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 truly assess what this community wanted and needed in terms of arts and cultural. 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. However, that accomplishment is not the culmination of the planning effort, but rather its commencement. The ACAJC and the Jackson Community now face the task of implementing the Plan.

ACAJC has grown over the last year with the continued assistance of the Community Foundation of Jackson. They provided funding to hire an Executive Director that has built the internal working capacity of the organization, including a revised strategic plan, organizational policies and procedures, as well as oversight of on-going programs.