July 15th the Alaska State Council on the Arts closed their doors, their department having been eliminated due to budget cuts.

As one of the many organizations and individuals who benefited from their work, we want to thank the incredible staff, Andrea Noble, Laura Forbes, L. Saunders McNeil, and Keren Lowell for their tremendous accomplishments. Together, they did the work of a much larger agency, helping us build partnerships throughout the state, enabling us to work efficiently for the benefit of communities we serve and giving us financial support, good advice, and unending inspiration.
They will be missed!

How will this affect FCA, your local concert association?

The immediate and long-term effects will be felt throughout the state in ways both known and unknown.

• ASCA provided our largest single source of funding. We had already been allocated $21,000 in operating funds for this year and the same for next year. We’ve been notified that we won’t be receiving that funding.**
• ASCA administered the Harper Touring fund grants, which help enormously with travel and freight costs. $10-$15,000.
• We are very concerned about the potential loss of jobs at UAF and throughout the community and the effect that will have on attendance, contributions, support for businesses…  our valued partners.

Is FCA going away too?

No! FCA is here bringing performances, outreach, and education to the Interior. We have signed contracts with artists, our contractors and our venues: the FNSB and School District. And we’re committed to our patrons.

However, with so many of our patrons facing the potential of losing their jobs, it hasn’t felt right to promote our season. Our sympathy to all those whose future is uncertain.

Normally, we’d be speaking with the News-Miner, getting ready for tickets to go on sale to the public next week.

How can I make a difference?

If you can, please support the organizations ASCA supported so we can continue to serve.

The best way is to sign up. Come to our events. Become a member. Contribute to our fundraisers. Join us.  We’re fun!

The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival is going on right now. Buy a ticket, take a class, talk it up! Fairbanks Shakespeare Theater’s Macbeth is happening this week on campus and promises to be very interesting. Take your PFD and pay it forward so all of us can keep our doors open…

If you have a business:

• Become a program sponsor.   We’re a great deal. Between 10 – 15,000 people attend FCA events every year.
• Buy ads in programs – not just ours: North Star Ballet’s, the Fairbanks Symphony’s, FairbanksDrama Association’s, etc…  there are lots of us!

If you have time:
Volunteer, we always need help to poster, we’re adding adult ushers, we could use help in the office, if you have grant writing experience we need to make up for a lot of losses.

We so appreciate when those who can sustain us, do!

And if you can’t, then we want to sustain you!
If you lose your job… We’re creating a mechanism to include you at our events because the arts truly bring us all together.

We believe the arts are essential to the well-being and quality of life in our community.  One of our most important functions is to bring everyone together in a positive way.

A Big Thank you!
Finally, we want to thank the Dunlap Agency for their generous and timely gift! They understand that a small local business can make a difference in our community. We join them in their challenge!

The Dunlap Agency is a super proud sponsor of The Fairbanks Concert Association in this upcoming season! Now we want to challenge you, Fairbanks! We have so many amazing agencies out there right now that are hurting because of the Governor’s vetoes, and we know that we aren’t called the Golden Heart City for no reason. Make a donation to your favorite organization and send us a photo and we’ll happily share your photo and/or spotlight your business so that we can show everyone why Fairbanks is the best part of Alaska! (from their facebook page)

We have a great season!
Tickets are available when you purchase three or more events now.
Tickets for individual events go on sale August 1st
We want to remind you that there is absolutely no risk all: Our tickets are fully refundable always

*We chose this picture, by our stage manager Scott Calder, because it demonstrates the impact ASCA had. Taken at an FCA event with Black Violin last fall, it includes students from the Fairbanks Youth Symphony. It was supported by a Harper Touring grant, submitted by FCA and Alaska Junior Theater, administered by ASCA. It had the biggest attendance in FCA history, in part because of the many tickets we donated to music students.
Local community coming together, organizations working together, both locally and within the state, support for students, all coordinated and supported by our state arts council.

**(We budgeted to sell 6,917 tickets. Without operating support, we’ll need to increase that by 620 to 7537.  So far, we’ve sold 1,389.

6,148 to go! (Think of it as a “fun meter”)

The arts save lives every day – through programs to vets with PTSD, to kids at risk with after school programs, to elderly with art therapy…