Our Story
Our Mission
Hilltop Arts Collective empowers the Hilltop community through arts and culture.
The Organization
Hilltop Arts Collective is a nonprofit arts organization focused on bringing art to, and promoting the arts within the Hilltop. We do so with the belief that the arts can improve the quality of life for residents, and that everyone is entitled to beauty and art regardless of income or address.
We’re a community-based, all-volunteer team comprised of Hilltop residents and those with strong ties to the Hilltop.
Our major programs include Summer Jam West, our annual arts & music festival; For the Common Good, where we commission permanent, public art; and ARtsway, a mural mentorship program with high school students, though that’s far from everything we do!
Summer Jam West, the organization behind the community arts & music festival of the same name, is now the Hilltop Arts Collective. Summer Jam West will continue to be the name of our annual arts and music festival, held on the second Saturday in July.
The name change to the Hilltop Arts Collective reflects a transition from primarily a festival focus to an expanded focus on year-round arts programming for the Hilltop. We’re excited to continue what we’ve started, and look forward to providing additional opportunities to benefit the community through arts and culture. There’s so much we want to do with the arts here on the Hilltop, but as an all-volunteer team, we rely on people like you to make things happen. If you’re interested in learning more, please consider getting involved.
2014: Fixing an “Art Desert”
Frustrated at the lack of art on the Hilltop, and feeling a need to do something about it, resident Patti Von Niessen started Summer Jam West as a community arts & music festival in 2014. What began as a small grassroots community gathering on a shoestring budget (where neighborhood musicians were asked to play for free as a favor) quickly grew into something bigger and more meaningful to the community.
In 2015, a public art component was incorporated into the annual festival where a permanent piece of public art was commissioned for the benefit of the Hilltop community. Over time, both the festival and public art commissions grew in prominence and scale.
2020: Leadership Change
After seven years of growing Summer Jam West from an idea and scrappy team of volunteers to a full-fledged nonprofit arts organization, founder and executive director Patti Von Niessen stepped down in 2020 to pursue her much-deserved second retirement. Rachel Pace, who coordinated the festival, and was instrumental in helping it grow into a major event for the Hilltop, also stepped down.
Patti and Rachel each devoted countless hours and seemingly endless energy to making the festival and organization what it is today. We owe each of them a massive debt of gratitude for their commitment; their vision; and their blood, sweat, and tears.
Patti and Rachel’s departure was a pivotal moment for the all-volunteer team. Board member Danny Peterson was elected Board President, and the team immediately got to work recruiting additional board members.
2021-present: Level Up
With an influx of new board and committee members whose new ideas and energy reinvigorated the team, 2021 proved to be a decisive year.
Amidst a global pandemic, we commissioned our highest profile mural yet in 2021, and along with three other arts organizations from around the city, launched ARtsway, a mural mentorship program for high school students. ARtsway was the perfect catalyst for our transition into a year-round arts organization.
Thanks to new programs and partnerships, as well as increased community visibility, and coming off a two-year hiatus of our festival due to COVID-19, the timing was right to launch a new name for our organization, Hilltop Arts Collective.
