Hall of Fame

The highlight of the week was the big Hall of Fame Awards put on by the Simmons Center, the local community center in Duncan. They put on two nights of entertainment to raise money for new lighting in the theater/auditorium.

The SC is a very nice community center in Duncan that is used for all sorts of events.  If you did a search on my blog, you would probably see all sorts of art events held at the SC such as weddings, graduations, proms, business meetings, school functions, plays, concerts, etc. Part of the building is a huge auditorium, part is large meeting rooms, part is a huge kitchen, and part is a gym and exercise facility.  It is all very nice and a great place for events.  You would also find in my posts that I am not a big fan of the SC, but I do recognize all that they provide the community.

So Friday night the SC had a meet-n-greet. They had asked several artists, including me, to bring a couple of paintings to be shown for just that one night.  I didn't really understand what all was happening - what the events were really all about, but I took my paintings. Because I had bought tickets to Saturday nights event, I only had to pay $20 to attend the meet-n-greet.  I payed another $25 to attend Saturday night's event - and that was to sit in the cheap seats.  I was a little miffed at having to pay for the meet-n-greet when I volunteered my art. I might not have gone at all except that I wanted to support CTACs involvement. Plus it is important to put a face with your art.  

The director of CTAC, Darsey, met me at the door and we went in together.  There was a surprising amount of people there - people that I have never seen before in my 20 years of living in Duncan.  These were Duncan's elite.  It was not the usual crowd of business owners (and people who shop at Walmart). This was the money behind the money.  Darsey had to point out who was who and explain their ties/money to Duncan.  I have to say that the event was very nice, but it did not really have anything to do with art. No one bought paintings, no one was interested in the art except the artists. Now those people, I knew. We artist ladies gathered and visited, which was the best part of the evening.

Then on Saturday night I went to the SC again, but this time it was the awards ceremony.  We met in the big auditorium where we had purchased assigned seats - $25 being the cheap seats. Several community groups like CTAC and Duncan Little Theater had been asked to come up with two awards to people who had promoted the arts within our organizations. It was important that I support CTAC and the people we chose. The rest of the awards ceremony didn't mean much to me. I did learn more about the people who started SC and the people who started the Duncan Little Theater - elites of the elites. It was interesting. It was good for me to know more about the Duncan community.

The best part of the evening was the entertainment.  Duncan has produced some amazing talent and several of those talents were there to perform - for free - and it was really good. My favorite was a David Hooten who played the piano and then the trumpet. It was soul moving. I even bought one of his CDs.

So, I guess in all, the two events were not so bad. It was a learning experience. It was pretty fun. I do like Darsey and the CTAC folk who attended - and my art buddies.  Would I normally pay $50 for such an event. Nope.