The Carnegie Arts Center reached a new milestone last year with more than 20,000 visitors coming to see an exhibit, take a class, watch a play, hear some jazz, or any of the other art mediums showcased at the Center.

The Carnegie Arts Center gave their annual report Tuesday night to a joint Turlock City Council and Parks, Arts and Recreations Commission.

Over 2018, the Carnegie hosted nine exhibitions in the two gallery spaces and featured artists from both the region and around the world. The biggest exhibit for 2018 was the “José Guadalupe Posada & the Mexican Penny Press: prints from the Collection of David J. Sellars.”

“This was one of the largest exhibitions we have mounted to date — with more than 98 prints, books and publications to display,” Carnegie Arts Center Director Lisa McDermott wrote in the annual report.

All total the nine exhibits drew in 4,582 visitors.

A portion of the Carnegie Arts Center’s programming is designed around art education for youth. The Carnegie Arts Center saw 38 schools from 13 regional communities come through the doors last year. The Discovery Art field trips, which intermix gallery exhibits with hands-on art experiences, had 2,821 participating students. The Carnegie also hosted two plays from the LightBox Theatre Company that were watched by 1,352 students.

The Carnegie also continues to draw in young visitors and their families with the Family Friday series and the youth art exhibition “Ready, Set, Show!”

The Carnegie held 13 special events last year, including the 2018 Turlock Designer Show House, which saw 18 interior designers and landscapers create different spaces in a Turlock home that was opened to the public for 10 days.

Attendance at events for both children and adults were both up in 2018, according to the annual report.

“The Carnegie is the community’s resource for discovering and learning through the arts,” McDermott said when presenting the annual report.

The Carnegie ended the fiscal year with $2,042,162 in pledged commitments to the Endowment Fund, of which $1,771,573 were collected at the end of the fiscal year. The Endowment Fund growth through investments for the fiscal year was at $59,051. The unrestricted revenue for the fiscal year was $314,254 and Endowment Fund earnings transferred was at $71,477. The expenses for the fiscal year were at $417,769.