Kate Jones Sees a Bright Future for the Local Arts Council

TELLURIDE – Since taking the helm at Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities (TCAH) last month, new executive director Kate Jones has found much to be excited about.

“There is tremendous potential for arts in this community,” she says. “So much enlightened decision-making started a long time ago, which has created an incredible arts culture here today. It’s exciting to be able to step into such a sophisticated art tradition.”

Jones joins the local art agency toting extensive experience in the realm of community arts development. She has worked in different spheres of arts development for much of the last 20 years, the last ten as director of a local arts agency in Methow Valley, in north-central Washington State. There, she spearheaded a successful effort to broaden that agency’s influence throughout the region, a goal she sees TCAH working towards in the future.

Jones was also a member of the Washington Arts Commission, a group established by the state government to assist regional and national leaders in making policy and funding decisions related to the arts. Through her experiences working in arts development on a state and national level, as well as her background in management of local arts agencies, Jones has garnered a healthy understanding of the role arts play in the broader picture of community development.

“A local art agency’s job is to keep the bigger picture in focus, and help arts as a whole coalesce across the community,” she explains. “It’s not just arts planning, but it’s also planning for some of those bigger community goals.”

Jones sees a bright future for arts in Telluride and the surrounding region, thanks to strong support from the TCAH board as well as from the community as a whole. Current TCAH programs like the First Thursday Art Walk and local resources like Stronghouse Studios have helped create a strong arts foundation within Telluride, Jones says. Since joining TCAH on July 15, she has also had the opportunity to meet and speak with a wide range of community and arts leaders, and says she has felt encouraged with what she has heard from them.

“There is this desire to collaborate and coordinate more, in an effort to forward arts as a whole in Telluride,” she says.

Jones is no stranger to resort towns like Telluride; she spent much of her youth at Copper Mountain, where her father was involved in that ski area’s development. Her most recent hometown in Washington is a popular getaway for Seattle area residents.

She has two daughters, ages 17 and 20.

Jones fell into the arts agency management business while on the path to a career in the visual arts. She discovered that her passion for art transcended into a desire to help promote arts development throughout the greater community; a passion that she carries with her into her new position with TCAH.

“I don’t believe art happens in a vacuum; arts are essential for a sustainable community, both economically and culturally,” she says.