Neighborhood Nonprofit Spotlight: The Woodlands Arts Council

Patch talks to Woodlands Arts Council Events Director Kayleen Barton about the work the council does to cultivate a relationship between art and community.

Patch: Tell us a little about The Woodlands Arts Council. What are some things the community might not know about the council?

Kayleen: The council was formed 12 years ago. We're in our 12th year with doing the Waterway Arts Festival. The council was actually created for the festival, but evolved into so much more. About seven years ago, Because Art Matters was formed to do further outreach in the community. Maybe what the community doesn't understand all the time is that the Waterway Festival is our marquee fundraising event for Because Art Matters. It's really an effort to bring the community together.

Patch: The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival is in its 12th year with a record 19,000 attendees during its run last year. Tell us about the festival's beginnings and how you envision its future.

Kayleen: We open a call to artists, and we have 225 spots; 15 go to our best-of-show and featured artists from the year before. Last year was a record year, but this year was also a record year; we received 938 applications for 210 spots, which kind of gives a sense of what kind of show we put on. The Waterway Festival started out as a smaller festival and has grown over the years, gaining popularity. It was started to fund our high school scholarship programs. Now, we fund year-round programs where we mentor youth with special needs and special circumstances as well as seniors. Things like that benefit from the festival's proceeds. That's where we've come from. It's a nationally recognized festival, and we showcase things from painting to clay. There's really something for everyone; we give artists an opportunity to break into the art community and start taking the step into the world of becoming a professional artist. As we grow, our programs grow with us.

Patch: What does the council hope to give back to the Woodlands community?

Kayleen: Our community and outreach programs are throughout the community and not just in The Woodlands, but also through Montgomery County. With the public art aspect that we do, we have 14 current art bench projects. This is really an amazing project, where we put a call out to artists with underwriters, and artists create a working bench, a unique piece of art that's functional and goes out into community. We have six more coming. The Woodlands Arts Council is everywhere you look; it's a partnership with the community that makes the community better through art.

Patch: What was the inspiration behind the establishment of the Woodlands Art Bench Project?

Kayleen: We were looking for something unique that could become a permanent structure in the community. The Woodlands is one of the cities in the nation that has the most artwork per capita. We wanted to put a mark in and say, "There are amazing artists locally and nationally." And we wanted to showcase them and let the community see that kind of functional art. Sometimes, it's a local artist we work with; sometimes, it's someone as far as Spain. People can take a selfie with this art, and it becomes apart of them.

Patch: Tell us more about the Dr. David Gottlieb Teacher Award and what impact it has had on the community.

Kayleen: David Gottlieb and his wife were founders of the council, along with some others. They recognized that we have public art school teachers that go above and beyond for their jobs. We know that, across the nation, art programs are removed from schools. Dr. Gottlieb wanted to recognize teachers for their achievements. We've been doing that now for seven years; what we do is offer two awards to two public school teachers—one in visual arts and one in performing arts. The $2,000 award can be used however they want, but a lot of teachers put it back into their classrooms. They're nominated by their colleagues, students and community members. [The awards are] a real showcase of the fine caliber of people that are out there. It's been a real honor to work with these kinds of people that go without credit every single day. I always say, "I wish this was a program where you could give every single teacher an award." Everyone nominated deserved the award.

Learn more about The Woodlands Arts Council through its website as well as its Facebook page. Stay connected to your local Patch through Facebook and Twitter.

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