John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Established in 1967, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center is nationally recognized for its collection of folk art, vernacular art, and works by self-taught artists, as well as its support of emerging contemporary artists. The Arts Center's 100,000-square-foot facility, opened at the turn of the millennium , features 10 galleries, a theatre, shop, and cafe, as well as studio classrooms and meeting spaces. Each of the six public washrooms was created by a different artist in the Arts Centers' joint residency program with the Kohler Co., known as Arts/Industry.

The Arts Center hosts 30 exhibitions per year in every conceivable medium and is home to five performing arts series, which include theatre, dance, live music, and film. Admission is free. Free and low cost artmaking activities are available to families in the ARTery, an interactive learning gallery. The Arts Center is open seven days per week, but it is closed most major holidays, except for Independence Day.

MISSION

The Arts Center serves as laboratory for the creation of new works, nurturer of interdisciplinary initiatives, originator of exhibitions, presenter and producer of performing arts, educator, publisher of critical writings, community builder, and advocate for issues affecting the arts. In essence, JMKAC functions as a catalyst for and explorer of new art forms and new ideas that will impact the lives of both artists and public.

At the very heart of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center are its local, regional, and national constituencies and the unique, very real relationship between artists and the public. The Arts Center shall nurture the involvement of children of all ages, through the schools, families, and community organizations. Likewise, it shall engage the broadest possible adult audiences. The Arts Center shall continue its leadership roles of nourishing diversity and building community through the arts. In all programming, the Arts Center shall cultivate connections: between artists and audiences, between artists and communities, between emerging and established artists, between local and visiting artists, between the Arts Center and other organizations, between art forms, and between past and present.

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