Dear Friends,

Endings and beginnings of everything, especially years, are a time for looking back and forward, realizing regrets and taking pride, learning lessons and patting one’s self on the back, being sad and being optimistic. At Jasper, we asked a group of artists and arts lovers what kind of New Year’s resolutions and wishes they would make for the Greater Columbia Arts Community, particularly if money was no object.

As it turns out, money, of course, is a huge object given that almost everyone wished for an abundance of it for themselves and their brothers and sisters in the community. Not money for lavish purchases or conspicuous consumption. But money for paints and canvasses, money for spaces to create and demonstrate their arts, money for equipment, advanced training, and communication.

Our artists didn’t want money as much as they wanted funding.

And almost without fail, they wanted a state government that valued their contributions to our culture for the integral building blocks that they are. Unfortunately, the lack of these two things – funding and institutional respect – goes hand in hand. It’s an ideological problem that grows out of the lack of arts education and appreciation in our public schools and ultimately blooms into paralyzing fear and greed, and no-win situations for anyone.

There’s not a lot that any one individual – artist or arts lover – can do to remedy this kind of situation, but our well-wishers thought of that, too. In the absence of proper and appropriate funding, most of them also wished for the kind of unity and community support that can overshadow and, in many ways, overwhelm such negativity. As performance artist Natalie Brown, who is featured in this issue of Jasper, says, “This is our town. This is our movement. This is our renaissance. Protect it. Nurture it. Help out your fellow artists. Share information and advice. And don’t just leave your energy at the studio door, either. Watch and participate in what is happening in politics and in development. Know your local issues and help spread awareness. Something magical is happening. Let’s keep the energy going.”

At Jasper, we’d like to serve as a catalyst for doing exactly what Brown and so many other artists and arts lovers have suggested. We want to be the coffee table you gather around to discuss ways to make our community stronger, efficacious, and sustainable. In the coming months, watch for our sponsorship of a series of arts community forums where we will invite the activist-minded artists amongst you to come together to (briefly) complain about, deconstruct, celebrate, and finally, meet head-on the challenges local artists face. Be thinking about problem solving, creating opportunity, empowerment, and taking the destiny of the Greater Columbia Arts Community into your own hands. Claim this moment in time as your own.

Until then, we hope you enjoy the arts coverage we’ve assembled for you in this issue of Jasper. From taking a look at Columbia’s choral arts, to exploring the studios of the Arcade Mall and two of its artists; from learning about both a ballet dancer and a belly dancer, to getting to know the author of the 2012 One Book, One Columbia selection; from the bookish tunes of a local band, to the credibility Columbia is gaining on the national Hip-Hop stage, at Jasper, we’re excited to share all this and more with you.

Happiest of New Years from all of us at Jasper.

Take care,

 Cindi