Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago — Within Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.

Organization

Founded: 2006
Dissolved: 2022
Eras: Modern era
Concepts: music-folklorecommunityeducation
Within: Beaver Island

Summary

The Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association (BICAA) was a Michigan nonprofit corporation formed in 2006 to sponsor, manage, and present Baroque on Beaver and to support cultural-arts education on Beaver Island, taking over festival sponsorship from St. James Episcopal Mission. Contemporary Beaver Beacon and Charlevoix Courier reporting documents its founding board, its 501(c)3 status, and a decade of festival grants and youth music programming between 2006 and 2016. Its own 2022 festival program states that the organization became the Beaver Island Performing Arts Alliance that year.¹²

Formation, 2006

The group that had produced Baroque on Beaver’s summer concerts for five seasons incorporated in 2006 as BICAA. Its board held its first annual meeting on 28 August 2006 and named nine directors: Jane Maehr, chair; Christy Albin, vice chair and assistant treasurer; Paul Glendon, secretary; Ruth Kelly, treasurer; and members Jayne Bailey, Krys Lyle, Joe Moore, Deb Plastrik, and Kathy Speck. The board set 25-29 July 2007 as the dates for that year’s festival, planned expanded programming at the Parish Hall and smaller venues, and committed $2,500 toward music and cultural-arts instruction for Beaver Island Community School students through summer 2007. Maehr credited St. James Episcopal Mission, under whose auspices the first five festivals had been presented and through which festival proceeds had funded school music instruction, and said the advisory group that had guided the festival chose to form a separate nonprofit corporation to secure its continuation and formalize cultural-arts support.¹ By November 2006 BICAA had obtained federal 501(c)3 status. That month, Krys Lyle presented a $2,500 BICAA check to school counselor Beth Croswhite for the string program, alongside a separate $1,127 gift from the Beaver Island Music Fund.³

Sponsoring Baroque on Beaver and youth programs, 2007-2016

BICAA planned an interactive Music Camp during the 2007 festival week, welcoming Community School and visiting students to try orchestral instruments and take lessons from visiting musicians;⁴ that July, the Charlevoix County Community Foundation awarded BICAA $5,150 toward the program.⁵ By 2009 the Beaver Beacon described BICAA as Baroque on Beaver’s nonprofit sponsor: BICAA had funded a three-day Chicago trip on which 29 high-school students saw Twelfth Night at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, had provided string instruction to eleven students during the 2008-09 school year, and planned camp scholarships and an informal student performance with visiting festival musicians; the report also names the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Cheboygan Area Arts Council as partial supporters.⁶ A 2011 Charlevoix Courier feature names BICAA as the festival’s organizer.⁷ Retrospective 2014 coverage confirms the 2006 incorporation, calls Baroque on Beaver BICAA’s “signature event,” and reports a further $6,500 Community Foundation grant, quoting board chair Anne Glendon.⁸ In 2015 Glendon, still chair, is quoted describing new sponsorships from SpartanNash and William Hill Estate Winery for that year’s ten-day program.⁹ A December 2016 report says BICAA received a $7,500 Community Foundation grant to buy orchestral risers, quotes board chair Frank D’Andria, and states that BICAA had begun moving festival performances to the Beaver Island Community School gymnasium in 2015 to accommodate growing attendance, after buying acoustical panels in 2016.¹⁰

Beyond funding the school string program and its own summer camp, BICAA began underwriting outside performers and, by 2010, making small grants to other island groups. In July and August 2008 it ran a second-year “Jazz and More” Kids Music Camp, staffed by Lynne Tobin, Miranda Rooy, and Robin Lee Berry, toward which the Charlevoix County Community Foundation gave a further $3,550 check to board member Ruth Kelly.¹¹¹² That September BICAA sponsored a Ransom Street Big Band visit: an “off the mainland gig” concert supported by the Community Foundation, followed the next month by a report of the band’s school workshop and a 150-person evening concert at the Hall under conductor Nancy Summer, “brought here through the efforts of the Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association.”¹³¹⁴ By June 2009 festival materials carried BICAA’s own web address, www.bicaa.org, and that September board member Jayne Bailey presented a further $2,000 check to Beth Croswhite at a Baroque on Beaver concert for school arts education.¹⁵¹⁶

