Submitted by Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
January 14, 2016 2:17 p.m.
On Monday, January 11, Colin Campbell presented Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival president Emma Bledsoe and Executive Director Dr. Joe Marasco with a check for $10,000 to sponsor the Chris Thile concert next month. Colin is the Training/Community Relations Manager with WestRock’s Fernandina Beach Mill.
West Rock, the result of a 2015 merger between Rock Tenn and Westvaco, is one of the leading global packaging companies. West Rock continues Rock Tenn’s commitment to support the arts in Nassau County. “We believe in supporting the community and in the proliferation of the arts in that community,” Conlin said. “We feel that the arts make us a better community. They foster creativity and imagination, things our workforce needs in the future.”
West Rock employees contribute their time and energy in other areas as well, such as providing services for the ARC facility in Yulee. West Rock is the county’s largest contributor to the United Way. Dr. Marasco expressed the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival’s gratitude for West Rock’s support of the Festival’s mission. Marasco said the Festival is dedicated to:
• Bringing the best of chamber music to the Island
• Enhancing the education of students and young artists
• Drawing in economic development.
The February 28 concert features Chris Thile, a nationally known artist on the mandolin. Thile will be taking over from Garrison Keilor as host on the Prairie Home Companion show this year. Please see the Festival’s website for tickets – www.aicmf.org. But don’t wait too long. Join WestRock in welcoming this fine artist to our island.
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. She is a chair of Arts & Culture Nassau, a city commission charged with support of the arts in Nassau County. She serves on FSCJ’s Curriculum Committee for the Center for Lifelong Learning. She is also the chair of 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.