Revived Program Offers Classes For Adults Too
As a child, FAIR (Fine Arts In Rockbridge) founder Charlene Jarrett longed to have the opportunity to attend a camp that taught all the fine arts and their relationship to each other.
In 1971, that vision led Jarrett and others to create a summer Fine Arts Workshop for Rockbridge area youth. It had classes for those from elementary school years through high school and provided programs for children in drama, dance, music and the visual arts.
In the following years, Jarrett’s activities expanded to include sponsorship and administration of many groups, adding the Rockbridge Chorus (later to become the Rockbridge Choral Society), the Rockbridge Symphony, Rockbridge Ballet, Modern Dance Company, and Footlight Productions.
In the early 1980s, it became more structured, renamed itself Fine Arts in Rockbridge, and began to solicit contributions and support in a more extensive way. Jarrett’s leadership as administrator for these arts groups for nearly a quarter of a century is witnessed by the success of many of these programs that still continue.
Summer FAIR continued into the first two decades of this century but Covid stopped it in 2020 and it has not been revived – until now.
Molly Grace Smith, who worked with Summer FAIR from 2015 through 2019, has been endeavoring over the past year and a half to restart the summer program, which will take place Aug. 4–8 at Lexington Presbyterian Church. And this time, it will be for both children and adults. -Summer FAIR will offer classes with professional instruction across four disciplines: music; movement and dance; theater and creative writing; and visual arts.
Smith will lead the movement classes. Originally from the greater Philadelphia area, she moved to Rockbridge County after graduating from the University of the Arts in 2015. She has been working with various artists and institutions including Halestone Dance Studio (2015-2023), Brilliant Graphics (2020- 2021) and Sally Mann (2015present).
Steve West and Summer Welch will be teaching music. West has been making and performing music for the past 45 years. Welch has been a local musician for over 20 years. Having grown up attending Summer FAIR, Welch is excited to be teaching this year at Summer FAIR.
Nancy Saylor and Sam Camp will be leading theater and creative writing classes. With over 50 years of experience teaching, directing and performing in the fine arts world, Saylor is excited to be back at FAIR. “This is a new generation and we have so much to share, so much to learn,” she said. “Let’s get started!”
Camp is a multimedia theater artist and educator with over a decade of experience in performance and teaching. He teaches theater and film at Mountain Gateway Community College and serves as associate artistic director of New Views Theatre in Lexington.
Josh Poole will be teaching visual arts. He is a visual artist, writer, and lifelong resident of Rockbridge County. His writing focuses on representing rural themes, people and place, while his visual art presents upcycled materials in various mediums. Poole said he is excited to present art-making in an accessible way for all those who may feel convinced that art fields are all about innate talent rather than practice and study. -Registration is open until July 25, with needbased scholarships available thanks to community sponsors and donors.
For more details, registration, and information on how to support the program, visit https:// fineartsinrockbridge.org.
