Community Impact
Education
The Clayton Center for the Arts offers youth arts groups access to a professional stage and gallery to engage the community. With partners support the next generation of artists, such as Dogwood Arts’ “Synergy Exhibition,” the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s “Young People’s Concert,” and organizations like Broadway Center for the Arts and the Appalachian Ballet Company, we provide a platform for emerging artists to grow.
Our stages and galleries are home to the Maryville College Fine Arts programs. To learn more about studying the arts at Maryville College, please visit our website at maryvillecollege.edu/finearts.
Economy
The mission speaks directly about the economic benefits of having the arts in Blount County. In our mission, we commit to “bolstering cultural and economic vitality, strengthening tourism.” The City of Maryville dedicates millions of dollars to improving the infrastructure of our downtown area, and we hope that our patrons will utilize the newly constructed pedestrian bridge to dine and shop downtown.
In the fall of 2025, Vienna Coffee will open a storefront in the Clayton Center for the Arts as an additional gathering space. The Clayton Center for the Arts welcomes thousands of audience members to downtown Maryville annually. We use our resources to promote and uplift artists of all points in their careers.
Excellence
The Clayton Center for the Arts proudly partners with the Tennessee Arts Commission, East Tennessee Foundation, Arts and Culture Alliance, and South Arts for funding to support artists. We are proud recipients of grants that serve the following initiatives:
Folklife Festival
Tennessee Arts Commission’s Folklife Division funded a performance from the American Patchwork Quartet and the Smoky Mountain Quilters Guild to celebrate folk traditions in America. South Arts: Along with Pinnacle Bank, South Arts helped fund our Solstice: A Winter Circus Experience performance. With their contribution, we provided a significantly subsidized rate for educators to see a matinee performance of professional artists.
East Tennessee Foundation
As strong supporters of arts in East Tennessee, the Foundation provided opportunities for partners such as Wordplayers, Foothills Community Players, Broadway Center for the Arts, and the Knox Film Series to perform on the stages of the Clayton Center for the Arts.
Arts and Culture Alliance- Arts Build Communities
Due to the support of Arts and Culture Alliance, we are building capacity for the visual arts. The Clayton Center for the Arts has four gallery spaces, and we’d like the CCA to be a destination for visual art, too. This year, we supported five artists and partnered with local schools and nonprofits to showcase visual youth arts pieces in the Dolce Vita and DENSO Gallery.
The Tennessee Specialty License Program supports the Tennessee Arts Commission.
