Confluence Creative Arts Center has a full menu of activities
A teddy bear picnic, magic for children and potluck dinners are just a sampling of the activities at the new Confluence Creative Arts Center.
There also are a sewing group, folk-sing gatherings and a variety of other activities planned for the future at the Somerset County center, located a stone’s throw away from Fayette County.
“All this wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of many volunteers and financial help from the community, businesses and from grants for programming from the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies and the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance,” said Jody Best, director.
Additional funding is being sought for continued capital improvements.
The arts center is a nonprofit organization. It had its beginning in 2005 when Best founded the Ursina Community Art Center to provide art classes to children in the community. As a volunteer, she has organized and taught classes in the community so families could have affordable access to programs that are difficult to find in rural Somerset County. The initial classes filled to capacity, the offerings were expanded to include a wide array of programs, including adult art, regular meetings for area needle-workers, literature discussion groups, music coffeehouses and children’s theater. Ursina Borough donated use of its building for the center, but when the vacant First Christian Church at 533 Williams St. in Confluence became available and was being offered at a tax sale, Jody Best and her husband Jay Best, thought the old, but structurally sound, red-brick building would be a perfect building for the center.
The center’s first event was held in October.
Jody Best has been an instructor at Touchstone Center for Crafts since 1996 and maintained a public studio at Spruce Forest Artisan Village for eight years and is currently a home-schooling parent.
Board members include her husband, Jay Best, a Rockwood High School history teacher who has experience in building projects and is involved in the maintenance and renovations of the center. He also is involved in the Seldom Scene Players, the community theater group.
Pastor Dean Hay has been a community liaison for the project. He provides communication and organizational skills, in addition to his computer technology knowledge. He is interested in helping to establish youth programs and other community services.
Sam McClintock is the fourth board member. He founded the Seldom Scene Players almost 20 years ago. This group presents three or four plays each year, and the group has a well-established and enthusiastic audience base.
“He is well-known and respected in the community and has experience in coordinating projects and people,” Best said.
Some class instructors are professionals such as Jim Donovan, a Djembe rhythmic drummer, who recently led a workshop and performed at the coffeehouse. Donovan was one of the founding members of the multi-platinum-selling band Rusted Root. His work has been featured in many films such as “Ice Age”, “Twister” and “Mathilda”, and on television shows such as American Idol, David Letterman, Party of Five and PBS “Web of Life” documentary. He travels all over the United States and Europe, offering workshops, concerts and lectures. He received a bachelor of arts degree in music from the University of Pittsburgh and is currently on staff at St. Francis University in Loretto.
“Others are skilled hobbyists and all instructors are enthusiastic and welcoming with a passion for what they do,” Best said.
Other volunteers include community members with specialized skills such as in construction, wiring and web design or a formal background in arts or education.
“This all would not be possible without the help and dedication of the volunteers,” Jody Best said.
Volunteers have done almost all the interior work upstairs, and installed a bathroom to make the building compliant with building codes. It has been rewired, the stage area enlarged, painting and new plumbing.”
The center is completely compliant with the American with Disabilities Act.
The center’s “wish list” includes upright vacuums, interior and exterior white semi-gloss latex paint, paintbrushes and rollers.
Volunteers are needed to do cabinet making work for shelves, concrete window wells and repair of concrete steps and landscaping/stone work for bike parking.
A host of activities are available and many more are being offered in the future.
The center plans many spring and summer activities.
New programs include a weekly yoga class, which is started Wednesday. A once-a-month Friday evening children’s yoga class is in the works.
The Sip and Stitch group meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month where knitters and crochetiers work on individual projects.
A community quilt is being put together, commemorating the area. New quilters are welcome.
A coffeehouse, featuring singer Elyse Branam, will be held in late March.
A Kids Sew for Kids will allow children to sew colorful bibs to be donated for babies in overseas orphanages.
A family magic show and magic class for children is being planned as well as a “Hula HULA” class where children make gigantic hula hopes, decorate them and play games.
Other classes the center has offered included printmaking, painting, shibori dying, woodworking for children, metalworking, book discussions, children’s theater, soap making, clay workshops, Easter crafts and pysanky eggs, pinhole photography and more.
“Confluence Creative Arts Center is a welcoming place in which to explore art, acquire new skills, and gain an appreciation and awareness of all art forms in a neighborhood setting,” Jody Best said.
“We want to shape the culture of our community.”
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To learn more about the center, go to its web site at www.confluencecreativeartscenter.org
, on Facebook, or by calling 814-395-3575.