The final board of directors vote to end the cultural non-profit after forty years
By Andrew Harris
For several years, the Allegany Arts Association has suffered from the same thing that many volunteer, non-profit organizations do: A lack of participation and future leaders.
After months of hand wringing, asking for community input, asking for more participation, and with plenty of warning, the AAA made this statement:
“By majority vote the existing Allegany County Arts Association Board of Directors has deemed it necessary to dissolve the Allegany County Arts Association due to a lack of active members to take over the duties of the Board and/or to perform the organizational duties required to provide arts services to the residents of Allegany County.
Our Spring Newsletter will be going out as planned and we will be working in partnership with local individuals and organizations to honor our existing commitments to the community.
Please watch for additional announcements regarding the transfer of responsibilities and provisions for local arts services that will take place as a result of this difficult decision. “
While this will certainly impact the artist community in Allegany County, the group has been slowly shifting responsibilities to the Belfast Organization For Artists.
Other art-focused groups in Wellsville may also be “absorbing” some of the gap left by the ending of AAA. The Allegany Artisans are still going strong and produce the annual “Artisans Walk.” Art for Rural American is a Wellsville based non-profit that built and manages the Fassett Greenspace in downtown Wellsville.
Of this news bothers you, contact any of those groups above to find out how you can volunteer and keep the county art culture alive and well into the future
