Yarbrough: Public arts funding is a good investment
Up until the final days of the 2010 legislative session, Georgia was about to become the only state in the union without an arts council. The Georgia House had dropped nearly all funding for the arts, and it wasn't coming back until the state Senate, under the leadership of Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, stepped in and restored $860,000 for the Georgia Council for the Arts. That money will allow the state agency to qualify for federal and state matching arts grants.
Why support the arts when we are sucking financial wind every way imaginable?
Lydia Huggins Ivanditti, director of the Plaza Arts Center in the Putnam County seat of Eatonton and a strong advocate for the arts, says, "We must expose children to the arts and help them see how the arts connect us to our past. Shakespeare's and Rembrandt's works still live after 500 years. The arts make us more creative, no matter what our vocation."
The arts also are good for business.
Take Putnam County, east of Atlanta at Lake Oconee. Ivanditti says, "About 75 percent of Putnam County's residents live in the Lake Oconee communities. Retail shops and grocery stores have been built to service those folks, so there was little need to come into Eatonton until we created the Plaza Arts Center. Now, after only two short years, we are seeing an increase in traffic and an interest in opening new businesses. Our restaurants are thriving, and the city is profiting from increased tax revenue as a result."
The Plaza Arts Center was originally a grammar school built in 1916. After falling into disrepair, a local group decided to transform the building into a community arts center. It took $2.8 million and 11 years.
Seventy percent of that amount was private funding. The center also benefited from special-purpose local option sales tax dollars. Today, the building houses a 500-seat theater, a reception hall, museum, classroom and offices for the Eatonton-Putnam Chamber of Commerce.
Ivanditti brings a load of enthusiasm to the job, along with experience and a love of the arts. But she is quick to give credit to Eatonton and Putnam
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Yarbrough: Public arts funding is a good investment
Up until the final days of the 2010 legislative session, Georgia was about to become the only state in the union without an arts council. The Georgia House had dropped nearly all funding for the arts, and it wasn't coming back until the state Senate, under the leadership of Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, stepped in and restored $860,000 for the Georgia Council for the Arts. That money will allow the state agency to qualify for federal and state matching arts grants.
The Fine Art of Wining
For some people, finding a good wine is a lifetime's work. But if you're among the number of people who'd just like to find a wine they enjoy, maybe even two wines--a red and a white, have no fear. You can get to a point where you can handle some wine basics without too much trouble. And you can have fun getting there by setting up a wine-tasting evening. An Ohio couple who tried this said they'd enjoy such an evening again "whether it's just the two of us or several couples--as long as we keep it casual."
Watercolor exhibit opens on May 7
Two years ago, Juan Carlos Camacho - a well-known watercolor artist in his native San Jose, Costa Rica - visited Georgia, riding motorcycles around rural areas with his host (and art collector) Tom Valdes, who lives at The Georgia Club.
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