Mark C. Ginsberg
Iowa City, IA, USA
As an art dealer and the owner of M. C. Ginsberg (jewelry arts studio, antique, early 20th century jewelry and fine timepieces) in Iowa City, Mark Ginsberg has created something more than a profitable business dedicated to the bottom line. Soon after buying his father’s jewelry store in 1985, he established the M. C Ginsberg Fund to better serve the arts community in Iowa City through free exhibitions, public lectures, artist’s workshops and community arts events. Ginsberg went on to found the annual Iowa City Jazz Festival and served as executive producer from 1990 1997. Now in its twenty-first year, this three day event attracts over 60,000 people from all over the country and is considered by the international jazz community to be one of the finest jazz venues in the US today.
Other community programs involving M.C. Ginsberg’s participation or sponsorship include: The Perspective Series, a weekly venue of art and music programs in partnership with the University of Iowa and the University Museum of Art; Hancher Outreach Program, providing at risk children access to theatrical tours and free performances; the M. C. Ginsberg Community Arts Partnership, an annual “Artist’s In Residence” community program whose partners include the Chamber of Commerce and the Community School District; and the free Friday Music Concerts, on going since 1987, serving as a charter board member to the Iowa City Community Cultural Incubator, instrumental creating the initial task force to save the Englert and continues to explore new approaches to arts education with the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. As a guest lecturer at the University of Iowa’s graduate level Entrepreneurial Program and Art and Art History’s Metalsmithing Program, Mark volunteers as a sounding board for new ideas while creating opportunities for student intern positions with his galleries. In addition, a percentage of gallery sales are contributed to a scholarship fund established for metal arts students at the University of Iowa. Similarly, M.C. Ginsberg’s outreach in the Greater Des Moines area includes sponsorship of the Des Moines Art Center’s Friday “Art After Hours” program and as well as the annual Des Moines Symphony fundraising campaign.
Well known for initiating not only new cultural programming but also hoping to inspire other businesses, large and small, to follow the lead, Mark’s spans more than two decades of committed activism in the arts. Celebrating the arts in Iowa is enrichment for the whole community and one that Mark Ginsberg has made his life’s pursuit.
Within a week of meeting CARTHA founder Usha R. Balakrishnan, Mark joined as a CARTHA Ambassador saying “I feel compelled to connect to CARTHA because I believe that our children and our grandchildren are going to do things that will amaze us. Think global.” Mark expresses his aspirations for humanity in the following words:
We have to ask, “What is it that attracts us, our families and our businesses to an idea?” It is many things, there is not just one answer. But one powerful attractant is our culture, those things that distinguish us from one another. That is, our people, customs, recreation, in a word our ART. What defines us and makes us unique is what make our lives exciting and creative. Not surprisingly this also has the ability to attract visibility to an issue and humans wanting and willing to engage. I believe that ART makes the community from local to global.