The Saugatuck-Douglas Art Club was organized in 1953 and launched its First Annual Art Show upstairs in the Saugatuck Village Hall.  The Art Club continues to sponsor two outdoor Art Fairs each summer.  They are the Village Square Art and Fine Crafts Art Fair the last Saturday of July, and the Waterfront Invitational Art Fair the weekend of July 4.  Both shows are juried, and attract many locals and tourists with high quality and diverse works offered by artisans from the region and across the nation.

The purpose of the Art Club is to stimulate and encourage the creation, study and presentation of the performing and creative arts, to encourage public interest in the cultural heritage of the area, and to encourage freedom of artistic expression.  To these ends, the Art Club has served as an incubator, sponsor and supporter of new arts organizations in its artistically vibrant hometowns.   In 2006 the Art Club contributed $5,448 to support local cultural and educational projects benefiting the community’s students and the general public of the area.  In 2005 and 2006 it equipped a new art studio at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts to be used for classes for adults and children.  In 2007 it funded a display space in the Red Barn Theatre, home of the Lakeshore Arts Alliance.  The Art Club also responds to special needs that art teachers in the Saugatuck School District may have.

The Art Club, in the years from 1991 to 2005, granted scholarships in the amount of over $153,000 to local students pursuing arts education in degree-granting programs.  In 2006 $12,687 and in 2007 $15,233 was disbursed to local students seeking careers in the arts.   

It is unusual for a small town to enjoy a scholarship program which is able to provide substantial support to students pursuing careers in the arts.  Among former Saugatuck-Douglas Art Club Art Scholars are the creative director and vice president at Conde-Nast Publishing Company, a full professor of art at West Virginia State University, and many others who are successfully pursuing careers as practicing artists, performing artists, graphic artists and art educators.

The Art Club holds monthly meetings which focus on hands-on workshops, visits to galleries, and programs on local art history and local artists.  The Art Club contributes substantially to community education and the cultural life in its hometowns, and it deserves your support.  To become a member (annual dues $10), or to make a scholarship donation, or to remember a loved one through a donation to the Memorial Fund, send checks to Box 176, Saugatuck MI 49453.   As a 501 (c )(3) non-profit organization all contributions are tax-exempt.