By Evelyn C McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
September 29, 2017 11:00 a.m.
When I first considered moving to Fernandina Beach, a friend of mine suggested that she could send me “care baskets of culture.” Someone at last Saturday’s Arts & Culture Nassau (ACN) non-profit forum had a similar story. She said that when she announced that she was moving from the West Coast to Fernandina Beach, people said, “What are you going to do there?” The non-profit forum went a long way to answering that question. The forum featured Nassau County organizations representing music, art, theatre, history, education, and literature. It was a reminder of what a variety of arts and culture we have to enjoy.
We have two theatre groups plus a children’s theatre. We have music festivals with nationally recognized artists, and local musical groups. We have art galleries, art associations, and artisan groups. We have museums that showcase the area’s history. We have book clubs, libraries, book stores, and a book festival. This area is rich in opportunities to enjoy the arts in all venues and of all types.
In the past two months, I have gone to two plays and will be doing a third this week. I’ve taken a course examining plays from a director’s perspective and just started another course in early literature. I have volunteered in the museum archives, met with a book club, and participated in a writing group. All while living through my second hurricane.
The forum offered a good opportunity for organizations to introduce themselves to other arts and culture non-profits and find out what they were doing. We found out, for instance, that Arts Alive sends artists into the schools to share their talents with our youth. One of the artists was Les DeMerle, who teaches drums in the schools, and in his spare time, is hosting the Amelia Island Jazz Festival which starts October 8.
ACN did a brief presentation on their purpose and history, and announced a new grants program for Nassau County non-profits. These are acceleration grants, intended to give an extra boost to youth grants programs that are already in existence. ACN decided that introducing and supporting arts and culture in the schools was a great way to instill an appreciation of the arts in our youth.
Application information is on the ACN website – www.artsandculturenassau.com. Applications will be accepted starting December 1 and ending January 15. There are two major requirements. One is that the organization requesting a grant has to be a Nassau County non-profit and the other is that the grant has to be applied to an existing youth grant program. These are not intended to be start-up grants.
Matthew and Irma notwithstanding, this is a great place to live.
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. Evelyn is vice-chair on the Amelia Center for Lifelong Learning and is on the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.
Oh so true how very fortunate we are to have found this special place and call it home. There is so much “hidden” talent on this island and best of all~~~real books are very alive and well around these parts!