Up & Coming Weekly

STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Kirkpatrick editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Tabitha Kidd tabitha@upandcomingweekly.com Steve Rogers Steve@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Suzy Patterson suzy@upandcomingweekly.com –––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Shanessa Fenner, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Renee Gibbs, Heather Griffi ths –––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a “Quality of Life” publication with local features, news and infor- mation on what’s happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per per- son. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. INSIDE PUBLISHER’S PEN by JANICE BURTON Like many in the community, I was greatly saddened at the news that the Fayetteville Museum of Art was closing its doors. Of course, having had some insight into what has happened over the past few years, I can’t say I was surprised. I sat in the meetings of the city-appointed task force to determine if a new museum was feasible and where it should go if it was. All the dirty laundry was laid out on the table, and even then, the situation seemed grim. But it wasn’t all about the money. I don’t think it really ever has been. Bill Bowman, Up & Coming Weekly’s publisher, has talked about the arrogance of the museum in this very space. And there was an arrogance in the museum. But they aren’t alone. That same arrogance exists in a number of cultural agencies throughout the community — so everyone take note. There is a disconnect between the arts and the community. Many leaders of the arts in the community fail to see that they should be a refl ection of the community. That can be said of the museum. Instead of trying to broaden its base of support, it targeted the same people, those who already supported them, with everything they did (sound familiar other agencies?). I often asked this question, “Wouldn’t it be easier to sell 500 $20 tickets to an event, than 50 $200 tickets?” But the people who could afford the $20 tickets were not who they were targeting. Maybe they should have been. One of the biggest events I ever attended at the FMoA was the Bob Timberlake exhibit. Timberlake is a traditionalist. His art isn’t up to interpretation. A country barn is a country barn. It isn’t a metaphor for lives being bound up in tradition. It just is. In recent years, the FMoA has had an affection for contemporary art, and has tended to shun the traditional. Maybe they didn’t realize that although it isn’t hip, there is still a wide audience that prefers classical artists. This was nowhere more evident than at the Dali exhibit at Festival Plaza. I was there for opening night. A lot of the art patrons who attended the opening gala walked around with a perplexed look on their face, and from the comments we heard, a lot of them just didn’t like it. Keep in mind, these are people who buy those $200 tickets. The museum failed to know its audience and its Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Thursday June 17 Friday June 18 Saturday June 19 Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sponsored by High 91° Low 73° Isolated Thunderstorms 4 UCW JUNE 16-22, 2010 High 90° Low 72° Scattered Thunderstorms High 89° Low 72° Scattered Thunderstorms Regional Airport www.fl yfay.com Fayetteville High 89° Low 74° Partly Cloudy High 91º Low 72º Scattered Thunderstorms High 92º Low 724 Scattered Thunderstorms WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM community. It kept itself isolated behind its iron gates, only venturing out during the summer to mingle with the masses during the Fayetteville After 5 events. And even then, they didn’t mingle very well. For the past three years, I have personally gone to event organizers and said, “Hey, you are losing people over the food. You can’t expect people to come down and stay all evening only to be fed funnel cakes and hot dogs.” I’ve talked with restaurant owners, I forwarded names and numbers. And, nothing changed. If you want people to support you, then you have to meet their needs. It wasn’t happening. A lot of talk has fl oated in the community about the Arts Council Fayettville/Cumberland County’s failure to fund the museum. The Arts Council is charged with public trust. If the average citizen had heard the state of the museum’s fi nances, they would probably have agreed with The Arts Council’s decision. But The Arts Council could have been more proactive earlier on. They should have joined in the conversation about the viability of an $11 million building before it got so far. So for that, I believe The Arts Council holds it’s share of the blame. The museum board holds its share as well. They were uninformed and didn’t have their fi ngers on the pulse of the community or the museum. Decisions happened in a vacuum, and for many, their oversight was just one more thing to put on their resume. They carry their share of blame. The community does as well. We should have been more vocal. We should have volunteered more, given more feedback, and attended more events (of course, when you don’t know about events because the museum only sends invites to the people on the list, it’s kind of hard to do.) That being said, we still carry our share of the blame. In this issue FMoA Board President Meredith Stiehl sat down with us to talk about the museum’s way ahead. She talked about wanting to hear the community. From what she said, I think she means all of the community — not just the $200 ticket community. And that will be a very good start. JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Call 910.354.1679 Call 910.354.1679 Sunday June 20 Monday June 21 Tuesday June 22 Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 14 Concert Connection ........................ 19 TV ..................................................... 20 Movie Review ..................................20 Movie Schedule ............................... 21 Enough Blame to Go Around Free Wheelin’ Feelin’ ....................... 22 News of the Weird ........................... 23 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 23 Classifieds ........................................ 24 Games .............................................. 26 Dining Guide .................................... 27 24 24 / 7

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