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History of the North Valley Arts Council The North Valley Arts Council (NoVAC) supports arts and culture in Greater Grand Forks through service, advocacy, and education. NoVAC strives to raise the level of appreciation, support and participation in the arts and cultural communities within Greater Grand Forks. We believe that a vibrant community of arts and cultural groups, organizations and entities, as well as individual artists is essential to the quality of life and economic vigor of the community at large. NoVAC began in 1986 as a volunteer organization under the name of the Greater Grand Forks Arts and Humanities Association (AH!), which worked to improve the quality of local arts programming and services. Between 1986 and 1991, AH! documented an increase in audience participation at art events (recorded by local arts organizations), and an improvement in artistic quality. As a result, art organizations acquired additional funding, professional development opportunities, support services, and promotion of a community image among the arts. In 1993 AH! was reorganized under the new name of the North Valley Arts Council (NoVAC). Its by-laws and mission were rewritten to meet the expanding needs of the arts community, as well as the community at large. In April 1993, a full-time Executive Director and part-time Office Manager were hired. At the same time, NoVAC renovated the historic Empire Theatre in downtown Grand Forks and became responsible for operating the theatre as an arts venue. Making sure the theatre was financially viable became a primary focus out of necessity and advocacy tasks became secondary. NoVAC separated its organizational ties to the Empire Theatre and both organizations formed new boards of directors in 2001. The Empire Theatre board concerned itself with the business of operating an arts venue and the NoVAC board was able to refocus on its primary role of advocating for all arts organizations equally. The new NoVAC board revised its mission statement and re-organized itself to its new tasks. A part-time Interim Administrative Coordinator was hired and NoVAC moved its offices to the University of North Dakota campus. During this transition period, NoVAC developed a website, www.novac.org, started to build a membership base, and collaborated with local organizations to coordinate Greater Grand Forks’ first annual Art Fest. The website was designed to help NoVAC become a central point of contact for the arts in Greater Grand Forks, and NoVAC’s work on the Art Fest successfully exposed regional artists and their work to the 25,000 people in attendance. In summer 2003 a new part-time Administrative Coordinator was hired and NoVAC relocated its campus offices to another University of North Dakota location, O’Kelly Hall, to share office space with its partner, the Greater Grand Forks Marketing Services Partnership (MSP). The partnership is a new four-year project, funded by the Knight Foundation, to increase the effectiveness and awareness of marketing for arts and cultural organizations in the area. Currently, NoVAC is working to stabilize the organization by pursuing three strategic objectives that support its mission. These include: • Enhancing our services by offering capacity-building
seminars and networking opportunites for arts providers and supporters;
producing a directory of regional artsists; and by supporting Operation:
Enduring Friendship. NoVAC also serves the Greater Grand Forks community by re-granting funds provided by the City of Grand Forks to arts and cultural organizations. While many of NoVAC’s services are directed to art organizations and to artists, we ultimately aim to increase the population’s expectation for and appreciation of art. |
