Linda

1. To provide opportunities to experience and participate in a broad spectrum of artistic and cultural activities

2. To enhance communication and cooperation among diverse artistic disciplines

3. To provide a historic setting which serves the cultural needs of the multi-faceted citizenry of the community

4. To showcase the emerging cultural and artistic community of Huntsville and Walker County

5. To advocate and facilitate cultural activities in Huntsville and Walker County

Core Values

The following core values have guided the task force as we made decisions regarding the Wynne Home Arts Center:

Accountability—Business must be conducted in a responsible, reliable manner and supported by open, two-way communications.

Community—We honor and strengthen our community by using collaborative, cooperative approaches that foster a shared sense of teamwork, partnership and belonging.

Creativity—We value and seek to nurture the creative spirit. We appreciate innovation, both in artistic endeavors and management.

Diversity—We are committed to serving the diverse community and audiences residing in Huntsville and Walker County and dedicate our creative energy to reaching and being relevant in their lives.

Integrity—At all times our business practices and personal behaviors are ethical, honest, and above reproach. We earn the community’s trust and respect every day.

Vision—We share a vision of our future and will align our thinking, systems and resources to make our dreams come true.

Our Target Audiences: the general public, artists, and preservationists

The Wynne Home Art Center will provide a unique cultural and educational service to Walker County that can be shared by all members of the community. Studies have shown that museums/art centers can be highly effective learning environments and can have a profound impact on audiences of all ages. Our audience will be comprised largely of school children, families, college students, and working artists. However, our target audience will be the wider general public including minority populations. Through a broad-ranging exhibition and education program, we hope to teach respect and tolerance for the history and culture of all members of the community.

Primary Use Program Components:

MUSEUM/ ART GALLERY

Purpose and Impact

A primary purpose of the cultural Arts Center is to provide a year-round permanent art museum and art gallery with flexible space for changing exhibits and related art programs and activities. The first floor gallery of the cultural Arts Center will be used primarily for visual arts exhibitions and for small performing arts presentations. The cultural Arts Center will add to the quality of life in Walker County by offering experiences in visual and performing arts that are currently unavailable.

Permanent Collection:

A long-range objective for the Wynne Home Arts Center includes the acquisition of a permanent visual arts collection. Due to constraints in storage areas, funding, climate control and security, this objective has been identified for later inclusion. The long-range plan is for a limited collection of holdings for exhibition through the following:

• A small collection of donated family photographs, maps and original paintings originally owned by the Wynne family, are to be displayed in the Center.

• As a natural extension of community interest, the Center plans to acquire folk art from various constituent communities including, but not limited to Latino, African-American, and Anglo. Many local citizens have art works from Texas self-taught artists including prison artists. Such acquisitions will be made by purchase, donation, or permanent loan.

Changing Exhibits:

The Center will administer an ambitious, year-round schedule of visual art exhibitions to bring to the adults and children of the community a broad experience of artistic achievements representing various cultures, time periods, and visual arts media including painting, sculpture, assemblage, photography, pottery, fiber, and others. Major exhibits will be curated by Center staff and will include: works by local arts organizations and small groups of local artists; art loaned from museums or private collections; and rented exhibits from circulating exhibit services. The gallery exhibits will include major interests related to the Huntsville community such as:

1) Exhibits of locally owned collections

The gallery staff will solicit citizens with important collections to place their collections on exhibit. For Instance, various local collectors have procured works created by prison inmates through the annual Inmate Art Show of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. One long-time resident of the community holds an extensive collection of important folk art pieces from around the world. Another Huntsville citizen has a major collection of African-American art.

2) Exhibits by Local Artists and Arts Organizations

One of the community arts organizations with experience in creating national exhibits will be invited to curate visual arts exhibits from time to time for the Center. In addition, the 80 artists affiliated with that organization as well as other local and university artists would be invited to present their work as individuals or in small groups.

