The Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) Board of Directors has selected the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company and the White Bear Center for the Arts to be this year's recipients of the MRAC Arts Achievement Award, which includes a cash payment of $5,000. The nominations were reviewed by the MRAC Board of Directors based on how arts groups exemplify MRAC's vision for the region by:

"I've learned our differences are beautiful and wonderful and that some differences aren't so different after all," an audience member tells a member of the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company after a performance. It's a comment that reflects an idea Artistic Director Barbara Brooks had in mind when she founded the theatre company 15 years ago:

For more than 40 years, the White Bear Center for the Arts (WBCA) has been building creative and culturally-rich communities in the White Bear Lake area by providing arts experiences to children, adults, and families. While 36% of their members are residents of White Bear Lake, participants come from throughout the northeast metro and represent more than 40 cities primarily in Ramsey and Washington counties. The WCBA believes that all people are creative and artistic. As such, the WBCA offers classes (more than 500 per year) to people of all ages, all abilities, and in a variety of arts disciplines that include 3-D foundry, welding, alabaster stone carving, metal-smithing, silver, glass, life drawing, painting (oil, watercolor, and acrylic), photography, ceramics, fiber arts, creative writing, eco-arts, cooking, and creative movement. Their free monthly lectures provide opportunities to develop a deeper awareness for the arts and offer artists an opportunity for critique at whatever level they desire. The WCBA's professional development classes include marketing and licensing workshops and their visiting artist workshops explore different techniques and methodology. By holding art classes at East Metro Women's Council, the WCBA has engaged disadvantaged families in high-quality arts experiences. They also offer weekly water color classes and art tours to seniors at the White Bear Senior Center, weekly art classes for adults with mental disabilities in conjunction with organizations such as Phoenix Alternatives and Transitions Plus, and hold monthly family fun days so families can participate in making art together. The WCBA works to ensure its building is accessible to people with disabilities, and that scholarships are available to people in need. Recently, in response to budget cuts that left White Bear area elementary schools without any formal visual art education in their curriculum, the WBCA partnered with the White Bear Lake school district to provide all 3700 children (K-5) in the White Bear Lake elementary schools, three art classes per year--a partnership that was awarded the 2010 Humphrey Institute Innovative Partnership award. At the WBCA, it's the artistic process that's important. They believe that by providing experiences in a variety of arts disciplines they can stretch the boundaries of imagination and encourage an exciting cross-pollination of ideas, techniques, and methodology.

MRAC is pleased to honor these arts organizations as representatives of MRAC's mission and looks forward to continuing the MRAC Arts Achievement Award as a way of recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of small arts organizations (organizations with annual operating budgets less than $300,000) as exemplified by the many high-quality nominations MRAC received. Awards will be presented at MRAC's annual meeting in July.