The end of an era
Coté steps down after 30+ years at CCCAC
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HANCOCK -- After more than three decades of managing the Copper Country Community Arts Center, Founding Director Cynthia Coté stepped down recently, passing the reigns to Bonnie Loukas as the center’s new executive director.
Coté said she is taking time in her retirement to focus on her own art. "I'm spending more time in my studio," she said. "About midway through my career I realized that I wasn't very happy, that there was something missing and I realized I wasn't making my art. I wasn't realizing my whole person."
The Community Arts Center opened in December 1992 in its Hancock location and started offering classes the following month. With Coté at the helm from the get go, the center has come a long way since its inception. According to a 2024 Daily Mining Gazette article, Coté was born and raised downstate before making the first of her moves to the Upper Peninsula in 1980. It stuck for good in 1992, when she moved to her house in Osceola Location near Calumet.
She said at first there was a lot of doubt around the viability of a rural, community arts center. "A lot of people thought we were a pilot project and I never thought of it that way," she said. "We're here to stay. There's a need and we're gonna fill it."
According to Coté, the Community Arts Center gives artists -- both new and established -- a space to sell their art, refine their craft and even help write grants for their work. Coté said the Copper Country's residents have an innate creative spirit which comes from the area they live in.
"I think the level of quality of art is really high here. It's unique and different -- just really well developed," she said. "We currently have over 100 artists that we're showing, and it's all local and regional. We don't go outside the area looking for our gallery. We're here to support our local artists."
Arts Center staff and board members threw a retirement party for Coté last week. They celebrated her achievements and legacy by renaming the Art Gallery to the Coté Gallery. Board President Stephanie Carpenter said Coté attention to detail in her own work translates to running a community arts center.
"What she demonstrates is the importance of building relationships," she said. "One thing that's always struck me is how warmly people greet her when they come into the art center."
Carpenter added Coté’s reverence for uplifting smaller, rural artists has widely benefited the community.
"I think it's important to make art feel accessible to people no matter where they are and who they are and what age they are," she said. "A place like the Art Center that offers arts education for everybody makes art accessible and reminds us of who we are holistically as grounded people."
After 30 years of curation, management and serving the artistic community, Coté said the Arts Center is in good hands with Loukas taking over.
"Bonnie and I worked together for 24 years," she said. "If we would have had to go search for someone for this job, I'm not sure we could have found anybody. She really has a solid understanding and has her own ideas about how to lead us to the future."