In an effort to include and engage the community, the new Board of the Bedford County Arts Council gave individuals an opportunity to speak about their challenges and ideas.
It's hard to believe that the newly elected and appointed Board of Trustees at The Fly Arts Center have been in service for less than two months. Many new programs, services and events are quickly being developed and planned. The Fly's leadership team hopes each new offering will add value to the community, while also delivering on their mission — "To encourage, promote, foster, sponsor and develop the cultural arts in Bedford County and the surrounding areas for the benefit of the general public."
From the beginning, President Jody Barnes-Turner and her executive leadership team knew that community involvement would be essential to success for The Fly Arts Center. With this guiding principle, a Town Hall Meeting was scheduled for Monday, August 19, 2024. Dozens of people, both organization members and non-members, joined the board to discuss ideas on how The Fly could better serve the community going forward.
Mary Margaret Edwards was the first recognized speaker from the community. Ms. Edwards was recently appointed by the board to be the Committee Chair-person for The Fly's new Youth Advisory Committee. She focused on her plans to offer two new programs at The Fly Community Theatre that would split the current children's theatre program into two offerings. The first proposed group would be the "Metamorphosis" program for children ages 11 and under. The second, dubbed the "Emerge" program, would be for kids and teens ages 12-18. Two plays, instead of one, will be presented by the children's theatre for the 2025 season — one for each of the newly developed theatre youth groups.
Edwards, a professional educator, stressed the need and importance of age appropriate activities for our community's children. She also noted the need for all types of artist volunteers, who would help teach and support the planned workshops and productions for the children's theatre. For those who do not consider themselves to be artistically inclined, Edwards called for adult chaperones who could volunteer to help ensure a safe environment for kids as they participated in program activities. In addition, a panel made up of teens and preteens is planned to gage what our community youth members are most interested in doing with the arts.
The night's second speaker was Donna Smith, who addressed the need for a handicap accessible restroom for women at The Fly. Smith, who was born and raised in Bedford County, stated that she had been asking for the addition of such a space since 2011. She also offered to help throughout the planning and construction phases alongside The Fly, as she has served on the Shelbyville ADA Committee for two terms.
President Barnes-Turner replied that the arts center is on track to have the addition of a handicap stall added to the women's bathroom by November of this year, and invited Smith to work alongside the Building Maintenance Chair, Rick Clanton, as he moves forward with construction plans.
Smith also expressed the desire for The Fly Community Theatre to add appropriate wheelchair accessible seating to the main part of theatre seating. President Barnes-Turner shared plans for better accomondations in the theatre to better accomondate patrons with disabilities. These accomondations are scheduled to be in place for the upcoming dinner theatre presentation of "Sorry, Wrong Chimney" in early December.
First Vice President Jennifer Dawn Smith spoke next and presented a "Question and Answer" session to update the public about a decision regarding theatre seating. No further questions were raised by meeting participants. First VP Smith also announced that over $7,000 had been raised through private donations to help replace the seats in The Fly Community Theatre by the end of November of this year.
Santha Koonce, the newly appointed Gallery Chair-person, spoke next about the arts center's plethora of upcoming art classes, the quality of those classes, new artwork additions to The Fly Art Gallery and called for interested members of the community to join the Gallery Committee. Koonce, who was an art teacher in Bedford County for 20 years, spoke about the need for more arts activities in our community, and expressed the hope sparked inside of her with the new changes being brought forward by the new leadership team.
Community member Lauren Bean introduced her idea for The Fly to host a Youth Open Mic night, in which kids could be comedy sets and showcase other talents. Bean will be joining both the Youth Advisory Committee and the Literary Arts Committee as a volunteer member of each.
Jennifer Dawn Smith spoke once again about The Fly's upcoming Toy Drive planned for Saturday, November 30, 2024 to benefit area children in need. The day is also known as "Shop Small Saturday". The Fly Arts Center hopes that shoppers on the square will stop by to see the Festival of Trees display and donate a toy to the drive. Smith said that even Santa would be on hand to greet those stopping by to donate.
The meeting ended after hearing from several other community members, who all had great ideas and suggestions for the arts center and it's programs. The Fly and the volunteers on the board are excited to partner with so many passionate people within the community to create positive and valuable programs for Bedford County.
If you missed the Town Hall Meeting, don't worry. Those interested in sharing their talents with The Fly Arts Center may send their contact information in by filling out our website's volunteer intake form. For a full list of volunteering opportunities, please check our website's Voluteer page. Do you have a great idea? We'd love to here it! Please use the Contact Us form on the bottom of each website page at FlyArtsCenter.com.
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