Wednesday was a great day all around.  First we got to broadcast the news about the Berkeley Arts Council courtesy of Cox Hollida Price, through their Business-to Business radio show. You can hear the recording on CHP’s web site. (To listen to the show or download the mp3 file, click on the link at the bottom of this post.)

And that evening, we made important strides by holding our first membership meeting, selecting seven Directors for the Board, and naming the four officers who will work to guide the BAC through its initial year.  The Directors are Barbara Bradley, Paula Frank, Kristin Nelson, Lori Rea, Malinda Shaver, Rip Smith, and Leia Wood.  There are four more spots open, allowing us to augment the strengths and specialties of this group by adding other people as we discover them during the coming months.  We’ll be introducing these wonderful volunteers to you in a few days through the web site.

The officers are Malinda Shaver, President; Barbara Bradley, Vice President; Rip Smith, Secretary; and Paula Frank, Treasurer. We will be working hard and looking for your support and assistance as we step off on this adventure.

Click here for the Cox Hollida Price radio program featuring the Berkeley Arts Council.

UPDATE – SEPT 23:  Meeting is on as planned!  Time is 6:30 pm at the Caperton Station Community Room on E. Martin St.  See you there!

The first membership meeting of the Berkeley Arts Council is set for Wednesday, September 23. Please contact us via email at information@berkeleyartswv.org for the details if you wish to attend so we know how many people to expect and try to arrange a larger space if necessary.  Updates will be posted on the web site by 4 pm on Wednesday.

This will be an organizational meeting at which we will enroll members, elect an initial Board of Directors, and review the proposed bylaws.

The membership form is posted on the BAC web site here and a draft of the proposed bylaws is posted on the web site here.

For the second time in four days, the Berkeley Arts Council received coverage in the Journal. In the Journal for Thursday, September 17, there was a report about the presentation Rip and Malinda gave to the City Club luncheon the day before.

The article did a good job of reporting the most important points of the presentation, which emphasized building on the foundation of existing programs and institutions and developing cooperation among artists and arts groups.

The article is posted on the Journal web site.

We were delighted to see an article on the Journal web site this morning announcing the formation of the Arts Council.  Check it out:  http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/525167.html?nav=5006

On Wednesday, Rip and Malinda return to the City Club luncheon to kick off the 2009-2010 luncheon discussion series.  You have to reserve for lunch this year because seating is limited, so TODAY, Monday, September 14 is the deadline if you want to eat.  Email Jen Stanley, the coordinator: jstanley@chpllp.com.  Cost is $10.

This weekend certainly got Fall off to a roaring start!  With the CVB’s “Pickin’ in the Panhandle” livening up the southwestern part of the county, the Arts Council began to get the word out about our local arts groups by showing up in the midst of the vendor area.  Thanks to Leia Wood and Paul Berryhill from ArtBerkeley for Saturday’s staffing duties.  Today (Sunday) Rip and Malinda will be talking to festival attendees about arts activities in the area, with information about Heritage Craft Center’s classes, North Mountain Arts gallery, the Apollo Civic Theatre’s energetic fall season, and The Arts Centre activities.

The Berkeley Arts Council has launched a new blog about arts activities in the Eastern Panhandle Region.

The blog will be used to update everyone on activities and events that come up between editions of the Berkeley Arts Bulletin or that would not normally be covered by the Bulletin.

We are looking for a few ‘correspondents’, who would be willing to cover events and post them to the blog.