollar yearly budget.
In March 1997, the Sioux
City Art Center moved into a new nine million dollar facility,
marking a major institutional transition.
Designed by the Chicago-based architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,
the new 45,000 square foot building is comprised of approximately
10,000 square feet of gallery space for changing exhibitions and
a permanent collection. In addition, the facility offers 5,000
square feet of classroom space, a three-story atrium for receptions
and other public functions, a 131-seat lecture hall with sophisticated
audiovisual systems, conference rooms, and a twelve station interactive
Junior League Hands On! Gallery.
Since the opening of the new facility,
the Art Center has received a good share of recognition. In 1997
it was named Cultural Attraction
of the Year by the Iowa Division of Tourism and in 1998 Arts Building
Communities/Arts Organization of the Year by the Iowa Arts Council.
In January 2000, the Omaha World Herald selected the new Sioux
City Art Center as one of the ten most significant Art Events of
the Decade in the Midwest. In 2002, the Art Center’s community
arts project Prairie Dog Quest received the Tourism and Arts Award
from the Iowa Division of Tourism.
Past Locations
|
