Lantern Lighting

media release: Shake Rag Alley invites the community to a Lantern Lighting on Monday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m. to celebrate 20 years of creativity and mark the successful completion of their Campus Revitalization Project. This project entailed major improvements to campus, including upgrading electrical and WiFi, and restoring fences and iconic lanterns. All these efforts make the 2.5 acre campus more accessible and welcoming for visitors, students, and instructors.

On October 14, 2004 local artists and community members founded the arts & craft nonprofit as a 501(c)(3) to enrich people’s lives through the arts. Shake Rag Alley’s mission includes providing educational experiences in visual, performing, and literary arts; a diverse catalog of workshop offerings spans options from fiber arts to blacksmithing, painting and drawing to heritage craft and mixed media, and new glassblowing in 2024. One of Shake Rag Alley’s first programs was an after-school youth program, and that focus continues with a summer Youth Program featuring classes June through mid-August, including a community-supported Free Arts Camp. Essential to Shake Rag Alley’s mission is cultivating the creativity that thrives in the rural community. In addition to drawing on the creative community of Mineral Point and Iowa County for artist-teachers, programming like the Alley Stage Reading Series, Makers & Shakers Art Party, artist residencies, and free events like the recent Fiber Faire during Cornish Fest fulfill that aspect of the mission.

Rehabilitating and preserving the historic buildings and rustic campus is also key to the nonprofit’s mission. Improvements to the 1840’s Coach House this year (supported by a Core Grant from the Dubuque Racing Association), as well as the Campus Revitalization Project evidence continuing commitment to mission. Grants from the Iowa County Outdoor Recreation for Tourism and the Mineral Point Community Foundation provided support for the comprehensive project campus project, and additional community support came from the Lions Club, Mineral Point Kiwanis, and Wisconsin Electric. Individual donors, lantern sponsors, and a donor match were instrumental to the success of the 20th Campaign.

Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts is gratified and grateful for the community that supports it. The Lantern Lighting will be sweet and full of cheer as the organization celebrates the past twenty years, and illuminates the future.

More information available at https://shakeragalley.org/. To be a part of the 20th year celebration, see https://shakeragalley.org/support/.