Moapa Valley Arts Council Mission Statement.

The Moapa Valley (Performing) Arts Council (MVAC) is a non-profit community organizatioon whose purpose is to foster the awareness, understanding, and appreciation of a broad spectrum of the performing arts among all the people of the Moapa Valley.

The council was created in 1996 to assume the leadership role of the performing arts and to promote community awareness of the arts of the Moapa Valley region, a composite of five communities consisting of Overton, Logandale, Glendale, Moapa, and Echo Bay located in rural Nevada approximately 60 miles north of Las Vegas. The total population for the region is approximately 11,000. It does so in part by bringing live performing artists to the community in a yearly series of six or seven quality, affordable programs which it sponsors, with help from grants from the Nevada Arts Council and Clark County board of Commissioners. As part of their contract with the Arts Council, several of the artists that are brought in for a community concert also give performances at local schools.

The Moapa Valley Arts Council also helps in several ways to promote local artists and their performances. One of those ways is by sponsoring an annual showcase featuring local talent, which is now being included in the regular season series of events. Another is its sponsoring of an annual Messiah Sing-Along at Christmas time, which is a performance by all local area musicians with invited audience participation.

Another main thrust of its mission is involving the youth of the Moapa Valley in experiencing live arts. Foremost among these efforts is the sponsoring of the Moapa Valley Children?s Choir, which involves local students from both elementary and middle schools. They rehearse and perform two concerts a year, plus singing at many local functions. The MVAC sponsors an Artist in Residence program which brings an artist to each of the elementary schools for one to two weeks for hands-on work with the children yearly. In addition, it sponsors a visit to the valley from the Missoula Children?s Theatre, which produces a musical theatre event using local youngsters as cast and crew. It also offers a scholarship each year to a Moapa Valley student who is continuing study in an arts area past high school.

Through its publicity for concerts and fund raising events and its yearly membership drive, the Moapa Valley Arts Council helps to keep the arts in the awareness of the people of the Moapa Valley, and provides opportunity for all those interested to participate in some way.

The Moapa Valley Arts Council has generated a great deal of interest in the community and each year since its inception in 1994, our following has grown. People continue to join the MVAC and are willing to donate their time and talents to guarantee the success of the Council. Through local funding efforts and with a volunteer staff, we have been able for the past 8 years to provide a quality program in our community. We have employed a part time Director to help with the broad spectrum of duties associated with running the organization.

Each month the Board of Directors (10 members) of the MVAC meet to plan for upcoming events and to critique the success of past performances. This Board plans each season and then works to fund the program. Ticket sales, fundraisers, membership drives and State Grants have formed the backbone of our financial support.