Spring, 2009

 Dear Friend of the Arts,
           
Eight-year-old Kalisha had wanted to learn how to play the fiddle ever since she saw a trio of girls from  her school performing at a summer concert at the Jones House. But no one in her family knew how to play and, when her mother checked into the cost of lessons, she told Kalisha the family just could not afford $20 an hour lessons.

So at the start of this past school year, Kalisha was excited when her teacher gave her a paper to take home that said music lessons would be offered for just $50 a semester at the Jones House Community Center in downtown Boone. Her mother called and found out that this program of the Watauga County Arts Council, called Junior Appalachian Musicians (J.A.M.), was created to give children an opportunity to learn to play traditional mountain instruments.  Now Kalisha is learning to play the fiddle with a small group of children every Thursday evening.

Watauga County Arts Council is an organization that helps strengthen arts education, performance, and opportunity.  In return, that investment spreads knowledge and enriches culture throughout the community.

Did you know that in 2003 an economic impact study showed that the Arts are one of the major industries in the Watauga County area?  For 28 years, the Watauga County Arts Council has been faithfully providing this community an opportunity to partake of the Arts. The stability of this non-profit organization depends on donations from people like you.  Our mission is to sponsor and encourage the cultural arts in Watauga County, with an emphasis on arts education and the traditional arts.  You can be a part of this mission in strengthening the Arts through your support.

With the future in mind, the upcoming year is an exciting time for the Arts, and here are some of the ways your contributions can be used:

$100

• Provides a scholarship for a year of lessons for a Junior Appalachian Musicians student
• Can provide a half day of instruction in a classroom by a professional artist in residence

$80

• Can provide a professional performance experience at Farthing Auditorium for up to 20 students in Watauga County

$50

• Can pay to put local artists’ artwork in area businesses
• Can offer a partial scholarship to a deserving family for our Summer Arts Camp
• Ensures quality sound engineering at one of our Concerts on the Lawn
• Sends a banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, or dulcimer home with a JAM student from September-May
• Keeps the Jones House open for a community jam session on Thursday nights

$35

• Helps defer costs for teachers to attend a workshop led by a professional teaching artist to teach more effectively through the Arts

Throughout history, people have turned to the Arts to enrich their lives. That’s why it is so important to continue to support the Arts for generations to come.  Together, let’s keep the future bright and continue to keep the Arts an integral part of the High Country.

Sincerely,

Michael Wise,
Watauga Arts Council Board President