ArtMatters Newsletter Dec 2020
Welcome to the ACCC ArtMatters Newsletter for December 2020
Greetings,
As we reflect on this past year, we remain thankful. We are humbled by the good we see in our community. We are grateful for the support and friendships in our close-knit community. And, we thank you for being part of the ACCC family. On behalf of the Board of Directors, we wish you all a safe, healthy and happy holiday season.
All the best,
Cynthia Anderson
ACCC President
The ACCC participated in the #GivingTuesday campaign on December 1, 2020. If you missed it, you can still donate through December 24th!
GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement, unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.
GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past 8 years, this idea has grown into a year-round global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
We rely on donations, sponsorships, memberships, grants, and contributions to support our initiatives and programs throughout the year. We work to fulfill our mission of elevating the arts within our communities. If you’d like to make a year-end donation, we have open arms for your support. We accept donations from individuals, families, charitable funds, estates, charitable organizations, businesses, schools, government agencies and nonprofits. You don’t need to be an artist to support the ARTS!
As a 501(c)3, the Arts Consortium of Carver County is a registered charitable organization. Your Donation should be 100% tax deductible. Please verify with your accountant. Thank you for your support!
You can still donate to our #GivingTuesday campaign through December 24th via our website.
Make a Donation
Holiday Gift Show, A Fabulous Local Holiday Market
We have a unique collection of one-of-a-kind gifts. Shop local and support our local artists! Our Gift Shop is located just inside the main entrance of the Chaska Community Center. If you’d like to volunteer at the Gift Shop, send an email to giftshop@artsofcarvercounty.
Hours: Monday-Friday 11am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 4pm, subject to volunteer availability.
The Holiday Gift Show Artists’ Reception, at our new location, the Chaska Community Center, was a big success. Many guests arrived. They explored and shopped in the new Gift Shop and enjoyed the Members’ Show in our new Gallery.
Members’ Show
Enjoy our Members’ Show Exhibit in the ACCC Art Gallery at the Chaska Community Center. All works are available for purchase unless marked accordingly. Support local artists! This show will be extended through the end of January.
Lift Your Spirits with A Carver County Christmas Music
A beautiful collection of Christmas original and cover songs performed by Carver County Musicians is available for a donation in the Arts Center Gift Shop. We are in the process of planning music concerts featuring songwriters and local musicians and bands. More info to come. ACCC Music CDs are available for purchase at the ACCC Arts Center or on our website. You can choose a physical CD or download now and add it to your playlist on your favorite device! All proceeds benefit the ACCC. Music Liaison, Steve Kelzer music@
Literary News
Events will wind down a little during December for the Literary Committee while we finalize our upcoming 2021 schedule. The new year will kick off right away in January with the popular Flash Fiction Contest (theme to be announced Jan 1st). February is slated for a virtual “open mic” reading, March has the Flash Poetry Contest, and in April we celebrate National Poetry Month (Flash Poetry Contest winners announced). Specific information regarding dates, contest and open reading details, and more will be announced the closer we get to January 2021! If you have suggestions for future events, don’t hesitate to contact the Literary Committee at literary@
Volunteer Opportunities
Help us kick off the new year on the best foot possible. We are seeking volunteers for the following roles/positions. If you are interested in learning more, please fill out our Volunteer Form on our website so we can match your skills and talents with various needs for the ACCC. Thank you!
- Treasurer
- Volunteer Coordinator
- Membership Coordinator
- Gift Shop Volunteers
Membership
Hey Members – Is your online Directory Listing up-to-date? To manage your profile, log into your ACCC Member Account. Go to our ACCOUNT page and login with your email address. If you forgot your password, you can request it to gain access.
