Support arts council

To The Editor:

This is the time of year when the Mahoosuc Arts Council makes contact with its committed donors through our annual Phone-A-Thon and seeks to create new relationships with new supporters of the arts and humanities.

Some of you may have been contacted by us this week, seeking continued support in our mission to advance arts education, community arts and arts-economic development. We urge you to continue or increase your vital support which enables:

- K-12 educational programs (performing arts series, artist-in-residency programs and theater residencies) in the public, private and home school population of the Greater Bethel Area.

- Community arts events providing economic opportunities for artists and local businesses like the Bethel Art Fair, ARTirdonack and the Gould Performing Arts Series.

- An arts-business collaborative which has created a three-county economic development initiative based on cultural tourism: The Western Maine Passport to the Arts.

The council is a leader in collaboration having worked closed with Gould Academy and MSAD#44 for over 25 years. It is a member of the Bethel Area Nonprofit Collaborative, the Western Maine Arts+Business Collaborative, the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, the Maine Association of Nonprofits and the Western Maine Cultural Alliance.

In 2011, the State of Maine and Maine Association of Nonprofits recognized the council with the Dirigo Award for Nonprofit Excellence for the scope and effectiveness of our mission impact.

While our work continues to gain recognition for its importance and high quality, the economy keeps working away at funding sources which were previous reliable. In addition to becoming creative and collaborative with our fundraising strategy, we are still forced to make some tough cuts for the first time since our founding in 1986. Ultimately cuts mean less educational experience for our students, less money earned by artists, fewer customers drawn into Western Maine businesses and so on.

If you have not previously supported the arts council, we urge you to visit our website, www.mahoosucarts.org, to learn about this important work.

You can help build arts education for our students and economic opportunities for our community by making a tax-deductible gift to the Mahoosuc Arts Council today, no matter how small. We would love to thank you with a returned gift of concert tickets to one of our upcoming performances.

Your support combined with our commitment and passion to uphold our mission will ensure quality educational and community impact for years to come.

Aranka Matolcsy

Executive Director

Mahoosuc Arts Council Board of Directors

Bethel