Voices of the Albemarle
Get ready to experience the heartbeat of Elizabeth City like never before! Voices of the Albemarle, produced by Adams MultiMedia, is an all-access pass to the bold personalities, untold stories, and groundbreaking ideas transforming Eastern North Carolina. Hosted by the dynamic duo of reporter Izzy Kelly-Goss and publisher David Prizer, each episode amplifies the voices that make Elizabeth City and the surrounding area an ever evolving place to call home. Tune in and discover the Voices of the Albemarle.
Voices of the Albemarle
Ep. 19: Painting Conversations— AoA
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From long standing programs to new ideas, the three leading ladies of AoA paint a picture of the arts non-profit organization in the heart of downtown. Join Izzy, Christyn Parker, Lauren Luther, and Pearl Napolitano as they discuss the ins and outs of running an arts non-profit in their hometown.
Thanks for listening to Voices of the Albemarle, brought to you by The Daily Advance.
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Hello and welcome back to Voices of the Album Marl. I'm your host, Izzy Kelly Goss. Today, my co-host David Prizer is unable to join us, so I'm holding our producer Colt Twyford hostage to do our new segment before our interview. Cole, say hello.
SPEAKER_01Hello, I am not David Prizer, I am Cole.
SPEAKER_02In a moment, we will be joined by Arts of the Album Marl's core team, Lauren Luther, the Executive Director, Pearl Napolitano, the Marketing and Communications Director, and Kristen Parker, the gallery manager. But before we jump into that, the week in this episode comes out, River City Community Development Corporation, River City CDC, will hold their 22nd annual Juneteenth celebration. This year we'll celebrate the 161st anniversary of the last slaves being freed in Galveston, Texas, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The event is a wonderful celebration of history, culture, and community. I covered it last year and it's getting bigger and better every year, and it'll take place on Saturday, June 20th at Waterfront Park, and it's open to the public.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that always looks like a good time over there. Every time I pass by or I drive by and everything. I haven't ever actually been. I've been to the the chamber Juneteenth with uh they do, I think they do an opening reception before with the chamber.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. But the main event is gonna be on Saturday, June 20th. It's really great. You should tag along with me. There's always like food trucks, there's music, there's yeah, it's such a great time.
SPEAKER_01How long have they been doing that?
SPEAKER_02I think this is the 22nd, the 22nd year.
SPEAKER_01They've been doing the Juneteenth celebration.
SPEAKER_02I believe so. Oh wow. Yes, yeah. This is actually only like the fifth or so year, I think, that it's recognized as a national holiday, although I don't know that it is anymore, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01But the or we'll we won't.
SPEAKER_02But, anyways, uh secondly, summer is officially begun. Uh the school year has ended. It ended for ECPPS on June 5th. If you're looking for ways to keep your kids busy, the city has plenty to offer. The Pasquatink County Library will have a number of craft days, story times, and even food donations throughout the summer. They partner with ECPPS. Did you know that? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's going to cover that. It's amazing. I have too. It is a really cool deal. Uh, they don't ask questions, they don't, they don't matter if you it they don't matter. Oh my god. Can we just start that part over? Let's just start this part over between between accidentally mentioning Donald Trump and saying, Okay. Good lord. Try and get my tongue untied. Okay. You should add that in at the very beginning before the but before we jump into that, this weekend the River City, CDC will hold their 22nd annual Juneteenth celebration. This year we'll celebrate 161 years since the last slaves were freed in Galveston, Texas, which was over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Um, the event is a wonderful celebration of history, culture, and community. I covered it last year. It's getting bigger and better every year. It will take place on Saturday, June 20th at Waterfront Park, and it's open to the public.
SPEAKER_01That always looks like a good time. Like every time I drive by, I haven't been there yet, but um I'm hoping to go there this year.
SPEAKER_02It looks awesome. You should definitely tag along. There's lots of food and music and just a lot of great community. So um, secondly, school is officially out for the summer. ECPPS ended their school year on June 5th. If you're looking for ways to keep your kid busy, the city has plenty to offer. The Pasquatank County Library will have a number of craft days, story times, and even free lunches with ECPPS, which I think you've covered that. I've covered that. I think I saw you there last year when I took pictures. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's so sick.