Want to Join the ACCC? View our Member Benefits on our Membership page. Direct your questions to: membership@
Social Media
Be sure to check out and follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see what is going on with the ACCC. We post regularly about artists, authors, musicians, art, the gallery and more.
https://www.facebook.com/artsofcarvercounty
https://www.instagram.com/artsofcarvercounty
It was so wonderful to welcome our Member Artists and all the guests to our first Artists’ Reception in our new space at the Chaska Community Center. We loved being able to see everyone – socially distanced and masked up – again! If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to come to the gallery located just outside of the Theater in the CCC. It is open when the Community Center is open. The show is beautiful and an outstanding example of the work our artists are doing in Carver County. Attendees to the reception got to have a sneak peek at the new Art Center as we are busily getting ready for opening on November 4, along with the Holiday Show.
Thank you Barb Kelzer
September was a “book signing” month. September 19, Donna Franz “At the Farm” hosted a signing for the newly released Barn Quilts and Carver County, MN book. The following Saturday, a second signing was held at Parley Lake Winery. Thanks for supporting the literary arts and the barn quilts in Carver County. Barb Hone & Janet Fahey.
As the Board has been adjusting and keeping up with all of the changes we are experiencing due to change in physical location as well as COVID, we have been working towards a couple new interactive platforms.
A second barn quilt book has been released, Barn Quilts and Carver County, MN. It documents the expansion of the Barn Quilt Trail in Carver County. Now, 21 more Barn Quilts, all commissioned art, have been added to this “free, open-air art gallery.”
Anne Krocak: As an artist and teacher, Anne has won numerous awards and conducted public art residencies through VSA Minnesota, The Kennedy Center in DC, COMPAS, Public Arts St. Paul, ArtSage, Children’s Hospital Minneapolis/St. Paul Campus, Minnesota Creative Artists and Aging Network (MnCAAN). In 2009 she received the Jahney-Arts Access Award from VSA Minnesota, recognizing her as an outstanding artist educator of the Year. In 2011 received a National Fellowship from VSA National and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Anne is a Lifetime Arts teaching artist. She frequently teaches and prepares others to work with people who have special needs and older adults. She has led workshops and designed and taught classes around the U.S. and in over 60 senior living communities, museums, schools, homeless shelters, libraries, and hospitals. Anne looks forward to bringing her skills and knowledge to the ACCC community as a board member. View Anne’s Artist Profile on the 
Linda McNulty: Linda has been a volunteer all of her life. Transplanted from California then again from Arizona, Linda retired from the City of Victoria and State Farm and has become an advocate for the arts, both in Wickenburg, AZ and now in Carver County. Previous volunteer activities included Community Education Advisory Council for Eastern Carver County School District and campaign worker for two referendums, chair of the Victoria for a Lifetime Committee for eleven years. A founding member of the WeCAB transportation program since its inception in 2014, Linda continues to play an active role as dispatcher for the organization. She was a member of the Victoria Volksfest committee for three years and chair for two years. She also wrote a monthly column for the Chanhassen Villager for nine years, was a member of the City of Victoria Centennial Committee, and worked with the Sheriff’s Office, bringing law enforcement and seniors together.
We want to thank Susan Coultrap-McQuin for her unmeasurable contributions to the ACCC while serving on the board. Her term as board member included roles as Secretary, serving as the Literary Liaison and being on the Operations Committee. While this may seem like a lot, it does not even come close to accounting for her dogged determination to ensure the highest standards were always met in everything she did, her unflagging energy at moving the ACCC forward and upward and her wise counsel in guiding the arts in Carver County. Susan, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.
Hello, I’m Mary Williamson, a new ACCC Board Member. As we are navigating the new ways of doing things in the ACCC, one area remains the same. Membership and who that is made of? As I was accepted onto the Board a few months ago, I was simultaneously working on an Art Membership for my own Studio, with a strong focus on young adults. A passion of mine is teaching, especially youth. In the ACCC the focus on new members, art enthusiasts and artists alike, are geared more towards adults. The young adults have not had a seat at the table, yet.
