Northern KY Art Center Kickstarts Inclusive, Safe Space

Summary

The Northern KY Art Center is raising funds via Kickstarter to complete construction for safety and accessibility improvements, aiming to establish a community arts center that supports inclusivity and safe spaces for artists in the region.

Abstract

The Northern KY Art Center, known as The Lodge, is an expansive 9000 sq/ft facility dedicated to various artistic disciplines, including screen printing, photography, painting, audio recording, and rehearsal space. For eight years, The Lodge has been striving to become a community arts center, and now, through a Kickstarter campaign, it seeks community support to finalize the construction of essential facilities such as a fire escape and first-floor bathrooms. This development is crucial for The Lodge to enhance accessibility, increase event capacity, and launch public art projects. The center not only fills a gap in the Northern Kentucky arts scene, often overshadowed by Cincinnati, but also acts as an incubator for emerging artists, providing tools and support for creative careers. The Lodge emphasizes the importance of community engagement with art and music for positive local growth. In return for contributions, donors are offered rewards including merchandise, event space rental, and tickets to exclusive performances.

Opinions

The Lodge is presented as a vital resource for the local arts community, offering a diverse range of creative spaces under one roof.
There is a perceived disparity in arts funding and attention between Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, with The Lodge aiming to address this imbalance.
The Lodge positions itself as an essential stepping stone for recent college graduates pursuing careers in the arts, providing necessary support and resources.
The organization believes that communal experiences with art and music are key drivers for community development and cohesion.
The urgency to meet safety and accessibility standards is emphasized, with the message that failure to achieve these improvements is not an option for The Lodge's future.
The Kickstarter campaign is seen as a collective effort where every contribution, no matter the size, is crucial for the success of the arts center and will benefit the community in the long term.
The Lodge values its supporters and expresses gratitude through various rewards, ensuring that contributions are acknowledged and appreciated.

Northern KY Art Center Kickstarts Inclusive, Safe Space

A home for queer Kentuckians.

The Lodge, Kentucky

The Lodge is an artist’s dream studio, with over 9000 sq/ft of space for many different disciplines. We offer screen printing, photography, painting, audio recording and rehearsal space. Over the last eight years, we have been working to make this dream of creating a community arts center a reality, and with your help, we can finally reach this goal. The Lodge will offer public art events, art classes and demonstrations, community meeting space, and a place for artists to work on their crafts.

We are raising money to help The Lodge become a safer and more accessible building so that we can move forward with our mission to become a community arts center here in Northern Kentucky. We secured funding through a grant for the architectural planning of adding a fire escape and bathroom facilities on the first floor of the Lodge. This is where the crowdfunding comes into play. With the money that we raise here, we will be able to complete the final phase of construction of the bathroom and fire escape. This will allow us to start implementing public art projects and offer a larger capacity for community events.

There is a need for an organization such as ours in Northern Kentucky, as much of the funding and attention for the arts goes to our neighbors to the North in Cincinnati. We also serve as an incubator that helps recent college graduates find the tools and support that they need to stay on the path of a creative career. Bringing people together to experience and learn with art and music will serve as a catalyst for positive growth in our community.

In exchange for your generosity and support we are offering rewards such as merchandise packages, event space rental, and admission to a one-of-a-kind performance. Please explore the possibilities of how you can help us make Northern Kentucky art history. Your support makes all the difference to our local creative community. Stay tuned for additional limited-time rewards! We promise you won’t be disappointed.

Risks and challenges

We know that this is asking a lot of our community to reach our goal, but our hope is that if everyone can chip in a little, it will be able to benefit everyone a great deal down the road. Once our building meets necessary safety and accessibility standards, we will be able to become a viable arts center here in Northern Kentucky. Failing at this point is not an option. We have been working towards this goal since 2011 and are going to cash in all our chips to make this a success.

Editors Note: This article was taken from the organizations Kickstarter page with permission. Stay tuned and we will be featuring artists from this organization throughout the next month!

Originally published at https://queerkentucky.com on May 15, 2019.