Sun Valley Museum of Art Celebrates 50 Years of Excellence & Arts Education

KETCHUM, Idaho, August 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Valley Museum of Art (SVMoA), Idaho's largest arts organization, this summer celebrates its 50th Anniversary and decades of arts excellence and commitment to arts education.

Since 1971, SVMoA (formerly Sun Valley Center for the Arts), has welcomed more than 52 Grammy-award-winning musicians, 17 MacArthur Genius Award winners, 10 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 94 artists who are Guggenheim Fellows.

Sun Valley, Idaho—perhaps best known as a ski town, celebrity destination, and location of the "summer camp for billionaires" Allen & Company Conference—has also established itself as an unlikely arts and culture hub thanks to work from SVMoA and other arts organizations.

"We're so proud to have welcomed such inspiring and accomplished artists to our small Idaho town over the years," said SVMoA Artistic Director Kristin Poole. "It's a testament to this community's desire to consider new perspectives and find connection. What we're most proud of, though, is our commitment to arts education."

In 2021, SVMoA marked $1 million in arts scholarships giving: 638 individual scholarships to students and 75 individual scholarships to teachers. More than 3,500 local students participate in K–12 education programs annually.

SVMoA thanks its 1,200+ members and its annual Wine Auction—bringing more than 350 vintners, chefs, and arts enthusiasts together each summer to raise more than $1million—to fuel its programs, along with its dedicated staff of just 14.

"This past year and a half especially has reminded us that art is the highest form of hope," continued Poole. "Our 50th Anniversary theme is 'creativity, community and connection,' and that's what we plan to keep bringing not just our local Idaho community but also visitors from across the globe."

SVMoA hosted it 50th Anniversary exhibit, "Clay, Silver, Ink: Sun Valley Center at 50" through July, will welcome performing artists Twisted Pine and Pink Martini this summer, and look forward to lecturers like Journalist Kevin Fedarko, Curator Jock Reynolds and Author Sandra Cisneros through 2022.

"Over the past fifty years, the Sun Valley Museum of Art has helped to enrich our society," said best-selling author David Grann. "It has shown how the arts are our guidepost. They cast a light on our past, illuminate our creativity, unleash our empathy, reveal the unexpected, champion the oddities, and, most all, show us the sublime."

Notable Exhibiting Artists who SVMoA has hosted include: Kiki Smith, Walker Evans, Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, Margarita Cabrera, Gregory Crewdson, Andy Goldsworthy, Shirin Neshat, Helen Lundeberg, and George Nakashima

Notable Humanities Lecturers who SVMoA has hosted include: Jonathan Franzen, Terry Tempest Williams, Gloria Steinem, George Saunders, Jon Meacham, Anthony Doerr, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Lois Lowry and Geraldine Brooks

Notable Performing Artists who SVMoA has hosted include: Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Dizzy Gillespie, Carole King, James Taylor, Mavis Staples, Wilco, Los Lobos, and Keb' Mo'

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SOURCE Sun Valley Museum of Art