Along with the formal exhibits in the gallery, various other areas of the Center will be used to display visual art. These added exhibit areas may include the formal, period dining room (meeting room), the gift shop, and, depending on security considerations, the halls may be used.

SAMPLE ACTIVITY OF THE MUSEUM/ GALLERY

Statewide Juried Multi-Media Art Exhibit

The gallery director/curator will supervise other staff and volunteers to accomplish the following sequential tasks for mounting and exhibiting works of art from currently working artists all over the state of Texas.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

• Staff planning meeting to name juror and establish a schedule and rules for entry

• Professional artist secured as juror: Prepare contact, letter of agreement, and get vita

• Mailing lists compiled in database

• Call for entries mailed: Design form, have printed, prepare for mail, fold, label, and stamp

• Mail: prepare for bulk mail if appropriate

• Press releases to Newspapers, university, radio

• Ads, national, regional, other publications

• Receive telephone inquires and requests for Call for Entry forms

ENTRIES/SLIDES

• Catalog and file entries and slides

• Ship or deliver slides to juror

• Receive shipment or pick-up slides from juror

ENTRIES/SLIDES (continued)

• Letters of acceptance: Prepare, address, stamp, and mail letters of acceptance or rejection & return slides rejected

EXHIBIT PUBLICITY

• Prepare invitation list and mailing labels

• Design & print invitations

• Prepare and mail invitations

• Create and distribute newspaper publicity for opening reception

• Distribute flyers in Huntsville area

RECEIVE ART & HANG SHOW

• Receive shipped pieces

• Receive hand delivered pieces

• Unpack shipped pieces

• Arrange temporary walls, pedestals, etc. and hang show, prepare and affix labels

• Prepare and print show program

RECEPTION

• Contact Juror, arrange for judging for prizes

• Arrange for entertainment and refreshments

• Prepare, print, and complete certificates for winners

• Secure and affix ribbons for winners

• Prepare checks for juror and winners

• Opening reception: Hospitality (table, centerpiece, etc.) Take slide photos and snapshots

EXHIBIT DATES

• Place exhibit guest book in gallery

• Arrange for and schedule volunteer/staff gallery sitters

• Arrange for sale of works

• Compute gallery commissions, and mail checks for sales

CLEARING GALLERY

• Artwork pick-up: supervise, get artists’ signatures

• Pack and ship works not picked up back to artists

• Clean/repair/paint gallery as needed

PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES

Purpose and impact

In addition to formal exhibits, other arts and arts-related activities including performing arts, literary readings, and community heritage preservation endeavors, will be held in the Arts Center gallery and adjacent areas such as the ample porches and grounds outside the gallery. These will include such activities as chamber music concerts and performances of traditional music, dramatic readings, demonstrations, art talks, panel discussions, art walks featuring working artists, tours for school children, and social events including opening receptions for art exhibits. We plan to sponsor a number of family art events, such as parent-child art classes, museum birthdays, Art-in-the-Park activities and cultural festivals designed to draw large audiences to the Center. The added cultural activity will enhance the vitality of the downtown area and create increased pedestrian traffic in and around this gateway to the historic district of Huntsville. The natural affinity between the Wynne Home performance areas and the Jane Monday Amphitheater near City Hall could facilitate the development of a pedestrian corridor along Town Creek between the two.

Events Calendar

The Cultural Arts Center board and staff will administer comprehensive calendar and scheduling procedures to ensure the proper use of the Center in accordance with established policies and priorities. Events relating to major exhibits will be scheduled as far ahead as necessary (2 years to 10 years) to guarantee appropriate preparations and execution. Other primary-use arts activities will be scheduled a year or more in advance or as space is available. Approved secondary-use activities, such as community meetings and private social functions, may be scheduled up to one year ahead of time pending facility availability.

When a completion date for the Cultural Arts Center has been assured by the architect, structure team, and the Huntsville Arts Commission, the Center staff will proceed with plans for an opening exhibit and public reception. This will be the first official event scheduled on the Cultural Arts Center calendar to mark the opening of the facility to the public. Entertainment, refreshments, and other activities will be planned in conjunction with the opening exhibition in an effort to entice participation by the various citizens of the greater Huntsville community.

