Rachael Price Be Bops in Jasper!

Rachael Price, a rising star in the jazz scene, performed Backstage at the Jasper Arts Center last night. Her singing wowed the audience who demanded an encore with a standing ovation. You'll be seeing a lot more of this extraordinary singer in the near future. Afterwards, she met with fans in our Community Room.

This morning, Rachael and her amazing musicians, conducted a masterclass for music and choir students at the Jasper High School auditorium. Rachael and the guys performed, answered questions from the students, and even accompanied one student who was brave enough to get up in front of her classmates. This is a wonderful opportunity for JHS kids to meet a performer up close. Thanks also to the JHS staff for your hospitality and allowing us to bring Rachael into your school!

To learn more about Rachael, visit her web at: www.rachaelpricesings.com

Matt Klos Visits Jasper

Artist Matt Klos visited Jasper today as a wrap up to his month-long exhibit at the Krempp Gallery. He spent the day teaching a watercolor workshop at the Satellite Art Space. Matt's enthusiasm for his subject was contagious. He told workshop participants that they would produce FOUR watercolors before the day was over...and they did! The evening was rounded out with a reception back at the Arts Center. We all loved the quiet interiors and real-life exteriors portrayed in Matt's paintings. Thanks for letting us enjoy your work this month, Matt!

Good Morning from New York!

Good morning, Friends. I'm writing from New York where Donna Schepers and I are currently attending the APAP convention. This is the annual national showcase of Association of Performing Artists Presenters. We have been looking at all the entertainment for our next season. It's daunting. There are so many, such a variety to choose from. Besides living within our budget, we're trying to select programming for all of our series - Performing, Backstage, Family Fun, and Education - and choose quality performances which we think our audiences will like. We're up early this morning viewing children's showcases. The middle of the days are filled with workshops and face-to-face visits with all the agents and performers. The evenings are rounded off with more showcases. We were able squeeze in a museum visit which was pretty awesome. It's also nice to meet other presenters from Indiana and across the nation. Loads of ideas. OK, back to work for me. We just viewed Theaterworks USA's production of Paul Revere...at 8 a.m.!

Tenth Street School Visits the Arts Center

Each year, art teacher Ruth Gehlhausen, brings the entire fifth grade class from Tenth Street School to visit the Jasper Arts Center. She carefully chooses which exhibit she would like them to view and prepares some interesting art appreciation exercises for them. While one class is enjoying the gallery, the other class is getting a backstage tour, an introduction to the technical aspects of the performing arts, and a chance to play with the spotlights in the loft.

Ed Maxedon Art Lecture

As I walked into the Arts Center this afternoon, it struck me at how busy we were. There was ballroom dancing taking place in the Community Room, taught by Carolyn Randolph, auditions for Actors Community Theater on the stage, and then we were preparing for our art lecture. Pretty busy place for Sunday afternoon.

Ed Maxedon, Director of Art Education at the I.U. Art Museum, was our guest speaker today. He entertained everyone with his quick wit and slides. Today's lecture topic was Michelangelo and Raphael: Age Before Beauty. We had a full crowd with about 45 people coming from as far away as Newburgh, Evansville, and French Lick. Afterwards, guests enjoyed an authentic Italian meal catered by Kitty Merkley.

Welcome to Director's Notes

Hi, friends! Welcome to Director's Notes, a brand new way for you to keep up to date with what is happening at the Jasper Arts Center. Many of you already know what a blog is, but for those of you who don't, it's like an online diary. Blogs are very informal, like friends catching up with each other.

In this newest venture, I hope to help you keep in touch with our daily and weekly events here at the Jasper Arts Center. We always have something going on. Besides our performances, of which many of you are familiar, we host workshops and art lectures, dance classes, and Actor's Community Theater productions. At least twelve exhibits a year are held in our Krempp Gallery. School visits, rentals, and even the Chalk Walk come under our umbrella.

Although we publish a newsletter and send out plenty of media releases, I hope to be able to post a quick snapshot and a snippet of our daily lives more frequently than our formal communications. We'd love to hear from you and hope you'll check back often. Your comments are welcome (although they may be edited for obvious reasons.) Send a link to all your friends and don't forget your college students away at school.