SPEAKER_02For those who don't know, Cole also does um marketing for Nicole, Jay, and Co.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02And we just see each other everywhere all the time.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Oh, like we just kind of teleport. Yes. Just show up everywhere.
SPEAKER_02We're there, we're there, we're here, we're everywhere. Yeah. We're here, we're there, we're everywhere.
SPEAKER_01If you don't see us, just like do a 360. You'll probably see us somewhere.
SPEAKER_02Give it a few minutes. Um, we'll also hear shortly about the 50 plus summer camps at our City Album Marle this summer, which 50 over 50 camps. There's something for everyone. So amazing.
SPEAKER_01It's insane. I also like do a little bit with AOA for like helping out. Um the ballet classes, the little toddlers, is the most adorable thing.
SPEAKER_02They're doing Barbie ballet, and I wish that I was three years old because I used to love watching the Barbie movies. And they're doing like Princess in the Pauper and like Swan Lake Barbie Ballet. And I want to do it.
SPEAKER_01I've had enough Barbie in my life for with your two little sisters. Every car ride would pop in like the Barbie Swan Lake or the The 12 Dancing Princesses.
SPEAKER_02That one was so good.
SPEAKER_01I don't think they were, I think they were terrible.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I was much rather switched their own. What were you Hot Wheels and Monster Trucks?
SPEAKER_01There was a really good Hot Wheels movie that was awesome. They had a giant loop that they had to like go over and they had to drive it a certain way, and like only one car could do it. Yeah, it was really cool.
SPEAKER_02That does sound cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Finally, Copenhagen, Denmark held their fourth annual mullet championship this past weekend where people come to show off their mullets, styling, color, and even movement. Um, it was created by Stefan Weber, who was disappointed he couldn't participate in a competition in the US because he's a Danish citizen.
SPEAKER_01So he was like, That's crazy.
SPEAKER_02I know. So he was like, I'm just gonna create my own. Um, and yeah, the contestants each had 30 or no 60 seconds each to show off their mullet. And the winner was 43-year-old Thomas Berg. And um, according to the New York Post, he took home the first prize by wowing judges. This is a quote, wowing judges by frantically jumping on a trampoline while clad in neon green gym wear. He completed his mullet haircut with an orange headband.
SPEAKER_01Nothing screams mullet like neon green, the colorful.
SPEAKER_02And an orange headband, just like a sweatband right underneath.
SPEAKER_01Did you text David?
SPEAKER_02I didn't, but you know, next, I think we should have him, since he's bald by choice, we should have him grow it out and start preparing for next year, the fifth annual Copenhagen Danish mullet competition.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. To grow it out, he might have to take an airplane ride over to Turkey. Have you have you ever gotten like uh like a haircut, like a trending haircut and everything, and then just like like they they rotate you and you see yourself in the mirror. And you're like, oh yeah, this is not for me. I uh tried to do the mullet one time. As soon as she turned the thing, I was like, Yeah, we gotta cut this.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. Hopefully, there's nobody waiting after you. No, get your second haircut back to back. Did she charge you double?
SPEAKER_01No, no, I just said, This was a mistake. Let's just keep kind of cutting.
SPEAKER_02I tried to get a shag, but I actually liked it. So I think it did look good on me.
SPEAKER_01There you go. Um, have you been keeping up with the NHL playoffs?
SPEAKER_02Do I look like I keep up with the NHL playoffs? I know the Canes are actually doing I I do look like I keep up with the NHL playoffs. No, I know the canes. No, I know what you meant. I know the canes are doing very well.
SPEAKER_01Yep. They just won uh game four last night. So the series is tied 2-2, and I believe there's been two games in overtime.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01It is one of the most electric NHL playoffs I think they've had in history. Um, you also have the NBA Finals, which is oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02The Knicks. Yes. This is like their first year in what, like a hundred years or something crazy like that.
SPEAKER_01Maybe not that long, but first appearance since 2003, and then the um they haven't won a championships in 50 years.
SPEAKER_02That's crazy. Yep. And so literally generational run.
SPEAKER_01And then it's they're leading the series two to one right now against the Spurs.
SPEAKER_02Oh, they just lost for the first time to the Spurs.
SPEAKER_01I know that much. Yeah. Go Sports. Yep, yep. But uh yeah, these playoffs are awesome. And we're we're all rooting for the Canes. If you're not rooting for the Canes, um Are you even from North Carolina?
SPEAKER_02What's going on? I don't I'm not an NHL walker watcher, but I know I'm rooting for the canes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Go hurricanes.
SPEAKER_01Go canes.
SPEAKER_02Uh with that, I think we're gonna breeze on over into our interview with Pearl, Lauren, and Kristen.
SPEAKER_01We need uh the hurricane siren to go into it.
SPEAKER_02Hello again, and welcome to Voices of the Albemarle. I'm here with Lauren, Kristen, and Pearl to talk about Arts of the Albemarle and their all women-led operation. Woohoo! Ladies, thank you so much for joining us. Yes, yes, thank you for having me. Just so I can get everyone in the listening audience to understand who is speaking. Can I just have you one at a time say hello, Kristen? Hi, I'm Kristen. Lauren. Hi, I'm Lauren. And Pearl. And hi, I'm Pearl. Yay. Again, thank you guys so much for joining us. We're just gonna go ahead and dive right on in to talk about the arts community and what you guys do, um, which is a great way of starting by saying, what does running an arts-based nonprofit like Arthur Yabamaro look like?
SPEAKER_00Oh gosh, that's a loaded question. Yeah, what what doesn't it look like? Everything everywhere all at once. Um I think you could take that question from a lot of angles. What does it look like on the daily? What does it look like on the weekly, monthly, yearly? It's a challenge. I guess I should say from my perspective. And then each of yeah. So from my perspective, um I have to look at it from the bird's eye view on not just how we're doing today, but how are we preparing ourselves to be sustainable and recession proof and state funding proof in order to ensure our longevity? Um, so that's my main priority always is to make sure that we're creating structures and programs and streams of income and support that are not just for today, but they are for years to come and that they can build on themselves without necessarily increasing our personnel. So, how can we create um a school of the arts program? How can we create a sponsorship program? How do we get people coming back to support us? How do we increase our membership, which really is just an annual supporter in order to ensure our success in the future? And a lot of that is all relationship-based. So a lot of what I do is building and and um building relationships and keeping them healthy.
SPEAKER_02And that's your perspective, like you said, as executive director. So obviously it's gonna be different for all three of you. Um, what Kristen is your perspective? Because you're the gallery director, you're the gallery manager. What does that look like for you?
SPEAKER_03Like Lauren said, I feel like day to day it can change. Um, but a big tagging onto what she said, big thing was the community involvement and just relations. Um, I work mainly with artist relations. Um, so I'm on the visual art side. Um, and it's really cool to be able to um see someone's face light up, having their piece hanging in the gallery. Um with the gallery side of things, I would say the involvement having volunteer, well, AOA is majorly volunteer ran. Right. Like what Lauren was saying, um, not adding on more personnel, but getting more community and volunteer involvement. Um, but day to day, it could look like hanging artwork, it could look like putting together a display, a featured exhibit. It could look like doing crafts in the boardroom. Um, and then of course, there's like the admin side, the business side that um isn't as creative, but it's necessary. And I'm like to be organized myself. So I feel like I thrive with having both the duality of the admin business side, but then also the curation. I look at myself as more of a curator for the artists and for the gallery. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then Pearl, you are the marketing and communications director, so it's gonna be a lot of the same, you know, personal relationships, but but there's also a lot that's different. What does that look like for you?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I would I would say honestly, I I do the least in terms of person-to-person outreach. That's uh not my strong suit. Lauren is definitely our resident people person, and Kristen has really come into her own in that role with like connecting with the artists as well. I feel like more often than not, you'll find me in my office like writing things or scheduling social media, or um, I do a lot of like wordsmithing of reviewing um other people's verbiage to make sure we have kind of a consistent brand identity. Um, I like I make marketing materials, digital, you know, design, et cetera. And then I do some grant writing and things as well. And then I also get to help with some performing arts, programming, etc. Um, but it's really different, like as they were saying, kind of day to day, week to week, you never really know. And we kind of all shift to support what's what's what the biggest thing that's going on is, and we all have our areas where we like we know this is, you know, if we if we have school of the arts open house, I'm gonna make sure that all of the paper stuff is printed out and ready to go. Um, so it's yeah, it's a lot of just pitching in where needed and filling in holes, which I don't know, I think it keeps it fun, keeps it from getting definite monotonous.
SPEAKER_03Very flexible environment. You have to be flexible for the day-to-day shift. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And actually, just because I feel like it's an important question, we kind of just dove right into what it looks like for you guys. How would you guys put into your own words what AOA is?
SPEAKER_00It's so many things. Um, and trying to capture all of that in a few words is really hard. And it's something we we work on all the time. I would call it a central hub for all things creative and artistic for our region in terms of um education and exposure and relationship buildings. But you know, we we condense into three pillars, which do not cover everything that we do, but they get most of the way there, they get close. Uh, visual arts, performing arts, and school of the arts are our three main pillars uh that we make sure that anything that we're doing or putting a lot of effort into falls within that mission to engage with creative people and help expose our community to creative outlets.
SPEAKER_02And all three of you grew up in the area. Yes. All four of us did. And um, we're even involved in activities, in school of the arts, in performing arts as kids. And now, you know, you all live here in your hometown and you're able to help further the community, the arts community, which is, I think, a really integral part of any community, especially a small town um like this one. So I want to know what it's like for the three of you to be able to come back to the heart of this community and help it blossom when it helped you blossom in your youth.
SPEAKER_04Probably you go first. Okay. Um, well, it's very special, obviously, to all of us. I can say probably without a doubt that I would not be in Elizabeth City if it weren't for this job. Um, I came back here because of COVID, like many of us did, and uh was working remotely and was kind of like floundering. And I first joined the board of directors briefly. And then when Lauren came on as executive director, uh, they needed help with marketing. So I started doing that part-time and then like it ended up transitioning into a full-time job. Um, but it's just, it's it's really special. Like I like it's almost like emotionally so. Like that place uh for me growing up was the place that I wanted to be. A lot of kids had sports or academics or whatever where they were involved in school or gymnastics or cheer. And this was my place. Like if I was not in school, I wanted to be at Arts of the Albemarle. Uh, I was always in a production. If I wasn't in the production, I was helping with one, or I was away for the summer taking classes in theater, etc. Um, so so being able to give back to the community in the way that it gave to me growing up is really important to me. And and I think just being able to take part in making a space for young, young artists to to thrive and grow and explore is just it's it's just really incredible.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would agree with everything Pearl said. I think it's also important to know and understand the community you serve, and and we do. Um I think that part of our success in the past few years has been leaning into not the things you learn in textbooks about running a nonprofit, but what works for our community and what our community needs. And that might not be your first idea. Your first idea could be brilliant, and it doesn't mean that it's a bad idea. And if if something fails, it doesn't mean it's a bad idea. It means that's not what this specific community needs at this specific moment and leaning into that. And we always say everything's a trial and error, everything's an experiment. So um being willing to try something, see if it works. Um, uphold tradition is important to an extent. Uh so upholding programs that matter to our community and adding to them, changing them, um, being flexible with what works for this generation of artists, this generation of kids and parents, um, and being open-minded to feedback and trying something different is important and um has been a joy.
SPEAKER_02And speaking of like the programs, unless Kristen, did you have something to add?
SPEAKER_03All I was gonna say was that it's really cool to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Absolutely. It's really cool to, you know, see the outcome firsthand, uh, whether it be a facial expression or somebody actually giving you feedback of how AOA has impacted them through the work that we have done there. So it's it's really cool. I have a similar story as Pearl. Like I started volunteering at AOA back in 2023 for their Las Vegas gala and started within a couple weeks of that helping at the front desk. Within a couple weeks of that, had a part-time job, within six months, had a full-time job. So it's it's just really cool to see the evolution of my story at AOA, but of AOA as its own entity too. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Which again is gonna tie my question into what Lauren said as well about programs that really matter and have longevity in the community, which is uh to say center players, which that's like what a history. Yeah, the longest standing programs that I can think of around here for children.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02Um, it started as a small troop in the upstairs room doing Annie. You played Annie with a little red wig. There were nine kids. Yeah, it was so tiny. And I remember Pearl and I were doing Susicle with Encore Theater Company, and we stopped, I think, in the middle of a rehearsal and came upstairs and got to watch you guys perform. Yeah. And I just remember being like, oh my gosh, that's so cool. I want to do that. And we didn't know. All three of us ended up after that doing Zambezy Rhythms, which was a Lion King like selections. A Lion King selection. And then it just kind of grew from there. Um and as you guys began taking over Lauren for starters, you even I think you were still in high school when you directed your first interpreters show. Yes. And then yeah, I was. Which is, I mean, that's crazy. That's amazing. That's such a cool thing to be able to build.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. It was, I was uh it was fall of my senior year of high school. Um, I which everything comes back to what you perceive as failure. So what I perceived at that point in my life as failure was not getting into the school of the arts. I was waitlisted. You in CSA? Yes, uh, for drama for my senior year of high school. And um, I was waitlisted and nobody says no to you in CSA drama. Right. And so I was like, oh my gosh, I hope, I hope enough people say no to get me off the wait list. And I was just heartbroken. And so I said, Well, I need something, I need to do something new. I need a challenge, I need something. And so I said, Holly, can I direct?
