Artists of all disciplines and supporters of the arts on Lopez, Shaw and Orcas islands are invited to two Feb. 5 meetings held by the newly formed county-wide Arts Council. The goal is “to gather ideas on what your vision of an arts council is and how it might benefit you and your community,” said organizer Helen Machin-Smith. “For the last year or so a small volunteer committee has been meeting to discuss the advantages of Arts Council for San Juan County. We began as part of the San Juan Community Foundation’s Critical Needs Task Force and our conclusions led to the formation of this council. Our vision: Where arts flourish, community prospers and lives are enriched.”

“An arts council has the ability to unify arts information and can be a valuable economic generating resource. It has the capacity to sponsor concerts and events, offer workshops, coordinate art in public places, publish an arts calendar, support art in schools, support local artist projects, promote artist activities and many other potential services to the community. One primary advantage of a San Juan County Arts Council is that it can be a single voice for grant applications with both the WA State Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

An arts council would be able to support those working in all of the arts and assist in bringing their diverse and high quality work to the greater attention both of the local community, our many visitors and additional markets nationally… The arts can be an essential ingredient of countywide economics, policy and practice as well as a source of civic pride.”

The Orcas meeting will be in Orcas Center’s Black Box room from 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m.; the Lopez meeting will be at the Lopez Library from 4:15 – 5:30 p.m. Teddy Deane will also give an update on the council.

For more information, email Teddy Deane at tedalicedeane@rockisland.com or call 378-5250.