Sample Performance Activity

Huntsville Festival of Traditional Arts

Traditional Artists and Musicians from around the state will be invited to performances taking place on the porches, in the drawing room and at the Gazebo on the Wynne Home grounds and at the Jane Monday Amphitheater at

City Hall. Recruitment of artists for this festival will follow the general format discussed above for gallery exhibits.

Schedule of Events
Saturday	Front Porch	Drawing Room	North Lawn	Ceramics Studio	Gazebo	City Hall Lawn	Monday Amphitheater
10:00	East Texas Dulcmr.Society	SHSU Woodwind Quintet	Invited display of local painters	Ongoing Demos	Huntsville Children's Choir		Ballet Folklorico de Huntsville
11:00		Paul Ruffin Short-story reading	and sculptors		Huntsville Youth Orchestra	Contra-dancing	Prime Time Seniors in Motion Dance Company
12:00		Guided Tour of the Permanent collection					Hula Demonstration
1:00	To be developed
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00							Headliner Musical Performance

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING

Purpose and impact

Because a large portion of our community has limited opportunity to visit museums/art centers in large cities, we will place a particularly strong emphasis on education. The educational program will include a regular year-round schedule of art classes and workshops for preschool children through age 12, classes and workshops for teens and adults, and organized docent-led tours of the Wynne Home special exhibits for school groups and the general public.

It is our hope that through exposure to the arts, our community will be encouraged to think more deeply and explore further, using works of art and exhibits as a point of departure for a broad range of learning opportunities.

Educational Activities

The Center will coordinate with area public school art instructors to enhance their school programs by offering interactive tours and demonstrations, and will loan kits and other materials to bring small exhibits, art objects, and educational materials into classroom. Other classes and activities will be offered in co-sponsorship with other entities, such as the local after-school program offered by the Huntsville Independent School District in cooperation with the Huntsville Boys and Girls Club; SHSU continuing education; and Huntsville’s Promise to build assets in Huntsville youth. A pilot artist-in-residence program is planned to enrich the educational offerings at the Wynne Home and in the schools.

Artist-in-Education

The pilot artist-in-education program will follow the Texas Commission on the Arts model. The basic pattern is set up for the artist to work 20 hours per week in the program and 20 hours per week in personal creation of art. Those 20 hours of programming per week will provide:

1) Demonstrations for school field trips at the Wynne Home,

2) Open studio nights at Wynne Home for members of the community to get pointers and basic instruction and,

3) Community outreach in the form of on-site school programs.

4) Small scheduled classes may also be offered.

Artists and their media will be rotated periodically.

SAMPLE ACTIVITY OF THE EDUCATION PROGRAM

Artist-in-Education Weaving and Early Texas Crafts one month residency.

Outreach – 20 hours - School Programs

Set up a loom or a spinning wheel in a school library and provide demonstrations; generating interest in other programs at the Wynne Home site.

Artist-in-Education (continued)

Open lab – 20 hours - Questions and Answers

The weaver will be present for 2.5 hours during business hours and 2.5 hours during the evening each week so those who cannot commit to classes could get informal instruction and help with special problems.

Structured classes – 40 hours - Formal Classes

Classes will meet at set times, rotating topics such as basket making, bead weaving, spinning, weaving on or off loom, dyeing both natural and synthetic, tie-dyeing and other resist techniques, candle making, leather tooling, gourd craft, kumihimo braiding, marbling, chair seat weaving and rushing.

Personal art time – 80 hours Time set aside for the artist to pursue creative endeavors, either in the artist’s studio or on site at the Wynne Home

A single artist could easily use all of the teaching space at the Wynne Home. Dyeing, candle making, and basket making would clearly happen outside. Dyeing and candle making might even happen on the lawn. Spinning and possibly some weaving, such as chair seat weaving and basket weaving, could happen on the front porch. Loom weaving would need to happen inside to minimize furniture moving and the resulting wear and tear. Students taking weaving classes could utilize open lab nights and other times when an artist might produce art at the Wynne Home.

