We want to thank everyone who has helped get the Crisp Area Arts Alliance of to a great start this year.

The end of August, the board took on the project of painting the inside of the building and getting new carpet. We want to say thank you to Bear and Mary Beth Kelley for donating the paint and to Chip Wells of Well’s Hardware for donating most of the paint supplies. You made the project feasible. It took us about 3 weeks to complete the work. We still have a few things to do, but the facility looks great. Our grounds are looking better, thanks to Randy Wells of RW Landscaping and Nursery, who is donating his services to us.

Your participation with our Open House Membership Drive at the home of Bobby Helms is greatly appreciated. If you missed seeing Bobby’s home, you missed a treat. We had a great response and really appreciate all who attended. Some of our local artists displayed their works. It is truly amazing just how many talented people we have in our area. We are very fortunate to have them and have them participate in our events.

The Lake Blackshear Resort and Golf Club hosted a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser for us in September. It was a huge success. Everyone who came to the resort for dinner or just to pick up dinner truly enjoyed the evening. Members of our CAAA Visual Arts displayed samples of their different kinds of art. Thanks to all who participated in the evening and especially to Bob Johnson and the Resort and to Keith Adkins who donated all the food.

We worked with the Downtown Business Organization and the Cordele Main Street to present a movie downtown. Around 250 adults and children came out and see the BEE MOVIE on Peachys’ Portable Drive-In “Screenosauras”. It was shown in the parking lot of Gold and Gallery. Thanks to our sponsors, Harris Waste, Crisp County Power, Fraser Auto Repair, Cordele Firestone, Gold and Gallery, Murray Printing and Warwick Septic Tank, this was free to the public.

December is going to be lots of fun. We will participate in the Christmas Parade this year. On the 12th of December, we will help host a Christmas Night Tour of Homes in the O’Neal Historical District. The tour will end at the CAAA with an open house. Another December event will be a Christmas Boat Parade at Lake Blackshear.

Sunny is teaching art to the J. S. Pate Kindergarten in our after school art classes. She will continue with all the Pate students this year. The Birmingham Children’s’ Theater will perform the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe for AS Clark, Southwestern, Crisp Academy and the 6th grade at CCMS in November. We are excited to have the opportunity to do this for our students.

We applied for a GAP Grant to have a children’s theater workshop this summer at the Arts Alliance. Hopefully that will come through for our children. We planned to continue the summer art camp, too. It was very well received this passed summer.

With all the talent in our area, we want to start a little theater group. We feel this would benefit everyone. What we need is your participation.

This is a year of rebuilding at the Arts Alliance. The government grants we were receiving for our projects have ended. We are now depending on the support of our members, the community and businesses to fund all of these endeavors. The arts are a very important part of our lives in this community. We are working with different groups and organizations in the Crisp area to broaden the scope of what we can offer.

The support of everyone is a must for the Arts Alliance to continue with these programs and projects and others. It brings different elements of education and culture to our area. We don’t want to loose this. We encourage our young people in athletics. The arts are just as important in their development as sports. Why don’t we encourage them to express their creative abilities and provide a facility for that outlet?

We will keep you informed as we finalize the upcoming events. We are working on getting our web site updated so you can check there to see what is happening at the CAAA. If you are on Face Book, please become a friend of the CAAA.

We hope to see all of you at our events. Don’t forget to tell all your friends and family to join the Alliance and be part of the art education of our children and the fun the world of Art brings to our area. We can not do it without you. It DOES take a community to raise a child.

Connie Carney, President

Sunny Lee, Ex. Director