Causes: Arts & Culture

Mission: The Allied Arts Council seeks to make St. Joseph a better place to live through the arts. The mission of the Allied Arts Council is to provide leadership and support for the arts and to its member organizations

Results: Thanks to the generosity of our patrons and sponsors, the Council raised over $225,000 for the Arts Fund campaign, produced the 25th Trails West! ® Festival that hosted over 75 fine and folk artists and programmed over 100 performance artists, installed 18 temporary sculptures in downtown St. Joseph, MO, hired an artist to add to the Traffic Box Art project, celebrated its 35th year of Artists in the Schools and hosted 190 students at the week-long Artscape camp.

Target demographics: Bring art and people together.

Direct beneficiaries per year: The direct council programs reached over 20,000 people in 2017.The Arts Fund raised $225,000 which benefited seven arts organizations.

Geographic areas served: St. Joseph, Missouri and the metropolitan area.

Programs: The arts education programs include Artscape, a weeklong children's art camp and Artists in the Schools that places artists into the classroom. Our visual arts programs include St. Joseph Sculpture Walk, a public art exhibit of sculptures. The program brings in new sculptures each year and selects one piece to purchase for its collection. The Trails West!® Festival best exemplifies our mission of bringing arts and people together. The three-day festival is a community event that brings in national, regional and local performance artists as well as fine and craft artists. In addition to the Council programs, the Allied Arts Council is the umbrella organization for 16 member agencies. It serves its members by providing marketing support, advocating for the arts at the national, state and local levels, and by conducting an annual arts fund campaign to raise money for agencies that apply for funding support.