Lansing Art Gallery facts for kids
The Lansing Art Gallery (often called LAG) is a special place in downtown Lansing, Michigan, USA. It's a non-profit art gallery, which means it's not trying to make money, but instead helps the community enjoy art.
LAG offers many cool things for people of all ages. You can see exciting art shows, join art classes after school, or attend summer art camps. They also have workshops, artist talks, and even help high school students get art scholarships. Besides showing art, the gallery also lets businesses rent or borrow art for their offices.
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A Look Back: History of the Gallery
The Lansing Art Gallery started a long time ago in 1965. A group of local artists, teachers, and business people, with help from Lansing's leaders, created it. It was first called the Lansing Community Gallery. This was a big deal because it was the very first permanent art gallery in Lansing!
Over the years, the gallery has moved to six different places. In early 2022, it moved to its newest home in the old J.W. Knapp Company Building. This building is famous for its history. Before this, the gallery was in other interesting spots, like above Jim's Tiffany Restaurant and in the Lansing Center for the Arts Building. The move to the Knapp's Center got help from a grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The mayor of Lansing, Andy Schor, has even talked about plans for a new performing arts center called "The Ovation," and the Lansing Art Gallery might be one of its future tenants!
Recognized for Excellence: Awards
The Lansing Art Gallery has been honored for its great work. In 1995, the Michigan Art Education Association gave LAG a special "Distinguished Service Award." This award recognized the gallery's strong dedication to art and culture in Lansing.
The award highlighted many of the gallery's programs that were popular at the time. These included the "Art Smart" after-school classes, which helped young artists. They also mentioned the "Art Scholarship" program for high school students, visual art exhibits, and lectures.
Art Outside: Public Art Projects
Since 2010, the Lansing Art Gallery has brought art out into the city for everyone to enjoy for free! These are called outdoor public art displays. In 2011, they got funding to display 75 to 100 artworks all over the streets of Lansing.
Some of these early outdoor shows, like "City Streets" in 2011 and "Art by the River" in 2012, faced challenges. Sadly, some artworks were damaged, including a sculpture called "Meditation Tower." After these incidents, the Lansing police increased security to protect the art.
Despite these issues, the outdoor art shows were very popular. Surveys showed that 44% of visitors to "Art by the River" traveled to Lansing just to see the art! This helped the local economy a lot.
Since 2018, LAG has organized "ArtPath." This is a display of artworks by Michigan artists along a three-mile part of Lansing's River Trail. "ArtPath" has become very popular, attracting over 82,000 visitors in 2020. It gets support from groups like MEDC and Auto-Owners Insurance.
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