GMOA in the News

Press post-Speakeasy is starting to roll in, thanks to the wonderful press release our intern Amanda wrote, which appears below.

Speakeasy raises funds for the Georgia Museum of Art

Athens, Ga. – Speakeasy, a major fundraising event for the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA), was held Saturday, February 6, 2010, at the home of C.L. Morehead Jr., who also served as the largest sponsor of the event.

This rare opportunity to view Mr. Morehead’s home and extensive art collection included dinner, tours of the collection conducted by GMOA curators, a wonderful jazz performance by Faith and an exclusive silent auction.

About 100 guests attended, and the auction brought in nearly $5,000, which will be used to fund the museum’s educational programs and services. The top selling lots at the auction were a framed oil painting by Mary Hardman titled “Transition” and Jim Fiscus’ photograph “Doll Cabinet.” In all, 11 lots were donated and auctioned.

Speakeasy was sponsored by C.L. Morehead Jr., Blount Photo, Walton Media Services and Interactive Attractions.

To download photographs by Blount Photo from Speakeasy, visit our Web site at http://www.uga.edu/gamuseum/friends/event_photos.html or visit our Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmoa to view a slideshow.

Arts Across Georgia picked it up, and we expect to see a few more mentions trickle in. The museum also received a mention in the Athens Banner-Herald for its Luce Grant for "Advancing American Art," and the exhibition of works from Jason Schoen's collection at the Westmoreland continues to garner press notice. Finally, Kate Kretz, who received her MFA from UGA, blogs about the film "Who Does She Think She Is?" which the museum will be screening in association with Women's History Month on March 24 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. Go ahead and mark your calendars for that one.

Arts and Culture on the Minds of Potential Mayors

As most of you already know, the mayoral elections for the city of Atlanta will take place tomorrow. Although the AJC and other local news outlets have been covering the election, there is a dearth of information on the web, making it difficult to form a clear idea of candidate’s platform at the last minute. I did find something very interesting regarding their outlook on culture and arts in Atlanta. This subject may seem a little removed from GMOA affairs, but concerning ourselves with the future of the Atlanta arts scene and its funding may help us gain some perspective on what could happen with art exchanges, joint programs and museum collaborations. The candidates include Lisa Borders, Peter Brownlowe, Tiffany Brown, Kyle Keyser, Aaron Ford Duke Lewis, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed and Jesse Spikes. Borders (president of the Atlanta City Council and very involved in Atlanta health care foundations), Norwood (councilwoman for the city of Atlanta), Reed (Democratic member of the Georgia state senate), and Spikes (Atlanta attorney) participated in a cultural Q & A September 24.  The gist of the interview has to do with funding, with some variations on the question. Although the Metro Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition’s website does not give specifics as to where and how this interview happened, the answers to these questions are still illuminating. On October 12, the same four candidates gave more detailed answers on issues of arts funding and cultural awareness at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta for the Arts and Culture Mayoral Forum, videos of which are posted on the Web sites of Metro Atlanta Arts and the Culture Coalition.

There is not much variety in answers, and not much turbulence in their opinions, but I still find the vicissitudes in the slightly varying answers still interesting and worthwhile. If you’re based in Atlanta, be sure to vote!

 

GMOA in the News

Art Daily is running the news today of GMOA's three publications awards from SEMC. Hooray!

Arts Across Georgia is featuring The Art of: Music, which will take place tomorrow evening on Pulaski Street. In case you haven't noticed, we're pretty excited about that event, and don't worry about the weather. We have plans both rain and shine.