Arts Council asks for help funding arts, music, ballet

Posted at 9:51 am July 31, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Arts Council of Oak Ridge is asking for your help funding arts, music, ballet, and other organizations.

The Arts Council organizes the United Arts Fund Drive. That helps member organizations that include Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, Oak Ridge Civic Ballet, Oak Ridge Arts Center, Oak Ridge Community Band, Oak Ridge Philharmonia, and Music Arts.

There are also two affiliate organizations, Tennessee Mountain Writters and Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The funds raised through the United Arts Fund Drive go directly to the member organizations you designate, a press release said.

“It is through your support that these organizations can continue to grow and thrive,” the release said.

“We are lucky,” the press release said. “For our relative size, Oak Ridge has a strong and vibrant arts community, one that is heavily ingrained in the lives of those of us who live here.”

“My childhood memories begin with a piano,” said Charles Chin, Arts Council vice president. “The violin was a constant companion through school. The arts have been an integral part of my experience growing up in Oak Ridge.”

But the arts require patronage to thrive as they have, and it is through the continued support of the community that these arts programs have been able to create the value they have throughout the city, the press release said.

It said the Arts Council of Oak Ridge is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, arts organizations in the Southeast.

But it is now, more than ever, that the Arts Council itself needs the support of the community to be able to carry on with its mission to promote the arts.

“Trying times have left us struggling and without a source of income,” the press release said. “We need the support of the citizens of Oak Ridge, or the oldest arts organization in the Southeast will cease to be.”

The Arts Council may not be as well a known name in the community as it once was, the press release said.

“Perhaps it has been years since you’ve heard from us,” the release said. “Perhaps you assumed we had already faded away. Perhaps you never heard of us at all. But know that we intend to continue our mission, under new leadership, to drive forward and create an organization that will live in the same breath as ‘arts’ whenever someone speaks of the arts in Oak Ridge. Please consider donating to the United Arts Fund Drive, and please consider donating something to the Arts Council as well, so that we may have the chance to show you what we can really do.”

Since 1956, the Arts Council of Oak Ridge has worked to raise the visibility of all arts, promote the arts as a community asset, and assist its members in fundraising efforts. The Board of Directors consists of community and corporate business volunteers, representatives from each of the member and affiliate organizations, and an executive director. The member organizations are Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, Oak Ridge Civic Ballet, Oak Ridge Arts Center, Oak Ridge Community Band, Oak Ridge Philharmonia, and Music Arts. The affiliate organizations are Tennessee Mountain Writters and the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

A donation card for the Fund Drive said your personal or business name will be listed in printed program events of member organizations, reaching more than 50,000 people, if you donate by Wednesday, July 31.

You can learn more about Arts Council of Oak Ridge at www.artscounciloakridge.com and contact the organization at artscounciloakridge@gmail.com, (865) 482-4432, or Arts Council of Oak Ridge, P.O. Box 4324, Oak Ridge, TN 37831.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

You can contact John Huotari, owner and publisher of Oak Ridge Today, at (865) 951-9692 or john.huotari@oakridgetoday.com.

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