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This article is from the November 2008 edition of Contemporary Craft News, our quarterly friends and members newsletter.
Elsa Limbach, past board member, patron, and long-time friend of SCC just rotated from the board when her term expired in June of 2008. We sat down with Elsa to discuss her relationship with SCC and the connection that she feels to the organization.
Elsa credits her mother, Ellen, with giving her a life-long appreciation for the arts. She would always take her to galleries and performances and instilled in her a sense of knowledge about the arts in general, and in contemporary craft. Elsa says now of her involvement in various arts organizations, “if it has something to do with art, I’m interested.” It was Ellen that introduced Elsa to the Store for Arts and Crafts and People Made Things in Verona and later encouraged her to go to shows at the newer location in the Strip District. Elsa originally went to school for architecture, but it was dance that won her over and shaped her career, which is how she came to know Janet McCall. McCall was working at the Carnegie Museum of Art where Elsa’s dance troupe, Dance Alloy, was in residence at the time. Years later, when Janet became the executive director of SCC, she invite Elsa to join the board, knowing of her experience with small arts organizations and her appreciation for craft. Elsa says that she prefers to work with smaller and mid-sized organizations because of the close personal connections she makes with the staff and other affiliates.
In 2004 Elsa took a lead role in fundraising for SCC when she worked with the staff to start the ASK program. She had previous fundraising experience and her quest for knowledge and love of people made her a shoe-in. Elsa remembers her first behind-the scenes tour of SCC and the excitement she felt when she was filled with the knowledge that connected her to the organization and further cultivated her relationship to the arts community. Unlike ordinary event fundraisers, the ASK truly sought to educate and in doing so established a relationship between the people and the organization that would continue to grow. It is this relationship that Elsa feels not only strengthens the organization, but the community, and it is similar to the relationship between the artist and his audience. Without this relationship the art would seem, “empty and abstract” and without the connection to community, the organization will not grow.
Not everyone can help start a fundraising strategy or contribute monetarily to the cause, but everyone can get involved in learning about contemporary craft and come to the free exhibitions, events, artist demonstrations, and lectures SCC hosts on a regular basis. When asked why, with all of her other commitments to arts organizations she continues to devote so much energy to SCC, she explains that SCC has “creative process at it’s soul”. Elsa hopes that people will take advantage of the high standards SCC upholds in all of its programmatic efforts, which she is constantly impressed by, including the variety of Studio classes, unique Store work and cutting-edge exhibitions. We hope that others will agree with Elsa and continue to help us strengthen the relationship between our organization and the community.
Elsa Limbach
2100 Smallman St. Pittsburgh, PA 15222 | 412.261.7003 | www.contemporarycraft.org
