Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurie Sirtak.
Hi Laurie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Founded in 2015, the non-profit Crossroads Arts Council hoped to plant small seeds with the hopes that we could build an organization who’s mission it is to support art and artists in our local community. Through the efforts of our founders and board, and the tireless work of our volunteers, our mission continues to evolve and grow. We have members who come from 9 counties in the surrounding St. Louis Region, including Illinois. We have over 120 members, and over 1500 followers on our media platforms and monthly newsletter.
The Council has gallery and classroom space in the lower level of the former Wentzville City Hall, located at 310 W. Pearce in Wentzville.
Our galleries house a themed main exhibit space which changes each month. As a “non-juried” exhibit space, it remains open and welcoming to all artists in a wide variety of media – from painting, pottery, jewelry, fiber arts, photography, paper-making, wood crafting and more, artists find a welcome and inclusive environment within our gallery spaces. We also provide individual gallery space for artists who would like to exhibit a more expanded show.
Our artists range from 5-85+ so our programs and classes focus on art accessibility for all. From Summer Camp sessions, on-going classes, annual scholarship award and our Picasso Club (special art for special needs artists) we strive to create opportunities for creative experiences. Our Quilt Show, Trivia Night, Art in Bloom and more community events continue to invite everyone to enjoy all types of art-based social events.
We also seek to support overall community engagement by supporting on-going public art exhibits, as well as multiple social groups including book clubs, dominoes group, music players, Rough Writers writers clinic and the Fiber Fanatics fiber arts group. Art is regularly available for sale, both during our monthly gallery shows and during our special Holiday Pop-Up markets held in May and December. We want to make creative arts accessible and promote that “Art makes the perfect gift” for all occasions.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As with all non-profits, we are always working to balance our program planning with both our financial and volunteer resources. We strive to keep our artist’s costs low so that all have the ability to participate to their fullest extent in gallery shows, classes and events.
We are most grateful for members who regularly share special operational monetary gifts, as well as the dedication of our volunteers. Without these resources, we could not fulfil our mission to our artists and community.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
After a career spent as a commercial interior designer and project manager, I have been able to take a lifetime of creative experiences and now focus on the continued mission of the Crossroads Arts Council.
As the current president, I enjoy bringing both creative and best business practices together to benefit our artists and art programming.
As a creative, I also enjoy the vast opportunities for my personal creative work specializing in a range of fiber arts. My love of working with fabrics and fibers have included both design and teaching rug hooking and various wool arts including applique, quilting, felting and fabric collage. I especially enjoy current mixed-media projects and looking for innovative ways to combine various natural materials and construction techniques for my pieces.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Patience and forgiveness. The patience to work to bring out the best in every creative idea and forgiveness to be less hard on myself when things don’t quite gel as planned. It’s most important to always know that a new idea will come, a new way of looking at the world is just around the corner and that the journey is the best part of creating.
Pricing:
- none to share
Contact Info:
- Website: https://crossroadsartscouncil.org
