The Dubuque Art Center Gets a new HHR from Runde Chevrolet!

Jordan Degree, of the Dubuque Art Center, was in this week at Runde Chevrolet to pick up a vehicle for the Art Center. Last year I had the opportunity to get to know Jordan and learn about what the Art Center offered the community.  This year we got an update from Jordan about what’s happening with the Art Center and what they have planned for the vehicle they purchased.

Hey Jordan, last year you were here to borrow the Community Support Truck for the Art Center, right? How did it work out for you?

Yes, we were moving to our new location at 137 Main Street in Dubuque – we are on the first floor. That was actually the second time we used the community vehicle, though. The first time we used it was for a fund-raising event that ended up rising over $3,000 for us. It’s a fantastic truck, we recently used it to collect pieces of artwork which were salvaged doors transformed by artists.

Can you give us a quick refresher course on what the Art Center offers?
Absolutely, at the Dubuque Art Center we have several different art education programs for adults and kids. We do all sorts of different classes, both at the center and through outreach programs in the community. We have both tuition based classes and a number of free programs and we’re always trying to increase the number of free programs we offer. We also support local artists and provide a variety of resources for artists and organizations so they can improve their ability to increase creativity. “Community through Creativity” that’s our slogan and that kind of drives everything we do.

We also do several public art events. Not just art-shows but, for example, this summer we have an eight-weekend art market along the river walk in Dubuque which will have several art vendors selling their artwork, kind of like an artist’s farmer’s market.

I hear that the Art Center now has a store?
Yes, the Art Center Design Store offers functional products for your home and yourself. All of the proceeds from the store benefit our free community programs. So it’s like a way for us to have a constant fundraiser as well as a way for local artists to sell their work.

Are there any costs to join the Art Center?
There are some classes that you pay for but a lot of our courses are free. We do offer tuition assistance for those who can’t afford the full class price. It’s about helping people be creative and we don’t want money to stand in the way of that.

What kind of “outside of the classroom” events do you offer?
We do “paint your own pottery” which is fun for scout troops, birthday parties, ladies nights and family nights… We have pre-made pottery that you glaze and fire and take home. Other than a small traveling fee, all they pay for is the price of the piece and that’s it.

As part of our outreach program we offer a free family art night on Tuesday’s and a Teen art program on Friday’s.   We are also going to be doing free art Saturday’s at the library that will be part of their summer reading program. We really try to bring the families together to do the art so the kids can bond and maybe see their parents in a different way than they might be used to around the house.

We also will have a summer camp this summer where we are offering 16 different sessions that will cost only $25 for four days.

How many members do you have going to the Art Center?
Last year we served maybe 300 students in our classes.  This year we are looking at service to over 1,200. In terms of our public art events, we are looking at drawing in an audience between 30-40 thousand people.

What vehicle did you end up going with today for the Art Center?
We ended up going with an HHR. We are flying high as a bird with excitement over our new vehicle.  We are really happy to have the support of Runde Chevrolet to purchase the Art Center’s first vehicle which really allows us to increase the amount of outreach we do and help us transport our materials. We are also doing a video program this summer with kids and the HHR will help us get the children to, and from, the filming sites.

We will be doing a full vehicle wrap on the HHR for the Art Center. I’m excited to show you guys what it looks like after we apply the wrap!

I’m very excited to see it, as well. It’s great what you are doing to expand the artistic reach of the Tri-State community. We are glad that we can help out such a great organization.

UPDATE: See the full vehicle wrap below!

A couple of months ago Jordan Degree got a Chevy HHR for the Dubuque Art Center from Runde’s. The Art Center had plans to get it wrapped in a vinyl coat and that’s exactly what they did!  Jordan says he is loving the HHR and is very pleased with how the wrap turned out. Check out the pictures below and look out for it on the roads!