WHO WE ARE TODAY
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The Pontiac Creative Arts Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, continues its 54-year mission of “Bringing the Arts to the Community through Education and Exhibition”.
Ongoing exhibits are presented; classes, summer Confetti Camp, and various community events are held throughout the year. We also support local schools by presenting workshops and performances and by sending artists in to schools to hold art classes. |
Since 1964, the Arts Center has served the community in a variety of creative ways.
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In 2018 we averaged 800 visitors per month, enjoying classes in drawing, painting, sculpture, wood turning, dance, drumming and ceramics.
Funding for the Pontiac Creative Arts Center comes from several sources including the Furlong Trust and the National Endowment for the Arts. We also receive money from other grants, memberships, donations and special fund raisers. |
OUR HISTORY
FOR THE LOVE OF LIFE AND ART
Dr. Harold Arthur Furlong
Harold Arthur Furlong (August 25, 1895 – July 27, 1987) was a United States Army First Lieutenant and a recipient of the United States Military’s highest decoration in 1919, the Medal of Honor, for his brave actions in France during World War I. After earning the Medal of Honor, he joined the Michigan National Guard, retiring in May 1946.
Once he retired from the military, he went back to school to become an obstetrician. He was associated with Pontiac General Hospital. For more than 50 years, Furlong was on the staff of Pontiac General Hospital. He developed the obstetrics and gynecology unit at the hospital, and in 1982, the Harold A. Furlong Maternity Unit was named in his honor.
″He was just a great example - everyone looked up to him, ″ said Dr. David Calver, chairman of the unit, who took over Furlong’s practice. ″Those were difficult shoes to fill. ″ In 1964, Dr. Harold Furlong established the Pontiac Creative Arts Center. The Furlong Trust was created and named in his honor and is funded by prominent citizens of Oakland County. He believed passionately that people deserved a place in their community where they could see, learn about, and experience art. Known for his passion of life and art, Furlong left his legacy in the city of Pontiac through the hospital and the art center. In an interview in 1959 Dr. Furlong said “Personally, I’m just happy to be a doctor and would just as soon not be written up in the newspaper as a war hero.” He died in 1987 at the age of 91 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Pontiac. |
The Pontiac Creative Arts CenterThe historic building was completed in 1898 as the Pontiac Public Library. When the library moved to Wide Track in the early 60's, this edifice was incorporated as a non-profit art center through the efforts of Dr. Harold Furlong.
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MISSION STATEMENT
Cultivating arts and culture in the community through exhibitions, education, and outreach. |
VISION STATEMENT
Capturing the spirit of the community through sharing and learning in the arts. |
