celebration of the child...

Today is our end of the school year program, "the celebration of the child." Kids and our teachers rehearsed all week. It is a lovely event when each student's special gifts are acknowledged. I spent part of yesterday going through photos, and printing certificates acknowledging student growth in wood shop.

This is Plein Air Festival Week at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, so we have painters who've come from all over the US to document the beauty of our area. They compete for awards and recognition. They spend money in town and help others to see the beauty of our area of the Ozark Mountains. The work I've seen so far is lovely, and the festival is enough of a success that it's likely to become an annual event. It has also been a huge amount of work for the staff, with events both during the day, and in the evening hours. Check out the website linked above, and please watch the video showing how beautiful it is here. The scenes of Eureka Springs are well worth the paint.

I must proclaim again and again the role of the arts in sustaining viable community. In 1976, I was the founding president of the Eureka Springs Guild of Artists and Craftspeople. We closed that organization in the 1990's to open the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. We were encouraged by older artists who saw the essential role of the arts in building lives and community. Arts and preservation are essential partners in sustaining the quality of life.

Make, fix, create, persevere in the preservation of the past, and build upon it, the love of learning likewise.