Yuma, Arizona - Yuma Fine Arts Association (YFAA) have elected to donate their 400 piece Permanent Art Collection to the Arizona Western College Foundation that will be curated at the College. AWC is honored to be a recipient of this collection that will move over to campus during the month of January 2017.

“On behalf of the YFAA Board of Trustees, I am pleased to announce that we will be donating the Yuma Fine Arts Association Permanent Collection to Arizona Western College for the benefit of the community” said Teri Ingram, YFAA Board President. “The Collection represents years of dedication and arts advocacy and we are thrilled that it will be going to an institution that also believes in the importance of arts and culture to the benefit of everyone.”

Yuma Fine Arts Association, originally known as the Yuma Art Center, was established as a 501(c)3 in 1962 to stimulate interest in a wide variety of art forms and to meet the community needs for a fine arts cultural center.  For the next fifty years, YFAA was dedicated to producing quality art exhibits, workshops, and cultural events to promote the arts in our community.  Much of the YFAA Permanent Collection was amassed through purchase awards and donations from the annual Southwest Invitational art exhibit that began in 1966.  It became known as the best collection of contemporary Arizona artists in the state.

Yuma Fine Arts has had many homes but never wavered from its mission to support Arizona artists.  More recently, YFAA was contracted by the City of Yuma to curate the exhibits in the Yuma Art Center, a city owned and operated building.  Earlier this year, the YFA contract with the City was not renewed.  The Yuma Fine Arts Permanent Collection is an important historical and cultural asset that deserves to be on display in our community.

The collection will be curated by AWC students that will participate in a class that teaches curating, cataloging, and creating a system of sourcing the artwork that will be hung at AWC.

“Our hearts are full and we look forward to seeing it on display at the Arizona Western College campuses,” said Ms. Ingram.