AVA to Receive a $10,000 Challenge Grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

To participate in this important challenge, please contact AVA Gallery and Art Center by phone at 603-448-3117, or by email at info@avagallery.org.

AVA Gallery and Art Center (AVA/Alliance for the Visual Arts) is pleased to announce that a $10,000 challenge grant for operating support from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (NHCF) will be awarded upon the completion of the grant’s matching requirement. This generous grant will support and enhance AVA’s education, exhibition, and community programming, including numerous free and low-cost programs, while the organization simultaneously works to reach its $3.5 million capital campaign goal.

This challenge grant will help AVA achieve its primary goals of reaching more diverse audiences, increasing membership, and broadening opportunities for artists, while sustaining current programs and operations during AVA’s capital campaign. In addition to rotating exhibitions of work by local and regional artists, AVA offers a comprehensive year-round art education program for adults and children of all ages and abilities, as well as vacation art camps for children and teens. Scholarships are available for all ages, and internship opportunities are in place for high school and college students.

AVA also a offers a number of free and low-cost programs for all ages, including CAOS (Community Arts Open Studio), CAOS for Toddlers, a Senior Art Class in collaboration with the Upper Valley Senior Center, Art Lab in conjunction with the Special Needs Support Center, Art for Kids in collaboration with students from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and ART STOP!, a free after-school program for students in grades 5 – 8. Films, artist talks, and The Mudroom (live storytelling) are all part of AVA’s extensive community programs.

In awarding this grant, The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation recognized the challenges of sustaining ongoing operations during a capital campaign period, while also acknowledging the positive impact that AVA’s rich programming has on the community.

AVA’s $3.5 million capital campaign—”Branching Out, Deepening Roots”— will make possible a new facility dedicated to the pursuit of three-dimensional studies and explorations, thus offering increased opportunities for artists and community members alike. The campaign will also fund the creation of a new exhibition space to accommodate a broader variety of art; the expansion of AVA’s environmental initiatives, including the installation of solar panels and efforts to become carbon neutral by 2017. The establishment of a reserve fund to help position AVA for a vibrant future is also among the goals for the capital campaign.

One of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s goals is to help the community maximize its support of AVA by doubling the dollar value of each donation. Supporters who have recently given to AVA may direct an additional gift to go specifically toward the challenge. New and upgraded memberships and first-time contributions, as well as donations that exceed previous gift levels, also qualify for the NHCF’s challenge grant.

To participate in this important challenge, please contact AVA Gallery and Art Center by phone at 603-448-3117, or by email at info@avagallery.org.

AVA Receives Business of the Year Award from the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce

During a festive reception on December 10, 2014, the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce presented AVA Gallery and Art Center with the 2014 Business of the Year award. Paul Boucher, the chamber’s Executive Director, praised AVA for providing “unique experiences for people of all ages and abilities.” The chamber also acknowledged AVA for having been “an excellent economic partner for downtown,” pointing out how our events and programs help draw visitors to the city’s restaurants. Appropriately, Robert Meyers and Jim Reiman, owners of Tree Tomatoes Trattoria, which was named the Business of the Year in 2013, introduced AVA at the award ceremony, citing our organization’s numerous accomplishments over the nearly twenty-five years that we have been located in Lebanon.

We were particularly pleased to share the evening with City Councilor Nicole Cormen who was named the 2014 Citizen of the Year and praised for all the outstanding volunteer work she does in the community.

 

 

Accolades for AVA

Last November, during the presentation of the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce (HACC) Business and Community Leadership Awards, much praise was bestowed upon AVA. As noted in our previous publication, AVA was the recipient of the “2011 Business Innovator of the Year Award”—one of four HACC awards.

Each of the awardees had sponsors who, in their eloquent speeches, succinctly summarized the specific achievements that earned their awards. AVA was deeply honored to be sponsored by longtime supporters Jane Kitchel and Peter McLaughlin of Chicago Soft. In her lovely presentation, Jane emphasized that she and her husband Peter appreciated the wealth of inclusive art programming that AVA offers. She went on to say that they were particularly impressed with “AVA’s ability and desire to reach outside of their own interests and bring value and art to unrelated organizations, populations and programs.”

While Peter was unable to be present at the festivities, Jane said that his many years of service to the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts had made him appreciate, with great pride, that AVA holds a special position among arts organizations in the state. She concluded her speech by saying that Peter believed it was AVA’s “willingness to take programmatic risks while demonstrating fiscal prudence that has allowed them to not only sustain, but to thrive during tumultuous times.”

We wish to express our gratitude to Peter and Jane for their generous support and gracious sentiments; to former AVA Chair Linda Roesch, who spoke compellingly about AVA; and to Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce for so masterfully organizing the award ceremony and producing the impressive program for the event. (This publication showcases AVA in a stunning double-page color spread.) Finally, we wish to congratulate our fellow winners: Advance Transit; Julia Griffin, Hanover’s Town Manager; and Lou’s Restaurant.

AVA’s Architect Named New Hampshire’s “Sustainable Designer of the Year”

C. Stuart White, Jr., who headed Banwell Architects’ superb design team for AVA’s building renovation, has received yet another prestigious award. Last November, Stu was honored with the Sustainable Designer of the Year Award by the New Hampshire Chapter of The United States Green Building Council. In addition to being cited for his recent achievements (including AVA’s LEED Gold-certified building), Stu was also celebrated for his “lifelong commitment to innovation in the sustainable design industry.”

Green Buildling App

Download AVA’s Green Building Tour App!

As of December 9, 2011, AVA Gallery and Art Center has what is believed to be the very first application—or “app”— focusing on a “green”  building project, namely the initiatives that were taken in 2006-2007 to make the renovation of AVA’s Carter-Kelsey Building a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold-Certified project.

We proudly invite you to click here and download the Free AVA LEED App to your iTouch, iPhone or iPad.

Special thanks go to Barbara Jones and Eric Richardson for their conceptual and technical development of this project; to Patrick Luteran, 2010 AVA intern and an architecture student, for developing part of the verbiage used in this app; to C. Stuart White, Jr., AIA, for all his professional advice and for the writing of specific segments; to Brandy Zarle and Tim Rush, New York City-based actors who, while performing this fall at Shaker Bridge Theatre in Enfield, New Hampshire, donated their time and expertise to record voice-over for part of the app’s audio; and to the Highfield Foundation for funding this project.

Thanks to the support of Systems Plus Computers, curious visitors can also take the AVA LEED tour on iPods that are available, and can be signed out for loan, from the AVA office.

AVA Wins 2 Owlies!

AVA Awarded Two Owlies!

AVA’s board and staff are please to announce that we were honored with two 2011 Owl Awards: Best Art Gallery and Best Art Education! 

We want to let everyone know how much we appreciate the opportunity to serve the Upper Valley and that we will continue to work as hard as we can for you. 

 We also wish to thank The Complete Hoot for all they do for the arts in our community!