Introducing our new Mission and Vision statements:
OUR MISSION
The mission of the Sharon Arts Center, a non-profit organization, is to support and serve artists and craftspeople, to engage our community in the artistic process, and to foster the relationship between artists and the community through education, exhibitions, the promotion and sale of art and craft, as well as through special programs and events.
OUR VISION
The Sharon Arts Center will be the heart of artistic experience and education in our community, a vibrant center of individual and collaborative activity, providing a stimulating environment that nourishes a wellspring of ideas and creativity.
Our organization will protect and preserve the traditions and history of art and craft, while embracing and encouraging innovations of experimental media and advances in technology.
As a highly valued, integral part of our community, the Sharon Arts Center will be known as the comprehensive arts resource in our region, where the artist in all of us, from the newly-awakened to the long-established, can connect with the intrinsic value of art in our lives.
Dear Members of the Sharon Arts Community,
Our new Mission and Vision statements are particularly meaningful to me. While I am a great believer in tradition, I also believe in embracing innovation.
Three years ago, as I interviewed for the position at SAC, I read and re-read our Mission and Vision statements. As good as they were, I felt strongly that there was something missing. I loved the fact that the statements addressed the importance of supporting art and artist...but what else should I be thinking about where my goals for the organization are concerned? Before I became a painter, I often shared SAC with people who visited. I saw that it was a special place to stop for many "summer people" or tourists who come to the area. I brought former clients to the exhibition gallery, and was amazed to find out that some who were from the area had never been in the gallery before. I noticed that there was little focus on children and families.
As we went on with the day-to-day work and the development of a team, we all began to come together to discuss our individual plans and goals for the Center. Something wonderful happened - although the team members come from different experiences and backgrounds, our goals began to mesh. The ideas were all different, but fit together like the pieces of a puzzle to form a new SAC. The ingredients came together as new programs for children, teens, teachers and others. Introducing new technology as an art form also began to bring more and more people into our family. Exhibitions are planned to challenge our perceptions about what art is or means to each and every one of us.
There was finally a day when I felt we were ready to approach the enormous task of translating our day-to-day goals and activities into a new Mission and Vision for the Sharon Arts Center.
While in most cases it is traditional for the Board of Trustees to author the statements, I felt very strongly that it should originate with this bright and energetic staff whose charge it would be to carry out this Mission on a daily basis. The board was supportive of this experiment and turned us loose to come up with the Mission and Vision we have introduced here.
With the help of our facilitator, Terry Heinzmann, the staff worked very hard and cooperatively and spent many hours brainstorming and wordsmithing. For several reasons, I remained on the fringe of the process, waiting to see what these bright young minds could accomplish, and whether it would match my personal vision for SAC. As I suspected would happen, they got it so right!! What I always felt was missing was the sense that we not only support artists, but that we connect artists with the community, and the community with art.
Take a moment to read and think about it!
Elizabeth Smith - Executive Director
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