“Happy Trails” St. Joseph: Trails West!® 2010 Announcement Party set for March 19, 2010 art and music festival to feature 150th anniversary of Pony Express  

It’s the perfect combination:  a great Western town, the 150^th anniversary of the Pony Express, and a min-pub crawl themed “Happy Trails” to announce the headliner musical acts for Trails West!® 2010.  Music fans can find out who’s riding in to our town in August at “Happy Trails,” an announcement party/pub crawl on Friday, March 19.  Though the festival is set for Aug. 20-22, 2010, organizers enjoy inviting the community to celebrate the great entertainment that has been carefully arranged behind the scenes by a volunteer steering committee for several months.        

“Trails West!® is a top-notch music and art celebration for St. Joseph and Northwest Missouri, and one of the things that makes our town great,” says Teresa Fankhauser, executive director, Allied Arts Council of St. Joseph. “We think it’s fitting to announce the headliner acts for the 2010 festival at local venues, with community art supporters and several dozen new friends.”

 “Happy Trails” kicks off at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, March 19 at Foster’s martini bar, 726 Felix, with the announcement of the festival’s Sunday night act – always a hit with the popular 80s theme. The next trail stop is the Buffalo Bar at 9:30 p.m., 501 Felix, for the unveiling of the festival’s Saturday night country acts. Blues fans will enjoy the last trail stop, Ben Magoon’s, 632 S. 8^th St., at 10:30 p.m., for the announcement of the festival’s Friday night blues acts. Guests are encouraged to wear a Trails West!® t-shirt from a previous festival, and some trail stops may feature music giveaways.

Area Arts Leaders Serve On Statewide Arts Board

Teresa Fankhauser, Executive Director of Allied Arts Council and Martha Greer, Director of Missouri Western State University Center for Community Arts, were re-elected to the Board of Directors of the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies (MACAA) at its Annual Meeting in Rocheport, MO. During the MACAA Board of Directors meeting, Fankhauser was re-elected President and Greer re-elected as Vice President. Other area arts leaders serving on the MACAA Board of Directors are Cathy Ketter, Operations Manager of Allied Arts Council and Darrell Gardner, President of North Missouri Arts Council in Marceline.

Missouri First Lady Georganne Nixon, keynote speaker at the MACAA Annual Meeting, spoke to the audience of her shared passion and mission “to support and encourage the arts in all their varied forms: painting and sculpture, theater and dance, design and craft, film and poetry, literature and music” and encouraged the continuation of the arts’ role in community collaboration, engagement, pride and economic opportunity. Other speakers included representatives from the Missouri Arts Council, Missouri Citizen for the Arts and St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts.

MACAA is a network of Missouri community arts agencies and Missouri artists. MACAA has served communities, community arts agencies and artists since 1979 and believes that the arts make communities better places to live. MACAA programs and services are designed to enhance members' ability to create and sustain programs and services which meet their community's needs. For more information about MACAA programs and services visit their website at www.macaa.net.
 

Allied Arts Council earns Missouri Arts Award

The Missouri Arts Council selected the Allied Arts Council as one of the recipients of the 2009 Missouri Arts Award, the state’s highest honor in the arts.
The award will officially be presented in a ceremony at 2 p.m. on February 11, 2009 at the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City.

The Missouri Arts Awards honor Missourians and institutions that have made profound and lasting contributions to the cultural and artistic landscape of the state. Each year, Missouri Arts Awards nominees are reviewed by a committee from throughout the state who are knowledgeable, experienced and highly respected.

Allied Arts Council Executive Director Teresa Fankhauser believes this award should be shared by the entire arts community. “Receiving this award is a great honor not only for the Allied Arts Council but also for the arts in St. Joseph. Recognition from the state is a wonderful validation of the Council’s programs and services it provides to member agencies,” said Fankhauser.