The organization’s role widened again in 2010. A January report names BICAA grants to the Beaver Island Community Players and the Recorder Group — the earliest held evidence of BICAA funding island groups unrelated to the festival or the school — and an April preview names board members Kitty McNamara, Miranda Rooy, and Jane Maehr working with musician Zac Moore on year-round student engagement, alongside volunteer contacts Judi Meister and Jayne Bailey.¹⁷¹⁸ That October BICAA announced a 2010-2011 mini-grant program, funded from Baroque on Beaver proceeds, “to support the creative work of local artists who enrich the cultural life of the Beaver Island community,” and in December it gave the Beaver Island Comedy Group $500 toward technical and production costs.¹⁹²⁰

Renaming to the Beaver Island Performing Arts Alliance, 2022

The 2022 Baroque on Beaver festival program documents a name change. Executive director Matthew Thomas’s letter states: “The twenty-first anniversary season of Baroque is also the beginning of a new era. In 2022 we became the Beaver Island Performing Arts Alliance.”² The same program’s outgoing board-chair letter, from Tamara McDonough, appears under two headings on the same page spread – “From The BICAA Chair” and “FROM THE BIPAA CHAIR” – evidence that the old and new names were still both in circulation as the rename took effect.² No source read for this article documents BICAA’s activity between the December 2016 grant report and the 2022 program.

Evidence and limits

Contemporary Beaver Beacon and Charlevoix Courier reporting establishes BICAA’s 2006 incorporation and founding board, its 501(c)3 status, its role sponsoring Baroque on Beaver and youth music instruction from 2007 through 2016, its 2008-2010 shift toward grantmaking for other island groups, and named board chairs and members in 2006 (Maehr), 2010 (McNamara, Rooy, Maehr, Bailey, Meister), 2014-2015 (Glendon), and 2016 (D’Andria). The 2022 festival program is direct, first-party evidence that BICAA became the Beaver Island Performing Arts Alliance that year. None of the sources read for this article supplies an incorporation filing, IRS determination letter, dissolution or amendment record, a complete board history, or any account of BICAA’s activity in the 2017-2021 interval. The held Beaver Beacon corpus itself ends in April 2011, so the 2012-2013 gap in local newspaper coverage before the 2014 Charlevoix Courier report may reflect that corpus limit rather than an absence of BICAA activity.

Open questions

What incorporation, IRS, or board records document the 2006 formation and the 2022 rename directly, rather than through festival-program prose?
What did BICAA do, and who led it, between the December 2016 grant report and the 2022 name change?
How large did the 2010-2011 mini-grant program and its successors grow, and which island artists and groups did they support in later years?
Which student musicians, teachers, and programs beyond those named here can be documented with permissions-sensitive school records or published programs?

The dated record

11 dated events · 2010–2020These years on the timeline →

The page

Rendered from the held scan.

Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association — p. 1 — Held scan“New Arts Organization Takes over Baroque on Beaver,” Beaver Beacon, October 2006.Open the page image · Download this page

