By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Allied Arts Council is set to kick off its Arts Fund Campaign next month which will help support the arts around St. Joseph.
The Arts fund campaign drive supports six arts organizations in St. Joseph.
Allied Arts Council Executive Director Theresa Fankhauser says the goal for this year’s fund drive is 245-Thousand, after the council exceeded its goal last year of 240-Thousand dollars.
"We always like to stretch and challenge, you know so we don't remain stagnant, because our costs are going up," Fankhauser tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "And we raised that goal before we knew of the inflation that was headed our way."
Fankhauser says that inflation will make it even more important for people to increase their contributions if they have given before.
Fankhauser says while COVID-19 impacted many things in the city, one thing it didn't affect, surprisingly, was donations helping support the arts.
"I think people rallied, truthfully, because they recognized that this was important, that even though all of the organizations could not do what they had hoped to do for the last two years, they had to adjust or even cancel, it was important for them to keep their money coming in so that they could survive," Fankhauser explains.
Fankhauser says donations in the midst of the pandemic helped keep ticket prices down, allowing more people to go to the theatre, which showed most recently at Robidoux Resident Theatre's production of 'The Little Mermaid', which sold out.
The Arts Fund campaign will kick-off on April 1st and run through April 30th.
The Allied Arts Council has been around since 1963 and has seen residents support and demonstrate love to the arts, such as the St. Joseph Symphony and Roubidoux Resident Theatre.
Fankhauser says one thing she's seen that St. Joseph really loves is the Creative Arts Productions.
"Which is the children's theatre group, they do an educational theatre workshop in the summer that ends with a performance," Fankhauser says. "And it is amazing the quality of the work that they produce, the children have a great time."
Fankhauser says it varies how many children the production can take, depending on the size of the production.
The Allied Arts Funds campaign will kick-off on April 1st and run through April 30th.
You can find more information about the Allied Arts Council and also donate to the funds HERE.