Bringing artists together

Published 6:40 am Thursday, October 25, 2012

Establishing a new regional advocate for the arts is all in a day’s work for founding members of the Southern Cultural Arts Foundation (SCAF).

Working off the motto “Art for all—all for the arts,” SCAF is striving to “advocate, promote and provide resources to qualified individual artists, arts organizations and art programs for communities, including galleries, art centers and development initiatives for city and county entities of tourism in the Alabama region.”

SCAF’s short-term goals are to establish memberships, art ambassadors, sponsors and affiliates to develop arts programs and events throughout St. Clair, Talladega, Calhoun and Etowah counties.

Not only does SCAF want to provide arts education to these communities, they also want to give back.

Starting with SCAF’s first membership drive event—Circle of Giving.

A collaborative effort with the Pell City Chamber of Commerce and Tri-county CASA, the foundation is hosting a non-profit fair, Tuesday, November 13 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pell City Civic Center called Circle of Giving.

This event is open to the public and will feature workshops, motivational speakers, giveaways and door prizes.

Incorporated in July of this year, SCAF’s goal is to be a million dollar organization in one to two years.

“We want to build a cultural arts center and develop cultural arts districts,” said David Bise, SCAF’s Executive Director, President and Visual Arts Director.

With the help of Chief Financial Officer Caryn Barr C.P.A., Chief Ambassador Dr. Art Bacon, Director of Performing Arts Christopher Henley, Marketing/Business Development board member Sharon Plank and SCAF secretary and Literary Arts Director Diane Dill, this organization is set to build and support supplemental arts programs by working with area board of educations.

Preparing to host mobile or “pop up” galleries in area businesses, this will allow local artists, including high school students the opportunity to show their work.

Bringing art to the people is what SCAF is all about and this is done in numerous forms.

One mainstay this foundation is focusing on is bringing attention to local galleries.

A gallery SCAF is eager to introduce St. Clair County and its neighboring areas to is LMo & Co.

An old nickname for gallery co-owner Lindsey Moses, LMo, like SCAF is about “art for the community.”

Opening last April, Moses graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in advertising, minoring in graphic design. Co-owner of the gallery with her mom, Marie, her dad, Gary also has the creative gene and creates window pane coffee tables and copper lamp insulators (to name a few things) scene throughout the gallery.

Featuring local artists, Pell City’s own Nettie Bean will be featured Friday, November 2 at LMo & Co’s First Friday Artist Spoltlight event.

“It’s good to see our function here is needed,” said Moses. “The community has responded very well to us, and the walls of this gallery have spoken to me and inspired me to pick my paint brush back up.”

Providing a collaborative outlet for the arts, SCAF is on a mission to meet regional community needs by offering programs, classes and workshops to the region.

Conducting free art instruction classes at the Boys and Girls Club of Pell City, SCAF also currently works with veterans’ art programs, local chamber of commerce and area businesses to promote and strengthen art within each community.

Gaining ground to provide the region with the best in literary, visual and performing arts, SCAF looks forward to making St. Clair, Talladega, Calhoun and Etowah counties a artistic tourism destination.