Arts Council Wants to Help Schools

The Arts Council of Pickens County hopes to help schools whose arts and music departments have been hit hard by budget cuts in recent years.

The group held its organizational meeting last month and is currently pursuing 501 c3 status.

The Arts Council's organizers want to expose children to different types of art.

Vicki Ciplickas said that was one of the reasons organizers wanted to continue forward with the first annual Fall for the Arts Festival after the initial sponsor fell through.

“There were so many kids involved with the art contest,” Ciplickas said. “That was my motivation. You really can't disappoint kids after you've asked them to draw something or practice for months at a time to perform and do something.

“Arts are not in our schools any more, and I think that's a shame,” Ciplickas said. “I don't see that changing very much, unfortunately, with budgets and everything. It's the first thing that gets cut when budgets get cut.”

Suzanne Goodman said that the living artists at the Fall for the Arts Festival were a big success.

“They were demonstrating their crafts,” Goodman said.

“The kids love that stuff,” said Vicki Ciplickas.

Goodman agreed. “They don't see that stuff. Bless the poor teachers in the public schools' hearts, they just don't have the resources and the funding to expose children to the kind of arts that the bigger cities have,” she said.

They hope to add more living artists to the festival as it grows.

“I would like to see this become a festival that becomes educational to the kids of our area, because there really isn't anything in our schools that teaches arts or dance or any of those things anymore unless you go to a magnet school or the Governor's School or if you're paying for, like my kids, private lessons to do those things.”

But not everyone in this area can afford private lessons or schooling, Ciplickas continued.

“That should be open to all kids,” she said.

She said area teachers whose students took part in the arts contests were very excited about what was happening.

“Not just having a drawing class, but having young kids who could excel in that have an avenue where they could come and see their art,” Ciplickas said. “We displayed it all in the street. It was a great day for them.”

Goodman said all student artists received a participation ribbon and a gift card or certificate from an area business.

“Every child got a prize, not just the winners,” she said.

“McDonald's and Chick-fil-A both gave us enough gift certificates so that every child got something,” said Amanda Gunter.

Goodman said the Arts Council wants to partner with the school district to get artists into classrooms.