Carson City's Brewery Arts Center receives national award from AARP

AARP National has just released the winners of their Community Challenge Grants and the Brewery Arts Center is on the list!

For the third annual AARP Community Challenge, AARP received more than 1,660 applications from nonprofits and government entities, resulting in a highly competitive selection process.

A total of nearly $1.6 million was distributed to fund 159 quick-action projects across the country, helping communities make immediate improvements and jumpstart long-term progress to support residents of all ages.

The Brewery Arts Center will use the grant for improvements and enhancements — including new lighting and benches— to the bus stop on Division Street between King and Second. The grant will also fund the restoration of the Brewer’s Mural originally dedicated in 1996. All improvements associated with this project are designed to encourage residents to take advantage of public transportation that will allow them barrier free access to the art center's many events, classes, services and galleries.

“It's exciting to be recognized by a national organization and be chosen out of over 1,600 applications,” says Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Brewery Arts Center Ken Farley, “We appreciate the AARP rewarding our efforts to make the arts and programs at the Brewery Arts Center more accessible to everyone in Carson City.”

The AARP grant is the latest in the many awards from outside Carson City that the Brewery Arts Center has received in the past two years. Some of the awards include two grants for over $15,000 each from the Robert Z. Hawkins Foundation, grants from the NV Energy Foundation, Southwest Gas Foundation, the Nevada Division of Tourism, the Nauman Foundation and the $100,000 investment that the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation has made in the Levitt AMP Carson City Free Summer Concert series through the Brewery Arts Center for the past four years. Additionally, the Brewery Arts Center has received a grant from the Brownfield Foundation to remove and replace the roof on the Performance Hall, formerly the St. Theresa’s Church.

“It’s nice that people are recognizing the impact we are making and willing to invest in our vision to build community through the arts”, says Executive Director Gina Lopez Hill who just honored as a featured speaker at the National Consortium Creative Placemaking Conference in Los Angeles about the work the Brewery Arts Center is doing in Carson City. “What we do is not easy, especially while caring for two of the oldest buildings in town”, says Hill “but it’s impactful and that is why we are getting national attention for our work.”

The funding is really a win for the entire arts community as so many arts organizations rely on the Brewery Arts Center for facility and support. Allowing safe, comfortable and affordable ways to get to a theater performance from Wild Horse Children’s Theater or Proscenium Players, a classic movie from Carson City Classic Cinema Club, a book club meeting in Expresso Yourself Café, dance with High Sierra Swing Dance Club, a gallery show or to take in a concert is necessary to build the vibrant community we all want to live in.

Work on restoring the Brewer’s Mural has just begun with artist Deana Hoover bringing back the beloved mural to its former glory and the rest will happen in the coming 2 months. This project on Division Street is just Phase One in an overall Placemaking project currently being conceptualized by the staff and board of directors called “Project HeARTbeat”. As plans and funding become more solidified the Brewery Arts Center will seek the public’s input for the entire campus.

If you have not experienced the Brewery Arts Center, the summer is a great time to start! The Levitt AMP Carson City free summer concert series is in full swing bringing high caliber, sometimes Grammy winning artists to The Change Companies stage every Saturday, free of charge for everyone to enjoy.

For more information visit breweryarts.org.