Center for the Arts to offer rent relief to resident organizations

JACKSON, Wyo. — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create challenges for arts organizations well into 2021, the Center for the Arts is pleased to announce more than $225,000 in rent relief for the organizations that call The Center home. This effort is made possible through a generous donation from the Lea Charitable Trust and represents a 40% reduction on the already subsidized lease rates.

“The rent relief that Center for the Arts is giving to Center Residents for 2021 is an incredible benefit to our organization during this continued time of uncertainty,” said Bronwyn Minton, Executive Director of Art Association of Jackson Hole. “The Art Association is very thankful as art-making is vital to our community and to our health and this kind of support helps us keep fulfilling our mission.” The Art Association leases over 10,000 square feet at The Center, offers year-round adult and youth art classes, provides space and equipment for artists, and hosts numerous art events and sales including Whodunnit and Takin’ it to the Streets.

“We all need to support one another now more than ever,” said Babs Case, Artistic Director of Dancers’ Workshop. “It is gestures like this that will pave the road of working closely together to benefit all arts organizations and in turn, provide extraordinary arts programming for our extraordinary community.” In 2021, Dancers’ Workshop will celebrate 50 years of bringing dance to the valley, and is a major stakeholder at The Center, both in terms of leased space on campus as well as bringing excellent programming to The Center Theater.

In total, The Center provides a home for more than 20 independent nonprofits. Year after year, The Center and the Residents organizations offer programs to enhance the cultural community of Jackson Hole and are collectively dedicated to providing a vibrant arts campus. Members of the community have the opportunity to participate in a diverse scope of artistic and educational experiences including theatre, dance, art classes, public art, spoken word, live music and continuing education, to name a few.

In the late 1990s, many arts organizations in Jackson Hole were operating out of church basements or temporary spaces dispersed across the community, working in silos and often unaware of each other’s initiatives. Additionally, there was no space that could stage technically-demanding events. In response to the needs of the community, a group of founding visionaries came together to build the Center for the Arts campus, providing a permanent and affordable home for these organizations. The Arts and Education Pavilion was opened in 2005 and The Center Theater opened in 2007.

In 2020, The Center and the Resident organizations came together as a collective and secured several months of rent relief with a matching grant from the Emergency Response Fund through the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. “This effort demonstrated to us the power of working together, and how important it is for us to support each other during this challenging time,” said Marty Camino, Executive Director of Center for the Arts. “Using the momentum from this effort last year, we were very motivated to raise further funds to support the Resident organizations who call our campus their creative home.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating on all arts organizations,” added Clare Symmons, Executive Director of Off Square Theater Company. “This significant assistance moves our focus from surviving to thriving; we can set our sights on making great theatre in 2021.” Off Square produces Thin Air Shakespeare, the annual youth musical, and multiple other theatre experiences every year.

The Resident Organizations on The Center Campus are: