Jeannette Arts Council to start meeting next month
Since early this year, a group of city residents and business owners has discussed the possibility of forming a Jeannette Arts Council and now that idea is coming to fruition.
Jeff Carroll, John Howard, Ernie DiMartino, Lee Matchett, Jill Sorrels and Laura Smith have established a framework for an artists' group in the community.
DiMartino and Matchett want to make sure the group is inclusive and open to all of the creative and performing arts and culture.
The mission statement of the Jeannette Arts Council states — “Our mission is to continually introduce and promote creative and performing arts and culture to the City of Jeannette.”
All artists in Jeannette and the surrounding area are invited to attend a meeting at the Keynote Cafe on South Fourth Street at 6:30 p.m. July 7.
Keynote owner Sorrels hopes to see many young people there.
“We need younger people to move this forward,” said Sorrels.
Creative artists, musician and performing artists, crafters and writers are all invited.
An artistic challenge will be issued that night and a facilitator will guide the group through brainstorming and introduce the core group's basic ideas on ways to stay connected, support each other, and network.
The goal is for those at the meeting to come up with ideas to enhance the arts council.
“That's the thing about art. There are no limits,” said Howard, a local photographer.
Matchett, owner of Opus 11 Studio on Clay Avenue, was at one time the business manager for an arts festival in Bedford Springs.
He has researched some funding sources for the group and is excited about the prospect of having an arts council in Jeannette.
“Our heritage of artists goes back to the beginning of Jeannette to the glass factories. There were glass decorators and painters, glass blowers, and even masonry art. Some of the masonry you can still see today. It (having an active art community in Jeannette) is actually not something new,” said Matchett.
DiMartino, owner of DiMartino Ice, is a sculptor who has been active in ice festivals all over the state and has promoted the idea an artist's group here for quite some time.
“Throughout my travels around Pennsylvania, performing in winter ice festivals, I have seen the arts revitalizing communities. I would like to see this happen in Jeannette. I would like to see what happened in Shadyside, Southside and Lawrenceville happen here,” said DiMartino.
This fall, the council is planning its first autumn function at the Keynote Cafe. It will be for all ages.
According to Sorrels and Carroll, the event will be a “nostalgic step back in time and a celebration of fall.”
Stay up to date by visiting the Jeannette Arts Facebook page.
Margie Stanislaw is a contributing writer.