SPEAKER_02And you did. And I did what show was that? That was Suzical. And full circle. Yeah. And and then obviously you you went away to college, you went to Elon, and then you came back. And um, there was actually like a gap in center players. It was kind of which mostly just had, I think, to do with COVID.
SPEAKER_00Yes, a lot to do with COVID. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But you guys started taking over and kind of had to almost restart to a degree.
SPEAKER_00In a way, yes. Well, and when a few years go by, you don't realize that you've lost your audience in terms of participants. Yeah. Um, so people know about programs because they bring their little toddlers to see the performances. And then when the toddlers are in elementary school and they're old enough to audition, then they audition. Now, when there's a gap in programming, you lose that um following. Everyone all stream audience. Yeah, you lose that following. But also, it was important to me. And I started, I didn't say that, but I I did not intend to be the executive director here at all. Uh, I joined the board of directors when I was home temporarily for COVID. Um, and I was on the search committee and for a new director, and that and it just didn't pan out. And we we needed a um an interim really, really quickly. And so I said I would interview to be interim and I wouldn't stay longer than uh nine to 12 months. And here I am four years later. But uh it was important to me when we were restarting programs because the center players was the first question I got when I stepped into the role was, are you bringing back the center players? I said, I have every intention to, but I'm not in a rush. And I wasn't. It's it looking back, it looks like I started center players the first day I got in there and I did not. Um what was important to me was, like I said earlier, building a program that could last a while. And that includes having the right people on your team. Uh, and so the team was not there yet. We needed to build a team that that could work together and trust each other and we knew could continue and build something sustainable. Um, and so we had to build that team, and luckily we have that now, but it that takes a while. And you also don't want to just start this big program with the expectation that you're going to do this big glamorous show, right? You want to build those skills with the kids and you want to build that trust and commitment with the kids. Um, so what we actually did was restart the school of the arts and separate the classes from the performance opportunities to first educate our community on um performance begins in the classroom. And that's a core belief of mine is that you don't just jump on stage, you don't go uh from never participated, never having participated in theater to being in a big musical. You start by going to acting class, you start by going to dance and voice classes and lessons. Um, you offer, you know, of course, we were offering visual arts as well. And so we started with five classes. Uh, Corey, a center player alum, was also home for uh about a year and he helped me design those classes. And we said something we're gonna do different this go round is start with the basis of educating in the classroom. And then a couple semesters later, we introduced the center players.
SPEAKER_02And obviously now you guys are back in full swing. Uh we had Natalie Hill, the director, center players director, on for our episode Through the Looking Glass about Allison Wonderland Jr. and 101 Dalmatians kids. If you haven't heard that episode, give it a listen. It's adorable. Um, but like you said, the school of the arts became incredibly important. Uh, that was one of your main priorities. And in doing so, you guys have really expanded the programming. It's it's grown so much. And especially now school is out, um, summer is here, and you guys are having, I would say this is easily the most summer camps AOA has ever absolutely ever come is over 50, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes, we have 50 summer camps, um, which is really just responding to the demand, you know. Um every summer we've built a little more, and it's really building on the students we have throughout the year and then the students who want to try something new in the summer. Summer's a great opportunity to try something new, low commitment. If you if you don't like that activity or that medium of art or or you know, it's just a summer camp, but it really is a wonderful opportunity.
