History
The Lincoln Arts Council (LAC) was formed in 1968. Lincoln had an arts council long before many cities of comparable size throughout the country.
Programs of the Council have changed over the years in response to a growing community and increasing professionalization of Lincoln’s arts organizations. In the 1970’s an arts festival was held on Centennial Mall and the Mayor’s Arts Awards were established. In the 1980’s Miller and Paine hosted “Arts in the Aisles” for the Council and a “United Arts Fund” was tried (this established a special account at the Lincoln Foundation which generated approximately $4000 in interest a year for LAC to distribute in regrants). In the 1990’s, a comprehensive cultural plan was published through the leadership of the Council. The Council also initiated and sustained a Saturday Arts Academy for 8 years.
The largest project undertaken by the Council was the development of a cultural plan. In 1988, under contract with the City of Lincoln, LAC began the process of gathering information from all segments of the community. ArtsMarketing of Boston directed the effort and in 1990 the Cultural Master Plan was unveiled. The Plan guided the programs and efforts of the Council for many years.
The composition of the Board has also varied according to the needs of the community. At one time, it consisted of community leaders. At another, only arts organizations were represented. Today, the Board strives for a healthy representation from all sectors of the community including education and business.
As LAC approached its 60th anniversary, our programming was defined by our Arts Access programming, UpstArt, and two public events: the Mayor’s Arts Awards and the Lincoln Arts Festival. UpstArt served more than 10,000 people through arts programming in schools, public venues, and with human service partner organizations. The arts festival, held along Canopy Street in downtown Lincoln, drew more than 15,000 people annually.
In October 2024, the Lincoln Arts Council was forced to suspend operations due to financial challenges. A small group of board members and former staff worked tirelessly over the next five months to bring the organization back to life. Thanks to public and private support, we reconstituted ourselves in March 2025. A new board was built and given training to support the organization responsibly and effectively. The scope of our programming was also narrowed. Moving forward, LAC’s focus will be on upstArt only, which has been divided into two: KidstArt programming for children, and CarestArt for adults. Additionally, we are working to build an online network of resources for local creatives called ArtsPing. We will no longer present the Lincoln Arts Festival or the Mayor’s Arts Awards.