Year-end request

Hamilton, Ohio – Fitton Center for Creative Arts Executive Director Ian MacKenzie-Thurley offered a message of gratitude and requested some additional help for the community institution as the year draws to a close.

His letter follows:

Dear Friends,

Happy holidays to you and yours! The Fitton Center team has enjoyed sharing a remarkable year with you. 

How remarkable? Here are just a few examples:

·        Our camp season attracted record attendance, with more than 200 young artists participating in 24 camps over a six-week period in June and July. Plus 850+ guests who came to see their work during the end-of-camp celebrations after each session.

·        We had more record numbers with our community engagement team, including 1,760 visitors to our booth at Operation Pumpkin, where members of the public painted and decorated 2,000 miniature pumpkins and sent them racing down a custom-built 40-foot track in house-made, hand-crafted pumpkin race cars.

·        Our outreach programs took art out of our building and into the Booker T. Washington Community Center, Best Point and InReturn, as well as all three locations of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hamilton. We connected with more than 200 students just in November alone!

Please allow me to thank you sincerely for all of your support this year. Whether you've attended a show, a class, a workshop or a community event, if you volunteered, bought a gift from the Bake Sale, perused the galleries or simply told a friend about who we are and what we do, I am grateful. The arts are a tremendous bridge connecting us all and we are proud to be a place where all are welcome.

One of our biggest challenges is ensuring all of this is paid for throughout the year. The Fitton Center employs more than 50 full- and part-time staff (all of whom are amazing). We have a building that is open daily to the entire community to operate and maintain. We purchase and distribute quality art supplies and so much more.

With that in mind, I humbly ask you to consider making a monetary gift to our annual campaign before the end of the year. All donations are tax deductible, so you can help yourself while you help us. 

Studies suggest roughly 12 percent of all funds raised by non-profit organizations like ours arrive in the final three days of any calendar year. As such, I know you will have similar requests from other organizations near and dear to you in the coming days. No matter where you choose to direct your charitable dollars, we look forward to seeing you soon back at the Fitton Center and offering you the kind of quality arts experience that makes our city, county and region so very special.With thanks,Ian MacKenzie-Thurley

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture