Amazing! ASAP… ARCH… Blogs… Sheetz Fellows…Round the Mountain and dba! Feel the love with ArtsAltoona!
It has been another incredible month for our ArtsAltoona family! Stephenie Schroth, our Education Director is off to a great start with ASAP (After School Arts Program)! Cory Geishauser shared his gift of Cartooning with the students and they all used their new skills to create their own artwork. Then Sarah Baumbach from Maker Studio in Hollidaysburg came to guide card making for Valentines Day. They created 158 cards and distributed them to all of the residents in their neighborhood at Evergreen Manors! If you want to learn more about the program, check out Rob Z’s podcast.
ArtsAltoona Senior Leadership members Ken Decker and Pam Snyder-Etters recently traveled to the University Park campus of Penn State University to hear the initial concepts for the former Kress building/our Studio Arts Center from the architectural students. The visit was coordinated by Ilona Ballreich, Sustainable Communities Collaborative Program Coordinator, at PSU and Tom Shaffer, Co-Coordinator of the Center for Community Based Studies at Penn State Altoona. Pam and Ken were VERY impressed with the work of the nine teams of students. There was a lot of very creative thinking! The students were reminded that in reality things like handicap accessibility and both financial and environmental sustainability are absolutely essential. We are all looking forward to their next presentations in a couple of weeks.
Have you noticed that we have a new group of bloggers and we’ve even created a new newsletter just for that purpose. Thanks to Kendyl Ramsey, Emily Evey, Erin Kelly and Tony DeGol for their contributions which can be found on the website or by subscription to the specialized newsletter.
We are very excited that ArtsAltoona has been selected by the Sophomore class of Sheetz Fellows for partnering on our initial event which we are branding as stART>here. On Saturday, April 28 we will be bringing artists of many sorts to businesses and the streets of Juniata. There will be many opportunities for individual and family participation in the event. Much more information will begin to evolve as our work, led by ArtsAltoona team members, Rue Moyer and Shasta Langenbacher, with the students begins. It is our hope that this work will become a prototype for future events in other communities and neighborhoods throughout the county.
Thanks to Tony DeGol for his article in this newsletter highlighting a new production company in town, Round the Mountain. Be sure to read about the unique (to this area) concept for their From Nashville: Songs & Stories concert, coming up on February 22 at the historic Mishler Theatre, then get your tickets for the evening so you can join us there!
You may remember that the official name of our non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization is the Altoona Renaissance Team (get it? it spells ART!). We have generally been known in the community by the name we originally chose for our website and social media outlets, ArtsAltoona, however. As a result we recently applied for, and were granted, the right to dba – do business as – ArtsAltoona for all of our operations and programs.
Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube Channel for the great interviews being conducted by Tiffany Stuckey in our weekly series ArtsAltoona LIVE! and now being recorded by Penn State Altoona student intern/ArtsAltoona volunteer Rogan Allen. A wide variety of subjects keep this always interesting!
As always, watch the calendar on our website to know what’s happening in the area, Like and Follow us on Facebook, Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. If you or your organization have upcoming arts/cultural events, be sure to post them on our calendar website!
I hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day with a loved one; please enjoy Tony DeGol’s article about artists finding their passion.
Until next time,
Donna