SPEAKER_02And um, another really great program, or not to say program, but another thing that you guys do that's really amazing is the First Friday Art Walk, which is a fantastic way to showcase all of the talent that we have in the area. There's so much. So, Chris, and this is gonna be directed more towards you. What goes into selecting and arranging all of your like monthly showcases?
SPEAKER_03A variety of things, honestly. So some things are uh uh traditional, like our landmark show. We know that's gonna happen annually in the fall and September. Um, the landmark show is um a competition-based show where artists, you don't have to be a member of AOA. Um, you paint or uh some type of relative landmark to the region. Right. Um, not just to Elizabeth City, but to the regional area. Um, so some of our exhibits are annual like that. We do um member exhibits at least once throughout the year where um maybe it's a theme or a prompt or a small work show that I would tell the artists, hey, this is up and coming. And then they would submit the pieces. Um, sometimes artists come to us, approach us with an idea that they have for an exhibit um for a featured artist. And then sometimes I seek someone out if there's a body of work that I've seen by somebody, and uh I think that it would be great and relevant in the gallery. Um it's a balance of we also do a children's exhibit every year for K through 12 programming uh students. So a lot of our exhibits are supposed to be community-oriented while also still focusing or showcasing um specific artists too. So there's a variety of ways.
SPEAKER_02Just to kind of jump back to what you said, you said that sometimes you seek out artists. I'm curious to hear like an example of that, specifically, maybe like one of your favorites. I'm sure that's a really different thing. I'm not allowed to have favorites. No, no, but one that was especially fun for you to discover and put together.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so this wasn't an exhibit that I initially sought out, but it was my first featured exhibit as gallery manager. Um, we did a exhibition called Fire and Ice by Ed Sanford. He's a photographer. I loved that one. It was amazing. So he traveled to Antarctica and to um Egypt and the like the Sahara Desert and um Fire, Sahara, Ice, Antarctica. And it was just really cool to see his background in it and his story, what he got out of it, his perspective, what he's what you could see through what he saw through his lens. Um, and it was something that was not relevant to the area, so that was cool. And it was something that I think a lot of our community members would not have had the chance to experience or look at otherwise. And it was my first exhibit as gallery manager, so it was really fun to work with Ed and put it together and see the streamline process come to life. It's really special.
SPEAKER_00I'm so sorry. Can we pause?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, very special. So, in in short, there's a mixture of annual exhibits, featured exhibits, and selected exhibits. And it sounds like you do a lot.
SPEAKER_02And um, Pearl, you also do a lot in terms of promoting these events. And specifically, um what you do is you create all of the posters and the promotionals for all of the events at AOA yourself. And I know that you do because I've I've watched you sit there and handcraft them on Canva or on different um Photoshop, yeah, Photoshop, Adobe. I am curious to know how you feel about creating things like this, um, what you feel the importance of it is now that AI has become so popular.
SPEAKER_04This is a really loaded topic these days because we're just now beginning to navigate what this means for art. Yeah. Um, I think like AI can be a useful tool in a lot of uh scenarios. But as an organization that promotes the creation of art and creativity, et cetera, um, we have opted to stay away from AI for all everything, really. Um, we we just kind of recently had to have a discussion that we won't be sharing AI generated uh promotional materials, et cetera, just because it's it seems um the most respectful thing to do uh to support our artists and and our creative community. So sometimes that means um extra work, a lot of extra work, hours and hours of extra work. But uh it's I don't know, it's important to us in our mission just to kind of keep that level of uh I don't know, rapport and well, it's a standard we are going to uphold.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, no matter what others are doing. And it's not something to be ashamed of. It's just something as an arts organization that we want to stay true to our mission and true to our human artists and support them, including those who like Pearl who create graphics and create digital art, which is an incredible art form.
SPEAKER_02So and kind of going back to what you said, Pearl, about you guys spend hours and hours there. You guys do spend a lot of time together. Um but you guys So we all kind of live parts of it. Yes. But you guys are all friends and you guys have all known each other and kinda. Um of each other, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Pearl and I grew up together. Um and Kristen And then Kristen, we I knew who Kristen was.
