Traverse City’s Crooked Tree Arts Center Looks Ahead
With continually growing programs and a building in flux, what’s next?
Local arts and community center Crooked Tree Arts Center—with locations in Petoskey in Traverse City—has no shortage of offerings from classes to exhibits to shows. And their dedication to cultivating the arts Up North shows.
“Our biggest success in 2025 has been seeing increased engagement across all our programs: classes, workshops, and free community offerings,” reflects CTAC President Angela Morris. “It has been exciting to see more people participating and connecting with arts in various forms.”
The Place of Art in the Community
Both Morris and Kristi Wodek, CTAC’s Vice President and head of the Traverse City location, are excited to see their programming grow in the year ahead—assuming funding stays steady.
“I’m pleased with the funding that was built into the state budget,” says Wodek. “And, while I’m pleased with that, at the same time it is important for me to acknowledge that Michigan is on the lower end [of arts funding] compared to the rest of the states in our country.”
Of course, Wodek is cognizant of the other challenges facing the state of Michigan and the U.S. more broadly. “I recognize that arts are not always going to be at the top [of the list], but … arts do provide a lot to our communities, and we need creative thinkers and we need ways for people to express themselves, especially right now,” says Wodek.
Morris says that Crooked Tree is lucky to have a strong base of donors and support, but that funding is the biggest hurdle on the horizon.
“Obviously food/shelter is the number one priority, but we do believe arts are vital to the health and well-being of our community,” Morris agrees. “We are starting to feel ripple effects; there are lots of grants that we have applied for in the past that are closed indefinitely or on hold.”
Home Sweet…Home?
And of course, the Traverse City building and its future are never far from their minds.
CTAC TC occupies the Carnegie Building on Sixth Street, which dates back to 1905. Per our sister publication, The Ticker, Crooked Tree Arts Center moved into the Carnegie Building in 2015 after the History Center of Traverse City vacated the property. In December 2024, city commissioners voted to extend Crooked Tree’s lease—which was set to expire this summer—through October 2026.
The extension was intended to give Crooked Tree “time to continue programming through the 2025 and 2026 seasons while allowing the city time to assess the building’s maintenance needs and future use,” according to a memo from Assistant City Manager Deborah Allen.
The extension prompted an in-depth discussion about the future of the Carnegie Building. The City will now be conducting a request for proposals (RFP) process to determine the building’s next tenant.
“The Traverse City location is obviously potentially a challenge if we lose our building,” says Morris.
“I respect that it’s going to be a transparent process,” says Wodek. “It’s important that the community is aware of it, and I’m glad that we are being given the opportunity to apply for consideration.”
Still, the uncertainty makes it hard for Wodek and her team to plan for the year ahead. “The more they delay it, it’s going to put us in a tight position,” she says. “We should be starting to plan for 2027 soon, but we can only plan until October.” And if ultimately the lease isn’t renewed, the CTAC team will need time to pack.
“I feel that we live up to Andrew Carnegie’s wish,” Wodek says. “The way we use the space and we allow people to come in and enjoy it at any level, for architecture or to look at art, is really important. I’m proud that people can come in. When we had our first big event after our lease expanded into Carnegie side, I felt this sigh from the building that finally it’s being used as a community space. I felt really proud of that.”
Carrying On
Despite the uncertainty, both locations are planning full slates for 2026 to build off the successes in 2025. Morris points to the summer programming in Petoskey as a notable win for the organization. CTAC received generous grants to support the summer exhibitions and related programming in Petoskey, which enabled them to offer dozens of free experiences.
“We partnered with a ton of new, different nonprofits and other partners we haven’t worked with before. It was an amazing opportunity to bring a lot of new people through our doors,” Morris says. “We saw a lot of people who had never been to Crooked Tree before, who maybe were intimidated, and it was a cool opportunity to see so many new faces. Hopefully it will help us continue to reach a broader audience.”
The Traverse City location also experienced a strong 2025; Wodek points to their educational programming as their “superpower.” When Wodek started at CTAC nine years ago, only one class was running. Now, opportunities to learn for all ages abound.
“We have an instructor who is just dynamic with the preschoolers,” she says. When she stopped by their class recently, “I was overwhelmed with how many people were in the room. It’s a lot of word of mouth. People are starting to trust that they can come here and have a good experience, they are going to learn and grow. I’m really honored to see the growth continue.”
Speaking of young artists, in the spring, the annual youth art show returns. “This is one of our favorites and one of the community’s favorites,” says Wodek. “I can’t even tell you how many people come through the building for that show.”
Come summertime, Paint Grand Traverse will be back, the “crown jewel” of CTAC’s calendar; applications for artists are open through December 15.
Crooked Tree Traverse City will also have a vessel show, primarily featuring ceramic artists.
“We love that we have Paint Grand Traverse and landscape painters in our fold, and it’s important to me that we continue to be diverse, giving opportunities for all mediums,” Wodek says.
The team is also planning for summer art camp, where they have fun thinking outside the box, with partnerships with other organizations like North Sky Raptor that allow them to lean into STEAM themes.
Overall, Wodek wants to continue to be a community-first place.
“We want people to come in here as a visitor and not just [be] by the art, because it’s a landscape and we’ve seen vineyards before, but to really stop and ponder, ‘What is this artist trying to say? Why did this artist choose these colors or subject matter?’ We try to take the experience to the next level,” she says.
By the Numbers
How many folks visit the Traverse City location? (Wodek estimates 4,000 on the lowest end, though they don’t have a foot traffic calculator.) How many classes happen throughout the year? Here’s what Wodek told us:
Class & Workshop Participation
• 887 adults and 709 youth have participated in classes and workshops
• 168 total classes and workshops offered
• 15 half-day youth summer art camps
Art Fairs
• Hosted two art fairs—one in Traverse City and one in Suttons Bay
• Each included 100+ participating artists, including an emerging artist tent for 10 youth in Suttons Bay
Exhibiting Artists & Sales
• 278 artists have exhibited at the Traverse City campus
• More than $83,000 in artist commissions paid so far in 2025 (not including the ongoing Merry Marketplace)
Artwork Displayed
• 610 pieces of exhibited work, not including pieces in the year-round sales gallery