Other Artist-in-Education series that the Arts Center might support could include:

A community chamber music group

Performing artist in residencies with community projects such as skit production workshops on Saturday mornings with performances in the evening.

Music, Dance, and Theatre performances on summer evenings on the lawn or in the gazebo

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

Visits to schools, preschools, and senior centers

Field Trips to other galleries and arts centers

TECHNOLOGY

Terminals/Kiosks for Huntsville’s Promise-- Community Network

Computers for computer-art education

Interactive learning experiences

For viewing classic film

For viewing Walker County Stories and other special CD’s and DVD’s

For exploring internet arts sites such as: www.dini.org and others

Video equipment for viewing videos of film, Walker County Stories, other

Audio for hearing various music

Wynne Home Gift Shop

The gift shop will be an attractive room that is harmonious in style with the heritage of the Home itself, and thus the style of all restored areas. The area will downplay any overt “commercial” attraction. A small display table located in the foyer can apprize visitors of the appeal of the gift shop (perhaps with a sample art-piece on display). The gift shop will primarily showcase local artists providing visitors and workshop participants with a variety of products representing the many local arts organizations. Our intention is that the inventory will represent and appeal to a broad range in age, gender and cultural diversity.

Secondary Use Program Components

Community Meeting Space

The Wynne Home Art Center has stimulated a great deal of interest from all areas of the city of Huntsville and Walker County. A survey of community groups and organizations listed at the Chamber of Commerce resulted in thirty-two responses. Twenty-five of these expressed interest in using the Wynne Home as a meeting place or for special events such as receptions, dinners, luncheons, workshops, study/seminars, exhibitions or performances. Many individuals have also inquired about its use for weddings and receptions, birthday parties, picnics and family reunions.

Arts-related functions will promote the viewing of the art displays. The kitchen facilities will afford space for small self-catering groups and for larger groups with functions that require a caterer. Up to seventy people could be accommodated for a sit-down dinner or as many as one hundred fifty (150) for a reception and as many as two hundred fifty (250) to three hundred (300) for come and-go affairs.

The wide variety of cultural groups who are interested in using the Wynne Home reflects the broad spectrum of cultural diversity in Huntsville/Walker County. We consider the arts to include visual arts, performing arts, patriotic or heritage groups, quilting and weaving clubs, literary clubs, pottery-making and ceramic groups and culinary arts. When the building and grounds are not in use by arts groups, civic organizations, club groups and individuals would have the opportunity to use the facilities.

Administrative Offices

The City of Huntsville will operate the Wynne Home Arts Center with the guiding advice of an appointed advisory board. The personnel projection is for four City employees (Executive Director, Artistic Director, Office Manager and part-time Technical Assistant) some of whom would be provided office space within the Wynne Home itself. University interns in arts education, arts administration, community history, and marketing will join the staff, along with volunteers who will act as teachers’ assistants, receptionists and docents.

Summary

According to recent population analyses, Huntsville and Walker County are on the verge of a major surge in growth. In anticipation of this growth, the city government has been diligent in preparing adequate infrastructure to support the increase in population and commerce. The Main Street Project is developing more plans to capitalize on the historic character of the city. However, quality of life for residents -- and attractions for visitors -- is built on meaningful quality experiences. The arts are a primary means by which people express the meaning in their lives and the culture in which they live. Quality arts experiences lead people, young and old, to a better understanding of their feelings and their places in the community and the world.

The Wynne Home Arts Center will be an important means to that cultural expression for Huntsville and Walker County. The capacity to house, create and display visual art and to regularly present lively arts will add immeasurably to the quality of life in our community. The committee is dedicated to seeing this project to completion, not only for the benefit of current residents, but also for many generations to come.