Sources

“New Arts Organization Takes over Baroque on Beaver,” Beaver Beacon, October 2006.
Reports BICAA's incorporation as a Michigan nonprofit corporation, names its nine-member founding board, dates the first annual meeting to 28 August 2006, records 2007 festival planning and a $2,500 school-support commitment, and describes the transition from St. James Episcopal Mission sponsorship. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-10_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, October 2006, held issue PDF, source scan.
The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2006-10_Beaver-Beacon
“The BICAA Helps Out,” Beaver Beacon, November 2006.
Reports Krys Lyle presenting BICAA's $2,500 check to school counselor Beth Croswhite for the string program, a separate $1,127 gift from the Beaver Island Music Fund, and BICAA's recent 501(c)3 designation. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-11_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, November 2006, held issue PDF, source scan.
The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2006-11_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, April 2007, “Music Camp.”
Announces BICAA's interactive music camp for Beaver Island Community School and visiting students during the sixth Baroque on Beaver week. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2007-04_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, April 2007, held issue PDF, source scan.
The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2007-04_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, July 2007, “CCCF Supports BICAA’s Baroque 11.”
Reports a $5,150 Charlevoix County Community Foundation award to BICAA for its summer music program. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2007-07_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, July 2007, held issue PDF, source scan.
The held forty-four-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2007-07_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, May 2009, “Students in Chicago.”
Calls BICAA the nonprofit sponsor of Baroque on Beaver and describes its string instruction, student support, and festival-week instruction plans. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-05_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, May 2009, held issue PDF, source scan.
The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2009-05_Beaver-Beacon
“Baroque on Beaver: Classical music festival coming to Beaver Island this summer,” Charlevoix Courier, July 2011.
Advance feature names BICAA as organizer of the 2011 festival. Its claim that Baroque on Beaver "grown from a single concert in 2001" is not used in this article, since it conflicts with the 2002 predecessor account documented at event/baroque-on-beaver-music-festival. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
charlevoix · charlevoixcourie2011unse
“Foundation awards grant to Beaver Island Baroque festival,” Charlevoix Courier, 2014.
Reports that BICAA was formalized as a nonprofit corporation in 2006, calls Baroque its signature event, quotes board chair Anne Glendon, and reports a $6,500 Community Foundation award for 2014 festival work. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request. The page reader on this article shows page 466 of the 985-page bound annual volume; it is an extract, renumbered from one, not the whole volume.
charlevoix · Charlevoix-Courier-2014
“Baroque on Beaver backed by two new sponsors,” Charlevoix Courier, 2015.
Quotes Anne Glendon as "Chair of the Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association," calls Baroque on Beaver BICAA's signature event, and reports new SpartanNash and William Hill Estate Winery sponsorships for the 2015 program. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
charlevoix · Charlevoix-Courier-2015
“Grant funds to help purchase orchestral risers for annual event on Beaver Island,” Charlevoix Courier, December 2016.
Reports a $7,500 Community Foundation grant to BICAA for Festival Orchestra risers, quotes board chair Frank D'Andria, and says the association began moving festival performances to the school gymnasium in 2015. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
charlevoix · Charlevoix-Courier-2016
Matthew Thomas, “From The Executive Director,” and Tamara McDonough, board chair's letter, Baroque on Beaver 2022 festival program, accessed 4 August 2026.
Read directly (PDF text extraction, 4 August 2026). Thomas's letter states "In 2022 we became the Beaver Island Performing Arts Alliance." The outgoing chair's letter, on the same spread, is headed both "From The BICAA Chair" and "FROM THE BIPAA CHAIR" -- direct evidence the rename was in progress that season. Program pp. 10-13.
Beaver Beacon, April 2008, "Jazz and More" music camp notice.
Announces the second-year "Jazz and More" Kids Music Camp, July 28-August 1, 2008, offered by BICAA to coincide with Baroque on Beaver, staffed by Lynne Tobin, Miranda Rooy, and Robin Lee Berry. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2008-04_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, August 2008, music camp report and photograph.
Reports a $3,550 check presented to BICAA's Ruth Kelly in support of the summer music camp. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2008-08_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, September 2008, Ransom Street Big Band notice.
Reports an "off the mainland gig" concert sponsored by BICAA with support from the Charlevoix County Community Foundation. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2008-09_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, October 2008, Ransom Street Big Band report.
Reports the Ransom Street Big Band's September workshop at the school and evening concert at the Hall, an audience of 150, conducted by Nancy Summer, "brought here through the efforts of the Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2008-10_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, June 2009, festival program materials.
Prints "SPONSORED BY THE BEAVER ISLAND CULTURAL ARTS ASSOCIATION" with the website www.bicaa.org, the earliest held reference to the organization's own web address. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-06_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, September 2009, "BICAA Gifts BICS."
Reports board member Jayne Bailey presenting a $2,000 check to Beth Croswhite at the Baroque on Beaver concert for arts education at the Beaver Island Community School. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-09_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, January 2010, "BICAA Awards Grants To."
Reports BICAA grants to the Beaver Island Community Players and the Recorder Group -- the earliest held evidence of BICAA making grants to island community groups beyond the school and the festival itself. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-01_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, April 2010, Baroque on Beaver preview.
Names BICAA board members Kitty McNamara, Miranda Rooy, and Jane Maehr working with musician Zac Moore on student engagement, and names Judi Meister and Jayne Bailey as festival volunteer contacts. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-04_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, October 2010, "BICAA Announces Mini-Grant Program."
Announces a 2010-2011 mini-grant program funded by Baroque on Beaver proceeds to support local artists' creative work -- evidence BICAA had become a community arts grantmaker, not only a festival sponsor. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-10_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, December 2010, Comedy Group grant notice.
Reports a $500 BICAA grant to the Beaver Island Comedy Group for technical and production costs. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-12_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/organizations/beaver-island-cultural-arts-association/, accessed [date], citing “New Arts Organization Takes over Baroque on Beaver,” Beaver Beacon, October 2006. (and 24 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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