About Us

Arts Quincy, America’s First Community Arts Council, was founded in 1947. Arts Quincy works to foster, strengthen and expand the language, visual and performing arts and Arts-in-Education in Adams County, Illinois.

Arts Quincy’s national award-winning programs work to expand our economy, strengthen education and ensure cost-effective arts services for everyone. Arts Quincy publishes the bimonthly Arts Quincy Magazine. To have the magazine delivered to you call 217-222-3432 or sign up here. It can be delivered free-of-charge to residents of Quincy, IL. For residents outside of Quincy, there is a minimum $25 membership to help off-set the cost of publication. To become a member, click here.

Arts Quincy also publishes a Community Arts Resource Guide. The guide lists information on grants for arts projects, Arts Quincy’s Partner Organization’s arts services, local individual artist roster, area individual artist roster and additional local and area arts resources.

Arts Quincy Mission

Arts Quincy: America’s First Arts Council, is a dynamic nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the cultural vibrancy of our community by creating access to the fine arts and humanities. Through education, advocacy, and promotion, Arts Quincy builds connections to foster our sense of community, improve our quality of life, and enhance the economy in the Quincy area.

Arts Quincy Purpose

To encourage and stimulate the practice and appreciation of the arts and Arts-in-Education. The term arts is understood to include music, the visual arts, including photography, sculpture, painting, drawing, ceramics and crafts, drama, literature and dance, but the enumeration of those things deemed to be included in the term arts is not intended as a limitation upon the meaning of the term as used herein.

To solicit and receive grants, contributions and other property, to enter into contracts, to engage needed personnel and services, and to transfer, hold or invest such property as may be required to carry out the purposes of this corporation.

Arts Quincy Vision

Our vision is to support and market the ever-growing arts organizations in Adams County, to strengthen arts education, and to encourage the Tri-State Region – Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri – to enable all its citizens’ access to all arts disciplines, through the help of Arts Quincy.

Value Statement

To encourage excellence in all of the programs we, and our partner organizations offer.
To support all of our partner organizations with their missions to the best of our abilities.
To involve our community to support and participate in the arts.
To assist organizations, schools and individual artists in providing enhanced arts-education for Adams County.
To encourage staff, board and partner organizations to uphold the highest ethical standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Arts Quincy?

Simply put, we are a nonprofit organization that works to promote the arts in the region. Our mission statement says that we work to “foster, strengthen and expand the language, visual and performing arts, and Arts-in-Education in Adams County, Illinois.” Arts Quincy is a local arts council (America’s first community arts council, actually).

What does Arts Quincy do?

Arts Councils vary depending on the needs of the community. Quincy is lucky to have so many thriving arts groups, so our approach is less about creating programs and more about promoting the existing ones. Because of this, our work is more behind the scenes. We provide marketing and arts management services to 55 other arts nonprofits in the area. We call these groups our partner organizations. Click here to see a complete listing of them.

We work very hard to promote their events and programs through commercials, weekly TV and radio segments, the Arts Blast email, and of course, the Arts Quincy Magazine. We want to make it easy for you, the patron, to find the arts event or program you are looking for. We try to bring all these separate arts areas together in one place.

Not all of the organizations we work with have the staff to maintain a website or physical office that you can call with questions. We try to fill these gaps by being a public information center for arts activities.

More than that, we try to provide administrative services to these groups. Since they are all nonprofits, they are working with limited resources. We do things like provide a bulk mailing permit to make their mailings cheaper, or maintain a media list so they know where to send press releases.

We also try to provide learning workshops to help them be more effective in certain areas, like social media or board building. Because the size of the organizations we work with varies greatly, their needs are as unique as the group. We are here to be a one-on-one resource for them. If a group needs help writing a press release, managing QuickBooks, or even designing a poster, we can provide consultation.

Because of the type of organization Arts Quincy is, we are eligible to apply for certain grant funds that our partner organizations may not be able to. We offer a regranting program called Arts Dollars, which last year provided 25 grants funding of $11,625. These grants helped fund project like Blues in the District and Midsummer Arts Faire.

Is Arts Quincy related to the Quincy Society of Fine Arts?

Yes, we are the same group! The Quincy Society of Fine Arts was in legally incorporated in 1948. According to our archives, the Arts Quincy Magazine was started in 1984 by the organization. The two names have been used somewhat interchangeably since. In 2015, we formally went through a rebranding to Arts Quincy. However, our legal name remains the Quincy Society Fine Arts.

Are you the Art Center, Theatre, Symphony, (insert other art group name here)?

All of these groups are totally separate from each other and from us. Each organization we work with has different nonprofit incorporations, governing boards, staffs, missions and goals. We all work very hard, to collaborate and enrich the fabric of the arts culture in Quincy and the surrounding areas.

How does a group become a “partner organization”?

Groups apply by writing a letter to our board of directors and are voted in. A group must be legally defined as a nonprofit and must be working to somehow promote the arts in the community (although this can be fairly broad) to be eligible. Currently, groups must be within Adams County. Groups that are outside of Adams County can be a partner organization if they are educational institution like a college or university. For more information contact Laura at director@artsquincy.org.

How can I support Arts Quincy?

By supporting Arts Quincy, you support a wide range of groups from all areas of the arts. You can support us fiscally by becoming an individual or business member, and advertisers help support the production of magazine.

There are other ways to support us too, beyond donations. Help us spread the word about arts events by liking and sharing them on social media! Attend arts programs and let someone know you are there because you saw it from Arts Quincy. Be a patron of our business members and advertisers, and let them know you appreciate their support of the arts. Give your time to one of the organizations we work with, they are always looking for volunteers. Be a champion of the arts!