We’ve come to know that many people at home in Boulder County want to make a difference beyond their lifetimes – for generations to come: people like Martha Kate Thomas whose fund for artists, established with the Community Foundation in 2012, supports those with unforeseen needs due to special circumstances.
“I was really in my stride just before the 2013 floods,” said Priscilla Cohan. “In Lyons, my block was flooded – my house, and the studio behind my house. The studio had the most water – about three feet – and silt.” With 20 years’ immersion in the arts as a potter, painter, performance artist, community art activist and more, Cohan is experienced in many mediums – from wood and clay to metal, plaster, rubber, and concrete.
Recovering from the floods cost more than Cohan anticipated. “With support from the Martha Kate Thomas Fund, it was great to get my studio back online, first,” she said. “Receiving funding made it possible to even think about going back to my artwork again. It’s great practically, and it’s also really great psychologically.”
Since 2013, the legacy gift from Thomas’ estate grants $25,000 annually to the Boulder County Arts Alliance which, in turn, makes grants to individual artists. By 2017, the fund had granted a total of $125,000.
