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exhibitions hosted by the Naples Art Association. The Naples National grew
as well as Art in the Park. The community art center had become the premiere
visual arts center in Naples.

were attracting record crowds. Student enrollment
was growing, the curriculum was extending and the
organization’s prestige had reached national status. Naples
Art’s time had come. It was time for a permanent home.

A NEW HOME FOR SIX DECADES OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE
THE COMMUNITY’S ART LEADER
Today, The Naples Art Association, its’ shows, events and multiple education
On March 6, 1994 under the headline Arts in the and outreach programs, have become an integral part of life in Naples. It has
Park? Naples Daily News invited the public to comment matured over the years into a respected institution that has enriched thousands
on a proposed plan to house the Naples Players and The of lives, young and old and continues to do so. Naples Art continually strives to
Naples Art Association in downtown Naples; an issue, they create more, higher-quality artistic opportunities for everyone in the Southwest
reported, that had “stirred controversy.” Florida community.

“Naysayers,” the feature continued, “believe a park Naples Art continues to develop initiatives that support the mission and
home for the Naples Players and The Naples Art expand the understanding of how art impacts our lives. Programs like ARTScool
Association would destroy precious open space and that connects art to science, math, or history, to Dinner with Artists that
unduly favor those art groups over others. Proponents say combines visual and culinary arts in order to bring deliver the creative spirit to
an overall Cambier Park realignment would in fact create an ever expanding audience. In Collier County, the Naples Art Association has
more open space and eliminate the need to ask taxpayers contributed to a robust arts and cultural community that gives us a competitive
or donors to pay for another site; at Cambier the arts advantage over other areas and is a leading reason people choose to live her.
groups should pay for construction.”
Come see why The Naples Art Association at the von Liebig Art Center is
Two months later on May 19, 1994 the City Council continually voted one of the best galleries in Naples, enjoy the second largest
voted 6-1 in favor of the downtown redevelopment plan. art resource library in Southwest Florida, take a class with a master instructor
or find the perfect gift in our one of a kind gift shop. Visit Naplesart.org for
1994 was a watershed year for other reasons too. The information on upcoming events and schedule of classes and workshops.
Naples National attracted exhibitors from 27 states.
Bette Young, then Naples Art Association’s president
and the organizer of the event told the media, “The
quality and quantity of entries has greatly escalated in
the last two years.”

In 1997 a major donation from William and Suzanne
von Liebig and a second large donation from the Frederick
O. Watson Foundation allowed the funding needed to
secure the building of a community art center.

The Naples Art Association’s von Liebig Art
Center was officially dedicated and opened to the
public on November 22, 1998. Programming expanded
to include a steady offering of adult classes, eight
weeks of children’s art classes began in the summer to
encourage and connect art to the academics students
where learning in the classroom. As part of community
outreach, free classes were offered to physically
challenged and low-income adults. Founders, Show
of Shows and National Art Encounter became regular

34 Life in Naples | January 2016