Jasper Community Arts Plans for an Exciting Fall Season

The Jasper Community Arts Commission shared updates from their busy summer at Tuesday night’s meeting while looking toward the upcoming fall season. 

It was space improvements and exciting upcoming events that headlined the Arts Council Meeting. The 2025 budget was approved, and a bid was opened for the proposed Arts Center Auditorium roof replacement. Schmidt Contracting submitted a $55,900 base bid for partial replacement and a $98,500 alternate bid for full replacement. The Center hopes to secure grant funds to help with the repair expense and will take the bids under advisement. As the theater will be empty for the next 6 weeks, preparations are being made in advance for the coming season. Landscaping additions are being put in and any necessary updates will also be addressed during that time to keep the space up to code. A small leak was dealt with in the gallery of the Cultural Arts Center during the rainy weather, and the auditorium received some small repairs as well. 

Jasper Community Arts received a grant for the purchase of 15 iPad Air tablets and accessories, which will be used to begin offering digital art classes. The Center’s new solo exhibit, “Over 50 Paintings: Through the Years” will feature a collection of oil paintings by plein air artist Ron Mack. The exhibit, which opened during Strassenfest, was well attended, as was his live painting event in the gallery. Another live painting experience will be held on Wednesday, September 14 th , from 10 AM to 1 PM. The exhibit will be open through October. 

The Center presented a number of workshops and activities throughout the summer, including Camp Create, which focused on cubism. Strong demand for the summer programming has encouraged a Fall Break Camp Create session, which will feature new material and an abbreviated schedule. The Open Clay Studio on Mondays and Thursdays has also proven to be very popular and continues to add new attendees each week. Submissions were received for the 31 st Annual Juried Art Exhibition and have been submitted to the juror. JAC also informed the Commission that they are in the process of creating an in-classroom artist residency. The position is in the design stages, but they hope to have more information in the coming weeks.


For more information on these and other updates, visit jasperarts.org.


- Drew Hasselbring