On Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010, I picked up a postcard announcing an exhibit taking place in Asheboro, NC, between Aug. 2 – 27, 2010. The reception was Aug. 3, 2010. The postcard was very colorful – very attractive, but I just starred at it wondering what I’m supposed to do with it. I went to the post office because I just finished my part of our Sept. issue of Carolina Arts.
My first thought was – boy, this is late. So much for reduced postage rates for non-profit mailings. I sometimes receive a newsletter from The Randolph Arts Guild telling about exhibits – current and upcoming – it also is mailed with non-profit postage and some of the exhibits have passed by the time I receive them. In this age of the internet I’m not sure why this Guild is still sending notices of programs by snail-mail – especially to the media. They need to start e-mailing press releases.
Then I though about the fact that a longtime director had just retired from the Guild and that might be a reason for such a delay, but then I remembered a recent letter calling for help I received from The Randolph Arts Guild. I didn’t ignore that letter – I put it on the pile of other letters we have been receiving from art groups all over the Carolinas looking for help with funding.
The letter explained that the Randolph County Commissioners had decided to cut the $15,000 they usually allotted to The Randolph Arts Guild from the county’s budget. The Guild was hoping others could help them make up those dollars. In the letter, Derrick Sides, Executive Director of The Randolph Arts Guild also explained that he understood this was a hard decision to make on the Commissioners’ part where many other hard cuts were being made. This made me wonder if further cuts had been made to funding of the NC Pottery Center, but I haven’t heard anything yet – so no news hopefully is good news.
You can read the letter asking for help by Sides at this link and also see that the people of Randolph County have been donating money to make up that shortfall in funding, but more is still needed.
I looked for info on the Guild’s website about this exhibit, but found nothing and I can’t blame them – I guess they are a little distracted with fundraising. This might not seem fair to the people being featured in the exhibit – STARworks glass, but it’s the reality many are living with in the arts these days.
I checked out the STARworks glass blog, but found nothing there about this exhibit either. Here I would invoke Carolina Arts‘ Rule #2 of Publicity – artists are just as responsible for publicizing exhibits they are having at off site venues.
Here’s what I know and found out about this exhibit:
The Moring Arts Center in Asheboro, NC, is presenting an exhibit of glassworks by artists from STARworks glass in Star, NC, on view in the Sara Smith Self Gallery, on view from Aug. 2 – 27, 2010.
The Gallery is open Monday through Friday 10am – 5pm and Saturday 10am – 2pm. The Moring Arts Center, home of The Randolph Arts Guild is located at 123 Sunset Avenue in Asheboro.
For further information call the Center at 336/629-0399 or visit (http://www.randolphartsguild.com).
You can see photos from the exhibit reception on the Center’s Facebook site at this link (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195753&id=287794642629&ref=mf).
You can read about STARworks glass on their blog at this link (http://starworksglass.blogspot.com/).
That’s it.
While on the Guild’s website I saw other events I would have liked to mention, but not much info was being offered. In June the Guild launched the 5th Annual Downtown Sculpture Exhibition. The sculptures are sited in the Asheboro downtown area and will remain on exhibit through Nov. 2011. There are mentions of this exhibit on their Facebook page, but little details or useful info to pass along.
And, there is the Fall Festival in Asheboro, NC, held on Oct. 1 – 3, 2010 in the downtown area. Sponsored by The Randolph Arts Guild this festival is a combination of street fair, bazaar, harvest celebration and homecoming. In 2010, the parade will be on Friday, Oct. 1 at 7pm. The Festival attracts more than 350 vendors and tens of thousands of visitors and includes a parade, art & craft booths, crafts demonstrations, crafts for kids, flea market section, food booths, live music including: bluegrass, country, gospel & pop.
I’m sure the folks in Asheboro will be getting their affairs in order soon, but excuse them as I have in that they have other pressing matters to deal with, but I do think they need to start e-mailing info out to the media – as early as possible. Our e-mail address is (info@carolinaarts.com) and our deadline is the 12th of the month – prior to the month your exhibit or event starts. So info about exhibits and events that start in Oct. should be sent to us before our deadline of Sept. 12.
Now, don’t fool yourself into thinking that this last paragraph is just about The Randolph Arts Guild – it’s about a lot of folks out there in the visual art community of the Carolinas. You need to get your publicity act together – especially now more than ever.
I myself hate to even bring up the concept of more people sending me info – we don’t have room for more in our printed paper and receiving more info will just cause me more work including it on this blog or on our website. But, if you don’t send out info – it may not be taking place. What?
I mean think about the tree that falls in the forest – does it really fall if no one is there to hear or see it fall – or was it just laying there all the time?
