THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412060175
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY DARA McLEOD
LENGTH: Long : 159 lines
OUTER BANKS businesswoman Dawn Enochs credits the Dare County Arts Council with introducing her to the symphony in her youth.
And when she later became a practicing clay sculptor, it was the arts council, she says, that helped support her and other artists.
``I know the arts council has made a difference in my life,'' says Enochs, no longer a practicing artist but now the arts council president.
After surviving a temporary shutdown five years ago, the council has been steadily rebuilding in a crescendo of preparation for its 20th anniversary celebration next June. And Enochs says it's about time the community realized what the organization has been up to all these years.
``We've been pretty quiet about what we're doing in the community, but that will have to change,'' Enochs says. ``What we're doing directly benefits the community.''
The Dare County Arts Council is a non-profit organization that presents dance, theatrical and musical performances to the public and in the schools. It also helps fund the arts through grants to other community organizations, including the Outer Banks Forum and local parent-teacher associations.
``We want to help bring arts to the area and to support art and the artists that are here,'' she says. ``We want to encourage everyone to participate in creative activities. We also act as a catalyst in getting other groups together in support of the arts - to maximize our resources.''
Since the arts council reorganized at the beginning of the decade, many of those who have stepped into leadership positions are not only artists, but also mothers with young children in Dare County schools. Enochs says a successful partnership has developed between the council and the schools.
Lisa Holian, the council's programming chair, says she tries to bring performances to local schools that children wouldn't have access to otherwise.
``I look for things the children don't have available to them in Dare County and things that show them there's a whole other world out there in the arts,'' she says.
``It's what makes a difference in what a child will become - if they're exposed to the arts. Whether they become a lawyer, accountant, teacher or whatever, it will benefit them.''
Francine Kelly, a first grade teacher at Kitty Hawk Elementary School, says programs sponsored by the arts council, like last year's African-American Dance Ensemble, kept her students captivated.
``It helps expose them to different cultures and ethnic groups and music from different countries,'' Kelly says.
Another favorite among the students, Kelly says, was participating in the formation of a new children's theater group, ``Acting Up.'' More than 25 children helped choreograph, construct props and create costumes for a July production of ``The Wizard of Oz.'' The program was directed by Deborah Kasten, an accomplished opera performer and music educator.
The Dare County Arts Council also has sponsored the annual Frank Stick Memorial Art Show in February since 1979 as a showcase for local artists. Held at Glenn Eure's Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head, it has become the county's largest exhibition, with more than 140 artists participating last year.
``It's a true community show because it's not restricted. It's not a strictly juried show,'' Enochs says. ``All artists are guaranteed at least one of their pieces will get in.''
Another big annual event for the council is the Artrageous Art Extravaganza, an all-day festival featuring arts-related activities for children as well as for professional and amateur artists. Children can participate in jewelry making, weaving, face-painting, T-shirt printing and creating their own Artrageous poster.
``It's really all about children and creativity,'' Enochs says.
The Arts Council grew out of the Dare County branch of the North Carolina Symphony Society, which was established in 1958. Mollie Fearing, now an honorary member of the council's board of directors, was one of about eight founding members.
The group's sole mission at the time was to raise funds to hire the North Carolina Symphony to perform in Dare County, both for the public and in the schools.
But by 1975, Fearing and the other members had decided it was time to expand the society's mission. Rather than return the excess funds they had raised to the N.C. Symphony Society each year, they wanted to use the money to bring other performing artists to the Outer Banks.
``The North Carolina Symphony Society thought that whatever funds we had left over should go back to them,'' Fearing says. ``We disagreed. So we formed the arts council so any money we had left could be warehoused until we had a use for it.''
The new organization was named The Sea and Sounds Arts Council, and its name was later changed to the Dare County Arts Council.
The group's focus began to shift in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s as the cost of a performance by the N.C. Symphony increased, until eventually it became difficult for the council to pay the symphony to perform here.
While Fearing says she is no longer actively involved with the council, she and other founding members say the council's new leaders are doing a wonderful job.
But the organization hasn't always run smoothly. In fact, the board came close to disbanding several times, before it actually did so temporarily in 1989-90.
``We had lost our leadership, I think. We had gotten in sort of a rut,'' says Vera Evans, another founding member.
Past president Marimar McNaughton says she first became involved with the council in 1989, when the organization was facing a major crisis. McNaughton says it was local artist Glenn Eure, owner of Ghost Fleet Gallery, who helped recruit new leadership and reorganize the arts council.
Eure, who has served several terms on the council's board of directors, says he understood the council was on the verge of disbanding because the leadership had just ``worn themselves out.'' Eure says he and other artists ``just helped get things rolling again.''
``Everybody sort of panicked when they heard it was going to pieces,'' he says. ``But I just couldn't allow such a thing to come to pass into history.''
Enochs and McNaughton were among those who took over, and since then the arts council has seen both its membership numbers and its budget increase steadily.
In the 1991-92 fiscal year, the council had between 50 and 75 members and had collected $3,000 in dues, McNaughton says. By 1992-93, the council grew to more than 100 members, collecting about $9,000 in dues. And although the figures for 1993-94 haven't been officially tallied, McNaughton estimates that between $12,000 and $13,000 has been raised, and membership is climbing toward 200.
In addition to membership dues, the council receives funding from the N.C. Arts Council Grassroots Fund for operating expenses and for distribution as grants to other local arts organizations. Grants to help fund performances also are available to the council.
But as funding for the arts becomes more and more competitive at both the federal and state level, the arts council leadership is looking to tap new resources within the community.
``One thing people look at when they come to a new area is what's the cultural situation there. It really is part of the economics of an area,'' Enochs says.
McNaughton says she believes the council should also begin to look to the county for more support.
``We have to say to them - you want to be a first-rate resort community? Well, every first-rate resort community has a viable arts community.'' ILLUSTRATION: ON THE COVER
The cover design is the work of staff artist Mal Thornhill.
The ``Art'' painting is the work of Marrissa Mohr, 5.
The ``Yo'' painting is the work of Charles Bohlinger, 13.
Both paintings were done during the annual Artrageous Art
Extravaganza. It is held in October.
Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
Like a salesman hawking shrimp on the side of the road, arts
activist Glenn Eure auctions children's art work from the tailgate
of a pickup truck at the Artrageous Art Extravaganza.
Glenn and Pat Eure showcase local artists in the annual Frank Stick
Memorial Art Show.
The Dare County Arts Council sponsors the annual Frank Stick
Memorial Art Show in February - the county's largest exhibition.
More than 140 artists participate.
by CNB