HISTORY
Civic Arts Council
The Asheville Area Arts Council is the second oldest arts council in the state of North Carolina. It was founded in 1952 as a working committee of the Junior League (as many of the arts councils across the US were at the time) and was called the Civic Arts Council.
Almost from the start, the Civic Arts Council had one major goal and that was to build a Civic Arts Center to house multiple arts organizations, including the Asheville Art Museum, Colburn Mineral Museum, Asheville Community Theatre, and Asheville Symphony Orchestra. Though initial attempts to build the Civic Center were unsuccessful, a $3M bond referendum was passed to build the center in 1971. “The new facility encompass[ed] the existing [Haywood] Auditorium and add[ed] an exhibition hall, a banquet hall, meeting rooms, and an arena for conventions, concerts, sports, and family show productions. It also include[d] exhibit and rehearsal areas for the Asheville Art Museum, Colburn Mineral Museum, and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra.” By the time the funding came through, the Asheville Community Theatre had already begun a capital campaign of their own and the theatre opened in its current location on Walnut Street in 1972. The new Asheville Civic Center opened its doors in 1974.
Community Arts Council of WNC
In 1979, the Civic Arts Council merged with the Western North Carolina Arts Coalition (a group of individual artists and arts organizations) to form the Community Arts Council of WNC. “The purpose of the merger [was] to create a single, unified organization that [could] serve as sort of [an] “umbrella” for arts efforts in the entire Western North Carolina area.” It was also at this time that the arts council officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization.
During the next two decades, the arts council worked to help fund area arts programs through a United Arts Fund drive. This joint fundraising effort helped many organizations during a vital time in their development and supported the concentrated efforts to revitalize Asheville’s downtown area.
By the mid-1980s in was clear that the Asheville Civic Center did not offer enough space to house multiple arts organizations as originally envisioned, so in the late 1980s a new plan was proposed for Pack Place Education, Arts, & Science Center to house the Asheville Art Museum, the Colburn Memorial Mineral Museum, The Health Adventure, and a 500-seat theatre (later to be known as Diana Wortham Theatre). The Community Arts Council of WNC played a large role in fundraising for this project. It was also at this time that the Community Arts Council of WNC changed its name to the Asheville Arts Alliance with the goal of working as a primary fundraiser for arts organizations in Buncombe County.
Pack Place Education, Arts, & Science Center opened on Pack Square in 1992, and remained there until 2014 when it was disbanded to allow for the expansion of the Asheville Art Museum and Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. The Colburn Mineral Museum is now known as the Asheville Museum of Science and located on Patton Avenue near Pritchard Park.
Asheville Area Arts Council
In 2001, Asheville Arts Alliance changed its name to the Asheville Area Arts Council. During this time, the arts council had multiple changing roles – fundraiser for arts organizations, trainer for educators, arts program host and collaborator, exhibition gallery, property owner, and financial and career development resource for artists. While all of these initiatives were important, they did not quite meet the needs of the overall creative sector. The arts council began a period of intensive assessment in 2019 to better understand the needs of the entire local arts community, and restructure the organization to best meet those needs.
In 2019, the creative industries generated $1.6 billion in sales and supported 14,000 jobs. The Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation industry alone grew 53% from 2015-2019 — double the growth rate of the Construction industry over the same time period.
This unprecedented growth was thrown into turbulence by the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation industry experienced the greatest percentage of employment loss in Buncombe County — an overall loss of 34%. Arts Council actively tracked the effects of the pandemic on the arts, releasing a countywide Creative Jobs Report and stepping even more into arts advocacy to help ensure a sustainable future for regional arts.
Arts AVL
In late 2022, Asheville Area Arts Council assumed the name ArtsAVL. The new name is a simplification and clarification that reflects the organization’s mission to keep the arts at the heart of our community. This rebranding aligns with the agency’s goals of supporting artists and arts organizations, and making the arts more accessible in Asheville and Buncombe County.
To effectively support the arts in Asheville and Buncombe County, ArtsAVL must track and respond to the changing needs of the creative community. As the county’s official designated arts agency, ArtsAVL directly supports arts professionals and businesses through connection, advocacy, and grants. Through this new approach, ArtAVL continues to tailor its programs to the specific needs of the local community.
See our 2023 highlights here, and be sure to join our newsletter for our most recent updates.