November’s Second Saturday featuring the Blacksburg Photography Club will be November 12 from 4-6pm.  Come out and see the “Water” themed exhibit.

Tranquil by Jeremy Riffe

Though we at the Jax do tend to be very barn-centric, we do like to share the opportunities and events happening in the wider world of art and creativity, such as:

Opportunities for Artists

• The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants. Accepting applications year-round, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation’s dual criteria for grants are artistic merit and      
  demonstrable financial need, whether professional, personal or both. The Foundation‘s mission is to aid, internationally, those individuals who have worked as professional artists over a significant period of time. To learn more about the application process, selection process and more for these artistic grants, visit the PKF website.

• Blacksburg Fork and Cork. There are still vendor spaces available for this April 30th food, wine and art festival! Get your work in front of folks who understand the value of handcrafted, heartfelt works of art and fine craft. Check the Blacksburg Partnership website for a downloadable application and more information on this year’s event.

• The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the McCormick Foundation Grant. If you’re a woman for whom journalism is your medium of choice, this is your grant opportunity! This joint project seeks to fund women who have original ideas to create new Web sites, mobile news services or other entrepreneurial initiatives that offer interactive opportunities to engage, inspire and improve news and information in a geographic community or a community of interest. For more information on funding your journalistic dreams, visit the website of the Institute for Interactive Journalism.

Community Arts Events

Continue reading Happenings in the Wider World

We admit it: fiscally, 2010 has not been a groundbreaking year for the Jax. But what we have lacked in liquidity, we have made up for in spades with enthusiasm, outreach and effort. For those efforts, we have received a groundbreaking number of awards – three in 2010 alone! First, Executive Director John McEnhill was honored with a Leading Lights Award for volunteerism. Almost immediately after, both John and the center itself were presented with a Perry F. Kendig Award for Arts and Cultural Organizations.

This week, the Jax was honored at the 35th Annual Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Recognition Luncheon as the volunteer station of the year, both for the number of volunteer opportunities we have provided and for providing a temporary space for the Floyd offices of New River Community Action when last winter’s extraordinary weather rendered their facility impossible to use.

Judy Weitzenfeld presents the RSVP award to Gloria Hilton and John McEnhill

Continue reading Volunteer Station of the Year

A big congratulations goes to Aileen Fletcher, whose piece in our recent juried exhibit All This I Am: Honoring Women through the Arts was not only awarded an honorable mention by jurist and painter Sally Bowring, but also won the People’s Choice Award for her photographic work entitled Down Shooting Creek.

Continue reading Congratulations to Aileen Fletcher