​RoCo Art Alliance Meeting
Jul 23, 2020
Organizations represented: Fine Arts Festival Association, Art in the Garden, Rockingham County Arts Council

Absent: Piedmont Folk Legacies (excused absence), Mayodan Arts Center and Theater Guild of Rockingham County

Chair: Debbie Moore called meeting to order at approximately 12:10 p

Jenny provided a recap of the RoCo Art Alliance purpose. She also updated group on planned webinars with The Poetry Cafe and Julie Crezenzo (clay). She forgot to mention Meda Howell is planning a webinar as well.

This was Kathyn's first meeting and she had questions about the funding for artist stipends. Kathyn mentioned that the artists affiliated with Art in the Garden are accustomed to receiving stipends for classes. Jenny noted that the financial support to organizations included the understanding that those organizations would provide webinars by either artists on their board or volunteers. Jenny suggested that board members of art organizations recuse themselves from receiving stipends in order to maintain a sense of fairness. Once proof of the webinar concept is established, she recommended a discussion with all the Art Alliance members on how to utilize the $1,000 available in artists stipends.

Debbie updated the group on webinars that FAFA is planning with Brenda Sutton and perhaps Stesha Warren. Debbie is planning a cooking webinar on the 4 elements: fire, wind, water & earth.
 
Meeting adjourned at approx. 12:35
 
NEXT MEETING: August 6 at 12 pm - Ashely Hickock, Mayodan Art Center, Chair. Jenny will email Zoom invite to the group.

Rockingham County Arts Council receives $15,950 from Reidsville Area Foundation to support a strategic partnership between leading arts organizations across Rockingham County.
 
Funding will enable three organizations to keep their doors open through the end of the year, and another to continue a youth music program through the summer. Local arts organizations rely on fundraising events and fees from classes in order to stay open; however, the health crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic created a sharp drop in traditional revenue sources.
 
“Without rescue funding, we were looking at losing major pieces of our local arts infrastructure,” said Rockingham County Arts Council Executive Director Jenny Edwards. “We wanted to do more than merely save the organizations so we challenged ourselves to consider how the arts could come out of the pandemic stronger than ever.”
 
In addition to stabilizing four organizations financially, the project intends to build resiliency among six critical art nonprofits across Rockingham County through the creation of the new RoCo Art Alliance, an initiative started by Rockingham County Arts Council, Fine Arts Festival Association and Piedmont Folk Legacies.
 
RoCo Art Alliance’s first collaborative project is a series of artist/maker workshops to document life in Rockingham County during pandemic. The virtual programs are intended to connect participants, give voice to their experiences during the pandemic, and create a body of work to be publicly displayed when the health crisis is over. 
 
The artist/maker workshops will be held online and will be free and open to the public. The project’s website is under development at  www.rocoartalliance.org.
 
The founding partnership organizations of RoCo Art Alliance are Rockingham County Arts Council, Fine Arts Festival Association, Piedmont Folk Legacies, Mayodan Arts Center, Art in the Garden and Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. Organizations wishing to join RoCo Art Alliance are encouraged to contact Jenny Edwards at director@rcarts.org or Debbie Moore at fineartsfestival1741@gmail.com. A 501(c)(3) status is not required for a group, organization or agency to join the Alliance.
 
Additional support for the project comes from Sheetz, Inc. through their support of Piedmont Folk Legacies P.I.C.K. program and North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.