History

The Art sand Cultural Alliance is a non-profit organization created to strengthen, support, and promote arts and culture throughout Jackson County. ACAJC was founded in 2003 to fill a need recognized by COJAX, an informal group of artists and art and cultural organizations. This group felt that a formal, 501(c) 3 non-profit organization was needed to help our community recognize and celebrate the power of arts and cultural and to acknowledge its impact on individual growth, development and learning, and on the overall quality of life and economic sustainability of the community. Prior to the formation of ACAJC there was not a collective body working together to coordinate arts and cultural related activities in greater Jackson.

In 2004, ACAJC began an effort to assess what this community wanted and needed in terms of arts and cultural offerings. This started with the Arts and Cultural Interest Survey and other pre-planning and assessment activities. A grant from the Jackson County Community Foundation provided the wherewithal the ACAJC needed to hire ArtServe Michigan to facilitate the development of the Jackson County Community Cultural Plan (available on this website). That accomplishment was the commencement of our planning. Since that time, the ACAJC has continued to implement the goals through our annual strategic plan.