Micah Fox called the meeting to order and Joseph Williams led our prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.
Announcements
- William Lee, Master Lee’s son, joined us for our meeting. William will be a freshman at Western Alamance High School and hopes to help organize an Interact club for the upcoming school year. Ed Woodall, Cliff Parker and Master Lee will be meeting with the Principal at Western High School on May 4th. William plans to pass out flyers to upper classroom to help spread the word.
Happy Clams
- Ryan Keur invited everyone to join the Burlington Royals for Beer Fest on May 7th starting at 3:00. Come out and enjoy 20+ different craft breweries, food trucks, and live music provided by Alamance County’s own Honest James Band!
- Trip Durham celebrated the 6th Anniversary of 2D Consulting and the excitement of a potential new program in California.
Program Schedule
- May 10 – Francois Masuka
- May 17 – Paul Mauney
- May 24 – David Moore – Rich Skrosky, Elon University Head Football Coach
Karen Carrouth – Alamance Arts
Frank Longest has been in Alamance County for over 40 years and is an attorney with Holt, Longest, Wall, Blaetz & Moseley. Frank and his wife, Lee, have two children. He was happy to report that his daughter is doing much better after her health scare last year. She has returned to work with Deloitte. His son is currently working with Bank of America and travels around the world helping companies with event planning.
Frank introduced our speaker, Karen Carrouth, Volunteer Coordinator with Alamance County Arts Council. Karen was raised in Wilson, NC and graduated with a Journalism degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1979. Prior to her position with the Alamance County Arts Council, Karen was the Publisher of Alamance Magazine.
Karen shared with us 10 Things You May Not Know About Alamance Arts:
- Alamance is among the oldest arts organizations in the state. We are right behind Winston-Salem which started in 1949 with $7,200 in seed money from the Junior League making it the first locally established arts council in the United States. Our first location was the Holt Home in Burlington where the Municipal Building now seats. Other homes for Alamance Arts were the old McDade Museum on W. Davis St. in Burlington and the Firehouse Galleries in Graham.
- To celebrate our 60th anniversary this year (known as the Diamond Jubilee), we are giving away a $10,000 diamond necklace which you can win by buying a $60 raffle ticket. This beautiful necklace was designed by Jason’s The Art of Jewelry. The cut off for purchasing your raffle tickets is June 15 and we will draw the winner at our annual meeting June 23. You do not have to be present to win, but you must have your name on the winning ticket stub drawn.
- We have been in our current location, the Captain White House, for 20 years. The house was built in 1878 for the youngest of the daughters of E.M. Holt and her husband, a captain who came to Alamance County to sell his cotton after the Civil War. The house includes gallery space and can be used for business meetings or social occasions. Just this weekend, we had a bridal shower and a birthday party for Clara Foriest.
- Our staff numbers 4 full-time people and one part-time, but our volunteer base can swell to over 100 strong during peak needs. Cary Worthy, our executive director, is also celebrating his 20th year with Alamance Arts. My title is Director of Volunteers so I’m always recruiting!
- Thanks to the leadership of Alamance Arts in partnership with several of our local municipalities, there are more than 70 pieces of public art around Alamance. Remember the giant tricycle over at Alamance Crossing, the cow in downtown Burlington and Casey Lewis’ whimsical flowers throughout the county.
- Alamance Arts offers an affinity travel program, going to destinations close by like DPAC, Carolina Inn, gardens in Greensboro and this month, we are heading up to Roanoke to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit and sneak a peek at Black Dog Salvage. Then we have also have our Premier trips where we have traveled to Cuba, Italy, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California and the Canadian Rockies in June. Upcoming trips include Cape Code this October and a trip to see behind the scenes for floats at the Rose Bowl Parade after Christmas. I still have seats on these trips if you are interested.
- Our last major exhibit in the fall of 2013, the Art of the Brick which featured sculpture made out of Legos, attracted over 51,000 people in three months. What an amazing exhibit by Nathan Sawaya, and did I mention it was free? His work was going on simultaneously in New York at the same time with an admission fee of $14 per person. We averaged 700 people through the doors every day!
- Our most important exhibit to date will be the Dale Chihuly exhibit July 1 through October 15 which will showcase a private collection of Venician blown glass. This is the first time that this exhibit by this world-famous artist has been on the East Coast and again there will be no admission charged. The chandelier will be magnificent- stretching from floor to ceiling in the front hall.
- Half of our operating budget we must raise each year through fund-raising efforts and memberships. Only 15 percent of our budget comes from government monies. Many of you have supported us by attending our Low Country Bash or A la Carte dinners. They are always fun events, but a necessity to keep our doors open.
- You can join Alamance Arts today & help us attain our vision for Alamance County…
Click on the link below for the power point slideshow:
Card Drawing
William Lee did not draw the winning card.
The meeting was adjourned and we all stood to recite the Four Way Test.