New Family Focus to Arts/Writing Conference!

Mountain Empire Creative Arts Council

invites you to a weekend

to remember . . . and treasure:

“Uncommon Community . . . Uncommon Commitment”

(Check Out Registration/Pricing Above for Reduced Rates, Especially for Families!)

A few months ago, we (MECAC) planned a Workshop for Artists & Writers. A very good idea! I hope you saw the e-flyer. But something has nibbled at my overloaded psyche, and left me with second thoughts about an arts-exclusive focus: Life in the “real world”—the multiple issues that press upon us day by day, and the escalation of national and world problems. Artists and writers, and all sorts of people who simply celebrate art and writing, are deeply concerned about the hard issues that life in today’s world imposes. There is an unending interplay between expressing creativity and handling the ordinary and inevitable hard realities of living.

This leads us to a slight but obvious change of focus. This, in part, is what we want to offer you for a weekend: A way of stepping outside your normal boundaries and busy-ness, to join others who are affected (perhaps unconsciously) or afflicted by the rigors of our national life—Indeed, global life—and want to better understand and withstand and respond to it as creative people.

We often feel torn between our unmet need for creative expression and the rude facts of living in a sometimes “hostile” world. Admittedly, we may feel guilty at times for wanting to run away to a quiet place. (Our artsy self needs tending!) Growing national and universal distress is the elephant in everyone’s living room. Climate change, global unrest, and societal upheaval confront us each morning. Perhaps we would do well to bring our creative natures into a larger discussion of core values, and the problems of today’s very fragile world. How do we live in light of this darkness? How do we respond as writers and artists? How does it invade, inform, shape what we do? Where might it take us creatively? This may be an entry to new life for us.

As people who believe in the value of arts, the practice and enjoyment of them, and their soul-necessity, we can move in small, incremental ways—as people who are not “consumed by consumerism,” or defeated by despair. Consider what some small steps toward inventive living in times of crisis might be. How do we build or join in a supportive community? How do we “tend” each other and care for those beyond us, in a toughening world? We can gather hope from our inner resources, from those around us, and from the wisdom of the past, to create hope for the future. This is Fine Art. Does this sound like a healthy challenge? We believe it is.

Come join the adventure. We will have morning time for art instruction and networking, and evening for fine music. But Saturday afternoon will be a time of reflection and creating our own prerequisites for what it means to us to thrive. Bring your viewpoint and ideas. Listen to what our faculty and your “neighbors” have to say. Something to take home and live well with.

Finally, two new additions: There will be a special track for children/youth, concurrent with the adults! And Mothers’ Day will be honored! All moms (with or without family attending) will be treated to Sunday brunch and a gift to take home. Check our blogsite below for special new registration stats on family options, length of stay and special new pricing to go with it.

For further information, e-mail Susanne at SusanneMBarrett@aol.com