The Murray Art Guild is receiving $750,000 in grant funding from the state that will jumpstart its new building project.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced the funding during a visit to Calloway County last week. The grant will help MAG demolish its existing space and build a new facility on the same lot.
MAG executive director Debi Henry Danielson said the guild worked with the Calloway County Fiscal Court to apply for Community Development Block Grant funding through the Commonwealth’s Department for Local Government.
Danielson said MAG’s program offerings and needs have outgrown the nearly 70-year-old existing facility, and the board of directors decided it would be best to move forward with a new building.
“We’re just kind of running out of space,” Danielson said. “We did a survey with the community, trying to gather information and get some feedback on whether they thought we could get a new building if we needed to. And all of the feedback that we got was that our programming far exceeded our facility.”
Danielson noted a strong regional support of the arts for people of all ages. All of MAG’s summer classes and programs have been full, and several fall workshops are already booked up, she said.
MAG plans to fundraise to cover the rest of the costs of the new building and Danielson aims to share those plans by the end of August.
“It's a big undertaking, but I think we're ready for it,” Danielson said. “I think it'll be really exciting for the community.”
