This weekend, a big celebration is planned for a new resource to the Chatham County community. After several years of planning, the new county-run Arts Center is now open and offering workshops to people – and will hold a grand opening ceremony Saturday, May 17 to give people the chance to learn what to expect.
The arts center is located at 964 East Street in Pittsboro, sharing a building with the county’s parks and recreational cultural resources division – which oversees the project – and other Chatham County departments. The space opened up after the county moved its fitness classes to the new community center built at Chatham Grove Elementary School, creating a big spot for Arts and Cultural Program Supervisor Leigh Babcock to begin developing what the arts center could offer.
Babcock arrived in Chatham County a couple years ago, taking up the role last January after working as a mixed-medium artist in Norfolk, Virginia. Her expertise in clay, stained glass, mosaic art and painting guided much of the buildout of the arts center, but she said she also relied upon feedback from Chatham County’s arts scene and culture to drive the initiative.
“I’m definitely enjoying getting to know the local artists and the community,” Babcock said. “It’s been wonderful – it’s such a special place, for sure, and I’m just really happy to be here.”
The main feature of the arts center is two studios: one for clay hand-building, pottery wheels and kilns alongside technical classes, and another for largely visual and performance arts programming. Having been open for the last few months, Babcock said people are enjoying the early activity in the center – and beyond its physical space. She’s been leading classes and art events in the county’s parks, making it easier for residents of Siler City, Bear Creek and many other communities beyond Pittsboro to take part. The supervisor said that will be a key component of the operations moving forward, with the arts center as an anchor space.
“I think it will be wonderful for the community to come and connect,” she said, “check out our programming, as we have a variety of classes for all ages.”
A sign for the grand opening celebration for the Chatham County Arts Center sits next to some pottery creations at the studio. (Photo via the Chatham County government.)
Chair of the Chatham County Commissioners Karen Howard spoke with 97.9 The Hill about the arts center and said she sees it as a valuable resource that represents the next step in the local government’s efforts to support the creative community.
“It is complimentary to the arts that are already happening in Chatham, and it opens up to a broader range of Chatham County residents opportunities for engagement in the arts,” she said. “[I am] very much looking forward to that. It’s something we have been talking about at the county level: trying to encourage the county to invest in and create more opportunities for the arts. I think it’s particularly exciting now to be able to [see] this actually happen.”
The party on Saturday gets started at 11 a.m., with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the Chatham County Arts Center’s opening. The first 100 visitors will receive free Arts Center t-shirts, and free caricature drawings and refreshments will be available to all. In addition to some live music, the Scrap Exchange will bring materials for crafting and each studio will be open for activities.
“And there will be three demonstrations,” added Babcock. “One in printmaking with our new instructor Dolly Sickles, who is an instructor, artist, author. There will be a demonstration in oil painting by artist Ann Lawtey, and I will be doing a stained glass [workshop] as well.”
Saturday’s grand opening event will wrap up at 2 p.m. More programming for the Chatham County Arts Center can be found on the county government’s Parks and Recreation page of its website.
Featured photo via the Chatham County government.
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