DeKalb County Has Two Great Arts Councils by John Dersham

Considering we are a relatively small county from a population point of view we are blessed with an inordinate amount of interest in the arts. We have two large arts councils in our county in the Big Will Arts Council and the Mentone Area Arts Council.

The Big Wills Arts Council (BWAC) is designated by the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA) as a Local Arts Council (LAC) and has operated under the authority of the City of Fort Payne since the early 1990s. Since that time, the BWAC, under the directorship of Russell Gulley, has been noted as an exemplary rural arts program by the Southern Arts Federation (SAF), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the ASCA.

The mission of this 501 (C3) non-profit organization is:
To aid, encourage, advise, and to correlate all activities dedicated to the promotion of cultural arts in this area, to include, but not be limited to, increasing our youth's appreciation of the arts through education, preserving this area's contribution to the arts and humanities, and encouraging an on-going participation therein.

Today the organization’s primary focus is arts in education programming. Director Russell Gulley is one of the few teaching artists in Alabama that has been studying "Integrated Arts Curriculum" as sponsored by the Alabama Institute for Arts in Education (AIEA) and instructed by Karen Erickson, noted master teaching artist with the Kennedy Center in Washington. Russell is on the ASCA's Roster of Arts in Education Artists, has for two years (2007 and 2009) participated in the ASCA’s Alabama Rural Schools Touring Program presenting his “Intro: Folk Music, Blues and Tradition” residency and concert program, and is currently serving the Fort Payne City Schools as an Artist in Residence in Music in his 3rd year.

Russell has been involved in local community arts for over 2 decades and has served the state on grant review panels, as President of the Board of Directors for the Alabama Folk life Association (AFA), is a graduate of the AFA's "Alabama Community Scholars Institute" sponsored by the ASCA and the NEA, and is dedicated to preserving the state's cultural heritage. (Information and text provided by Russell Gulley.)

The Mentone Area Arts Council was established by a group of farsighted individuals in 2004 and was incorporated in 2006. It received its designation as a private, non-profit organization in 2007. Growing steadily from humble beginnings, the Council now has well over 100 members, from as far west as Fort Worth , Texas, as far north as Bethesda, Maryland, and as far south as Tampa, Florida.

The Arts Council plays a significant role to enrich the quality of life for people in Mentone and neighboring communities by raising funds for the arts, sponsoring events, providing educational opportunities, and strengthening cultural resources for the benefit of all businesses and citizens in the Mentone area. Our primary focus is on three areas, namely, our artists, the Lookout Mountain community, and providing educational opportunities for children in our local schools and adults as well.

Our artists are an overlooked, valuable part of the cultural makeup of the Mentone Area. In the 1920’s, people from all over the country were attracted by the clean air and mineral springs in the Mentone Area for health enrichment, rest and relaxation. For the same reason, artists settled in the area where mountain environs were conducive to creativity and innovation. Their skills have been passed down for generations and today, we have located over 250 fine artists in the area who are contributing to the cultural fabric of the community and its economy on a daily basis. (Information and Text provided by Neal Whitt.)

This Christmas buy local and buy some of your gifts from our very talented artisans in DeKalb County.