By Jessie Raynor, Akron Area Arts Alliance Director

The Akron Area Arts Alliance’s 20th anniversary year opened with a bang at Summit Artspace on New Year’s Eve. Nearly 1,600 people enjoyed art exhibits, sitar, reggae, jazz performers and ballroom dancing on all three floors of our historic art center building, which was originally built in 1927 by Charles and John Knight to house their first newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal. Next, our exhibits and artist demonstrations brought 200 people downtown on January 2 for Sunday Sampler, a collaborative artwalk held monthly with the Akron Art Museum and Akron-Summit Public Library. On January 21, we opened two new exhibits: The Human Element in the main gallery and Circle of Life in the 3rd floor gallery, with 260 people attending a two-hour, meet-the-artists reception. Our five tenant artists opened their studios so visitors could watch them create. It was exciting to hear groups of people making plans to meet at Crave, Bricco, Diamond Grille and other nearby restaurants after our event. It was evident that Summit Artspace is bringing needed life and money to a downtown once empty after work hours.

Renovation continues on our second floor, where, through the generosity of the Knight Foundation, we are creating affordable office and conference space for arts businesses plus an intimate performance area that will seat 40 people. Local theatre professionals are helping us design lighting and a pipe and drape system, which will make this a valuable multipurpose space that can be used for art installations, rehearsals, meetings, etc. We already have two prospective office tenants and a list of people interested in renting the multipurpose area. This additional earned income will help supplement the operating budget of the Akron Area Arts Alliance, a collaborative arts advocacy group that was founded in 1991 by community leaders Ann Amer Brennan and Mary Ann Jackson along with 12 cultural organizations. Today the Alliance represents 160 museums, theatres, arts education programs, music groups, dance companies and individual artists. It has grown from planning quarterly lunch meetings for networking among arts professionals to operating an arts center that has initiated revitalization in a once marginal downtown neighborhood.