Where Art Transforms

Where Art Engages

Where Art Thrives

Where Art Joins

Renovation News (download pdf)

To: Palo Alto Art Center and Palo Alto Art Center Foundation friends, supporters, and stakeholders

From:

Jan Schachter, Co-President, Palo Alto Art Center Foundation Board of Directors
Teri Vershel, Co-President, Palo Alto Art Center Foundation Board of Directors

The Palo Alto Art Center Foundation is a nonprofit public charity leading the effort to improve the aging facility of the Palo Alto Art Center. The goal of the project is to enhance the Art Center building to provide enriched art education opportunities for the entire community. The Palo Alto Art Center Foundation has made a decision motivated by timing to revise our renovation plans. At this time, we will not be moving forward with the work plans for the expanded Sculpture Garden and proposed fence along Embarcadero Road. This decision has been made so that the Art Center and Foundation can be successful in our goal to reopen an enhanced Palo Alto Art Center in 2012. We will be pursuing the most important programmatic aspects of our planned renovation:
• the expanded Children’s Wing with a safe and dedicated entrance for children and double the number of children’s classrooms to provide greater and more functional spaces for children’s art education;
• a refurbished exhibition gallery with museum-quality lighting to enable the Art Center to bring a broader range of art exhibitions to the community;
• mechanical and electrical improvements throughout the facility; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning to enhance the experience of all who use the Art Center.

Our goal is to give priority to these facets of the project containing the highest potential benefit to our audiences, our benefactors, and to the community at large. In the future, when timing permits, we would like to revisit our plans for landscaping and fencing, partnering with Palo Alto in the process.

The Art Center and the Art Center Foundation are moving steadily towards our project goal (currently at 78%) and are committed to using public and private funds prudently and efficiently. We intend to move ahead with our renovation timeline for many practical reasons, including ensuring the successful operations of the Palo Alto Art Center—programs, exhibitions, tours, and classes. The Palo Alto Art Center will provide more information, including revised plans (once completed) to the community upon request.

The basis of this project is the public/private partnership between the City of Palo Alto and the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation. For more information, please contact info@paacf.org

About the Art Center:
The Palo Alto Art Center provides an accessible and welcoming place where the community engages with art. The Center’s mission is to foster creative process and thought by forging a greater appreciation and understanding of the visual arts through exhibitions, studio experiences, and related educational programs. The Art Center believes that this is best achieved by connecting the experience of viewing art with a direct involvement in making art. The Art Center serves approximately 70,000 people every year through a diverse range of programs.

The Palo Alto Art Center opened in 1971 in response to the community’s interest in creating a place for the public to make, explore, and experience the visual arts. The Art Center is owned and operated by the City of Palo Alto as a program of the Division of Arts and Sciences, Department of Community Services. www.cityofpaloalto.org/artcenter

About the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation:
The Palo Alto Art Center Foundation was founded in 1973 and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides support to the Art Center through a public/private partnership. Through this partnership, the Foundation significantly enhances the reach and quality of the Art Center’s programs by fundraising and advocacy. www.paacf.org