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2024 Year in Review

  -  2024 Year in Review

Jim Bongartz

We know that you share in our commitment to the powerful role the arts play in sustaining the community, in building resilience, in creating an atmosphere of joy and hope, creativity and inspiration.

We celebrate and reflect on our accomplishments in 2024.

2024

Exhibitions

  • 30 Days of Inspiration, our poem-a-day matched with an artwork for each day of April continued in 2024, in honor of National Poetry month. Thanks to our team of writers and artists that worked tirelessly to select the works and then those that matched the poems to the artwork. Big thanks to all the artists and poets who participated!
  • An Online Archive of the first three years of 30 Days of Inspiration selections was created, and the 2024 selections presented as a gallery on our website, all thanks to a generous grant. The archive and galleries allow year-long access to poems and artwork for use by schools, community groups, and the public. We are thrilled to offer continuous online access to the 30 Days of Inspiration Project now and into the future.
  • 2024 Member Art Show was held at Freeman Hall from June 8 – June 23 with an open house and awards presentation on June 22. The exhibition and sale of submitted work and portfolio pieces ran online and in person featuring the work of 115 regional artists. Our juror was Lisa Tremper Hanover.
  •  Bucks County Wine & Art Trail Show was held September 27 – October 27 at the Hicks Art Center Gallery on the Newtown campus of Bucks County Community College. A collaboration between Visit Bucks County and the Council, the exhibition featured works by 34 regional artists created at seven participating wineries in Bucks County during 2023. An opening reception was held on October 4.
  • 2024 Small Works Show at Doylestown Hospital’s ArtWalk was held September 1 – November 21. This new collaboration was successful, and we hope to return in 2026.

Lisa Gallun

Seedpods

30 Days of Inspiration

 

Bill Donnelly

Moss and LIchen

A&C 2024 Member Art Show

 

Amy Iversen

View from the Castle

Bucks County Wine & Art

Trail Exhibition

 

Constance McBride, "Lonely Girl Room" (Sculpture Spotlight)

Constance McBride

Lonely Girl Room

Sculpture Spotlight

 

Alexis Greer-Armentrout

Sweet Tooth

New Member Gallery Page

 

Programs

  • Our First Thursday Salons were a huge success again in 2024. We are grateful to Mark Wisse and the Lenel Education Fund for their donation of honoraria in support of poetry and creative writing at these readings.
  • We hosted 21 poets and writers at our salons in Freeman Hall during 2024!
  • We hosted three craft talks: Crafting an Artist Statement, Submitting Your Work to Journals and Magazines, Using Research in Writing
  • Arts & Drafts, a social gathering, concluded in January at Vault Brewing in Yardley

Community partnerships

  • Township Library of Lower Southampton hosted readings twice: Poetry in April and Fiction and Non-Fiction in October allowing another twenty writers to share their work. 
  • Our Sculpture Spotlight featured in the atrium at the Township Library of Lower Southampton is currently paused.
  • Doylestown Hospital’s ArtWalk hosted our Small Works Show as noted under Exhibitions.
  • Doylestown Arts Festival was held for the 33rd year. We were a sponsor and had a booth at a prime spot on W State St.
  • Freeman Hall, a historic property owned by Salem UCC houses our office/community meeting center and served as the location for our Member Show in June.
  • We joined Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce in 2024 to extend our reach and explore new avenues.

Cathleen Hanville

Flaky Light

New Member Gallery Page

Membership

  • We ended 2024 with more than 300 members.
  • Members volunteered in many capacities during the year: to receive art, hang art and gallery sit during the Member Show as well as help at the reception. Along with board members, members manned the booth at the arts festival.

Communications and Social Media

  • Arts & Conversations, our monthly newsletter was published each month during 2024. Thanks to our team of board members and volunteers who capably write and gather information for the publication.
  • Facebook has 3,053 followers and Instagram 2,030.
  • April’s 30 Days of Inspiration continues to be the highlight for our Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Hernán Faraci

Dapper Revolt

New Board Member Gallery Page

Board of Directors

  • The board remains under the direction of a Transitional Leadership Team.
  • Robin Farr, poet and our expert in many areas including membership and event planning, completed her term in March.
  • Bill Milnazik, our longest serving board member, was our in-house graphic artist designing logos, brochures, postcards and more. His expertise was endless, but he left us with a bank of graphics to tap into.
  • Gene Underwood left the board but not before making a significant impact in the areas of marketing and transitional leadership.
  • Carol Gilbert resigned for personal reasons after serving tirelessly as corresponding secretary, newsletter chair and exhibition committee member.
  • During 2024, we welcomed LC Allingham, Hernán Faraci, Linda LeFevre and Peter Miller to the board.
  • Susan Forker completed her term in December including extraordinary work as Recording Secretary, event coordinator and overseeing the website calendar and community calendars.
  • Ashara Shapiro leaves the board at the end of the year after making a huge impact on our exhibition committee leading most of our exhibitions during her tenure and always thinking outside the proverbial box.

Engaging programs, events, and meaningful community outreach helped us move forward and make Bucks County the best it can be in 2024.

On behalf of the entire A&C Board of Directors and membership, we wish you all the best in 2025.

We couldn’t do it without you.