Thank you to those who attended our Sky Valley Arts Council [spanning Sultan to Stevens Pass] introductory meeting.  Your interest in the Arts Council affirms how important it is to create an umbrella for promoting and developing arts and heritage activities in the Sky Valley.   If you have not completed our Sky Valley Arts Council Interest Form…please do so at the end of this post, we will use this information to help set our priorities.

Our agenda for the July 28th evening meeting included introductions, a slide presentation of the Sky Valley Arts Council concept  July 28 Slides and everyone discussed priorities they would like to see for the Sky Valley Arts Council.

Here is a list of the ideas from the evening:

1. We started with a very interesting topic, as we may have the opportunity to acquire and renovate the existing ‘Startup Gym’  –  the school board may soon consider our interest in the gym as a venue for the arts council – the building is historic, in need of renovation and has the interior/exterior space to beautifully accommodate performance, literary and visual arts events for the Sky Valley.  We will post any updates on this site.
2. Dinner Theater – the valley has a history of a vibrant theater group and there is interest to bring this back
3. Venues for art – could we research, publish and promote a list of venues in the Sky Valley for creative entrepreneurs to display their work – are there retailers, hotels, restaurants that would be interested in featuring local artists – visual art, literary readings, performances – could we offer a passport like other towns/areas
4. Celebrate local art – could we sponsor a barns, studio, heritage site tour or scavenger hunt for the Sky Valley – asking each community to participate, promoting the economic  and the educational opportunity for the locations participating and the participants
5. Collaborate as a destination – could we promote a specific weekend or month dedicated to heritage and historic destination sites in the Sky Valley; with a theme, special hours, activities, and educational focus – collaborating on a Sky Valley wide event
6. Art in the parks – we have many parks in the Sky Valley – could we find a way to promote ‘art in the parks’ at the city, county, state scope

We had a great discussion and sharing of ideas.  We know it will take active participation from many people in the valley to be successful.  We will continue the conversation about the formation of the Arts Council and priorities on Monday August 25th, 7-8:30 pm – we will publish a location, agenda and discussion questions on this site in the next couple weeks.  The best way to keep current with the Arts Council is to check this site frequently or sign up to receive a notification when new content is posted. We also encourage you to share this site on your social media.

The Sky Valley Arts Council is in the process of applying for 501(c)3 public charity status.  The group of individuals initiating the incorporation are Mary Ritzman, Debbie Coppel, Kevin Pettelle and  Ken Walker.  Once we have our application in motion we will be reaching out to the Sky Valley city/town councils to gain their very important partnerships.

Please share your interest in the Sky Valley Arts Council here…this is not a commitment only a forum to express your areas of interest: