The Music Across My Desk
with Brenda Durant
Last month was a month of months. Let me begin by thanking everyone who supported the Arts in the Heart Festival. I am grateful to my amazing staff. They take on a whole new job, in addition to keeping the ball rolling on our normal events, to help produce our Award-Winning Festival. This year with record crowds! I am thankful.
I also celebrate everyone who volunteers to help plan this giant community event — the steering committee, the hundreds of volunteers and numerous City of Augusta departments who jump in each year to make the event better and better. I am also thankful for the performers, the cooks, our sponsors, the artists, and the immense crowds who came out each day to attend our Festival. Humbling.
After the Festival, I saw a Facebook post about a concert at AU where my friend, David Neches had written music for three poems by Sara Teasdale. I know next to nothing about the music programs at AU. This one was a Faculty Recital featuring Dr. Christi Amonson, a Soprano, and Dr. Clara Park on piano. I attended to support my friend, but also to try something new; something I preach often. It was a wonderful night and David’s pieces were fantastic. The room was filled with music students and true lovers of music and …me! I am so glad I gave it a whirl. There is a full year of these recitals including Jazz, Opera, singers, wind ensembles and more. Did I mention they are all free and open to the public? They are. Our website calendar is in the shop for repair, but we will add the whole series when it is fixed and ready to go back to work. I hope you look at our calendar and try something new this year. We have a wide variety of shows, openings, and classes to fill our empty hours. We have so many free events there is no reason to stay home and watch re-runs of Friends.
Coming up – we are throwing a party on October 30 at Bodega Ultima in Surry Center. We call this series A Private View. It’s a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon with the work from four very talented local artists with a short talk on collecting by a local enthusiast. Delicious appetizers will be provided by Bodega, and of course a cash bar is available. More info and tickets here.
Peace
-Brenda