Professional Membership

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The Greater Memphis Arts Council recently announced the start of a another new year for their Arts Access program—an important part of their commitment to making the arts more accessible to more people in the community they serve.

Arts Access, which has been in place for more than 10 years, is an annual outreach program sponsored by the Arts Council that ensures the arts are available to those who can't always afford the price of admission. More than 30 participating local arts organizations set aside free tickets to arts events and exhibits throughout the year. Those tickets are then made available to TennCare and Church Health Center patients and food stamp recipients. The Arts Council prints a booklet containing a comprehensive list of all the available events and exhibits; instructions for obtaining tickets and a list of the participating arts organizations’ phone numbers are included in the booklet to make it as easy as possible for people to access the arts through this program. The booklet is distributed through the Tennessee Department of Human Services, the Church Health Center and the Hope and Healing Center, the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library, and numerous other local social services organizations.

The Greater Memphis Arts Council is an arts fundraising organization whose mission is raising funds to ensure excellence in the arts and build a vibrant cultural community for everyone. Founded 40 years ago by a group of Memphians who wanted to ensure that vibrant and diverse local arts offerings would be sustained, the Arts Council is now the eighth largest United Arts Fund in the country. In addition to distributing more than $2 million annually in operating and project support to local arts organizations, the Arts Council administers Arts Build Communities grants and Student Ticket Subsidy through annual funding from the Tennessee Arts Commission. The Arts Council also funds arts education through the Arts for Children & Teachers (ACT) program, which bring the arts to thousands of area schoolchildren every year.