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As one of Homer's oldest arts organizations, the Homer Council on the Arts traces its origins back to before statehood with its predecessor, the Homer Concert Association, founded in 1958. When HCOA holds its 34th annual meeting from 5-7 p.m. Friday, it won't just be looking back at its past, but ahead to the future with its 2009 community arts assessment.

At the meeting tomorrow, HCOA invites art supporters to bring memorabilia like ticket stubs, posters and programs to share. The arts council also asks people to look ahead and share ideas about the future of the arts in Homer.

HCOA also honors six Homer citizens with its fifth Annual Arts Awards (see related story, this page).

"We're really interested in understanding the arts history community wide and what role the Homer Council on the Arts played in that," said HCOA executive director Hope Finkelstein.

The Homer Concert Association began as a lower Kenai Peninsula anchor for the Anchorage Concert Association and a way to bring national and international performing arts groups to Homer.

Homer joined the Alaska Music Trail, a program to bring the performing arts to rural Alaska. HCOA was founded in 1975 to be an umbrella organization for other arts groups. Its historic role as bringing performing arts to Homer changed.

"The programming greatly expanded from just supporting performing arts to all the arts," Finkelstein said.

HCOA now presents concerts, supports the literary arts through efforts like its co-sponsorship of the Kenai Peninsula Writers Contest, offers workshops in all art disciplines and supports young and emerging artists through scholarship and mentoring programs. In doing a community arts assessment, HCOA wants to look at arts needs not served.

"Considering there's so much going on, we want to hear from the community," Finkelstein said. "Where are the gaps? What do we want to see happen? What do we love that's deserving of support?"

At the same time, HCOA wants to recognize the contributions of other arts groups like Pier One Theatre, Bunnell Street Art Center, the Pratt Museum and private galleries, Finkelstein said.

"How can HCOA serve those individual programs and how can they work together more effectively?" she said.

Under a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation, this year HCOA holds a series of meetings inviting arts lovers to help it assess community arts needs. Filmmakers Kevin Co and Miriam Elizondo will videotape some of the meetings.

One thing HCOA will look at is its building, the old Pate Insurance offices on East Pioneer Avenue it acquired eight years ago. Finkelstein said that ideas for using that building have changed. For example, in 2001 one proposal was for a community photography darkroom -- a need new digital technology has changed.

"What's the highest and best us of it?" she asked of the HCOA building.

With the inauguration Tuesday of President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, Finkelstein noted that HCOA's community arts assessment comes at a time when the buzzword is "change."

"We're looking at 2009 as being the year looking at how we're going to improve not only the individual programs, but how we can help to serve the community through the arts," she said.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com.