Saturday and Appointment Shopping
The Songwriters and Musicians of Carver County, Volume VI CD is finished and we are waiting for the finished product from the duplicator. This year we have 24 songwriters featured. The first song on the CD was written by Grace Bury in 1942. Grace was a piano teacher in Chaska for many years. The recording of her song was done by her son John Bury and his trio featuring Sue Drude on vocals in the early 70’s. It still sounds fresh and hip today. A lot of the music on the CD was written in 2020 with artists from age 18 to 72. Watch our website and email for the official announcement of when and where you can purchase the CD. Thank you to Steve Kelzer for your continued work to produce this valuable ACCC project. We all are looking forward to hearing the recordings! 
We are excited to welcome Amy Stender to the ACCC Board. She will serve as Literary Liaison working with the Literary Committee to expand opportunities for writers in our area. Amy is a Minnesota Book Award-nominated author of Relic Chosen: Magic and Madness (North Star Press, St. Cloud), Through the Woods and Next Weekend (Lulu Publishing). She began writing at a young age and never thought to stop. She graduated from Concordia University, St. Paul, with a BA in Psychology but never strayed far from her artistic and literary passions. Amy is currently working on a rural cozy mystery series, the first book Farmed & Dangerous, soon to be released from Fox Pointe Publishing. A native Minnesotan who grew up in Chaska, MN, this “city girl” now lives with her husband, their daughter, a 15lb cat, & 100 dairy cows on their farm in Norwood Young America. Please join us in welcoming Amy Stender to the board.
Not an ACCC Member? Consider joining! Our 
Everyone is invited to our 2020 Flash Fiction Contest winner announcement night. All submitting authors are invited to join us at the ACCC Arts Center on Thursday, Mar. 5, 2020 at 6:30pm for Social Time, Program starts at 7pm. Winners will be announced, and there will be an opportunity for everyone to read submissions. Contact Jim Kane with questions at 
Join us for our next New Song Collective, focusing on women composers. We will have a gathering of songwriters performing their own compositions and talking about them. Come and meet Holly Halldorson, Yvette Nelson, Sam Fleitman, Tanecsha Jones, Tori Evans and Andrea Lyn. We will serve wine, pop, water, and snacks. Listen and learn from the participating songwriters and musicians. March 6 at 7pm. 
If you are a songwriter who is currently living in Carver County, or has resided in Carver County in the past, we are taking submissions to be included in a compilation called, The Songwriters and Musicians of Carver County, Volume VI.
We will celebrate Poetry Month and the winners of this year’s Poetry Contest on April 28 in the Arts Center and Ruby’s Roost beginning at 6:30 pm for a Social Time in the Arts Center followed by a 7 pm Poetry Reading in Ruby’s Roost. All those who submitted poems will be invited to read along with the preliminary judges and Joyce Sutphen, Minnesota Poet Laureate. Please mark your calendars for what promises to be a wonderful evening of poetry. Questions? Please contact 
Everyone is invited to our 2020 Flash Fiction Contest winner announcement night. All submitting authors are invited to join us at the ACCC Arts Center on Thursday, Mar. 5, 2020 at 6:30pm for Social Time, Program starts at 7pm. Winners will be announced, and there will be an opportunity for everyone to read submissions. Contact Jim Kane with questions at 
Join us for our next New Song Collective, focusing on women composers. We will have a gathering of songwriters performing their own compositions and talking about them. Come and meet Holly Halldorson, Yvette Nelson, Sam Fleitman, Tanecsha Jones, and Tori Evans. Maybe more! We will serve wine, pop, water, and snacks. Listen and learn from the participating songwriters and musicians. March 6 at 7pm. 
The ACCC is accepting entries for the 2020 Arts Consortium of Carver County 
If you are a songwriter who is currently living in Carver County, or has resided in Carver County in the past, we are taking submissions to be included in a compilation called, The Songwriters and Musicians of Carver County, Volume VI.