SPEAKER_03Because you guys went to high school. Yeah, we knew of each other, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but big high school, I mean bigger school, like we knew of each other, we would say hello, but we didn't wear it. We went to church together for a little bit. Oh, yeah, for a little bit. We but we didn't know each other, like we really didn't know each other. And so when Kristen reached out to volunteer, it was, yeah, of course. We need all the help we can get. And it was in my first six to eight months or something. And so it just kind of clicked. And when you meet people where gelled very quickly, yeah. Our work, well, and it started with work, right? Not friendship. It was our our working uh relationship clicked and we we complemented each other very, very well. Um, so naturally, when you spend that much time with people, yeah, you do organically become friends.
SPEAKER_04Yes. I feel like Lauren and I kind of had a background of, I don't know, when you work together with someone in theater and on a production, you have to have a certain level of uh professionality, professionalism, whatever that word is. Yeah, and collaboration. So we just kind of had that background as friends, so it was an easy transition. Um, but we all have, I mean, yeah, we all spend lots and lots of time together inside work and out of work, even to the point where we all live like really close to work to each other. It's a lifestyle. It is true, it's a lifestyle. We joke sometimes, it's like a little bit like an episode of friends. Yes. Um, which is, I mean, it's pretty cool sometimes.
SPEAKER_03It is, it's something that I think in 10 years, when we look back on this era of our lives, it's something very special. And it kind of makes us emotional. Yeah. Yeah. We won't ever get this again. Yeah. Very grateful for the opportunity and for this time that we've had. We have together. Yeah, yeah. Not ending anytime for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And speaking of like what you said, looking back in 10 years, um, looking forward 10 years or five, however long you guys are starting to look ahead. What do you guys hope for the future? What do you want to see for the future of Arts of the Albemarle? And what do you guys have planned to begin working towards this?
SPEAKER_00It's a great question.
SPEAKER_04I think maybe I don't speak for all of us, but I I think I do when I say that none of us plan to be here in these positions for the rest of our lives. We're all adventurous, creative, like trying new things, like having new challenges. So that eventually, I think naturally will lead us elsewhere. But I think bottom line is that we hope that everything that we have worked really hard to build from the ground up um is able to be maintained no matter who it is, yeah, no matter who's in the office, no matter who's running the organization, uh, because we just want this to have a lasting impact on our area because it is the only space that has all of this in our region.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Um, when I look from a work goals perspective um or dreams for AOA, I mean, I see so many things. So many possibilities. And they're building on what's already being built now. So nothing is brand new starting over. It's it's a building block. But um, you know, for the gallery, I see I'd love to see as many um affordable pieces and gift things that people can come in and buy in addition to those more expensive large fine art pieces, just to keep getting new people in the gallery and experiencing art and and us reteaching society that art does not have to be only for the elite um or only for the wealthy. Lowering the threshold. Yeah, absolutely. So making sure that art is accessible to experience, but also to purchase. Um, that's like a gallery underlying goal. I mean, for education in our area, that's like one of my passions long before I started at AOA is how do we make arts education accessible to all students, but especially in rural regions. I foresee continued growth of partnerships with the school system. Um, I hope that together we can we can work together, not against each other, in terms of allowing access to even more fine arts um mediums and and interactions. And I will say Dr. Parker and ECPPS, they are a dream team to work with. Uh, you have you will not meet a more um positive and uh optimistic leader of our school system, and he is open to any crazy idea. So I see a lot of building, a lot building there. And then for the performing arts. I see, I hope that we can build a place where live theater is being produced locally, acted by local people, um, and that we are a little hot spot for live theater and music, of course. Music's doing really well. Um, theater is the one that needs a little push right now, and and that changes every couple years. But um if you talk to people who live in bigger cities who are pursuing the arts or pursuing theater and they can't find those opportunities, we don't just have to have those opportunities in large cities. A lot of them are moving to smaller towns and finding that they can create their own opportunities elsewhere. And I I would love to be a home for that.
SPEAKER_02So creativity, longevity, and accessibility. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you so much, ladies, for joining us today. It's been a pleasure. Obviously, I know all three of you and I love all three of you. So thank you for having us. Glad to have you. Thanks was fun.
SPEAKER_00This was been fun. We could talk for like days. Oh, I know, I know. Just come to AOA. Yeah, come to us, buy some art.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and thank you so much to all of our listeners. Be sure to stay tuned for another episode soon and check out AOA's many summer camps, Friars Friday programs, center players, all of the amazing things that the creativity of the Northeastern North Carolina region has to offer.