September 20, 2008

I am a resident of West Boylston, working with the West Boylston Arts Foundation to help organize an arts festival to support our town schools' art & music programs. We are seeking artists that would like to reserve sales booth spaces for the West Boylston Bicentennial Arts Festival on September 20, 2008. I hoped that you might be able to help us out by passing the word along to the photographers of the Seven Hills Camera Club and other friends.
The West Boylston Arts Foundation (WBAF) was established last year as a result of budget cuts to the School Department which eliminated the arts programs in our schools. The Foundation has held various events over the past 9 months and through its efforts has restored instrument and band lessons for the elementary and middle school grades, as well as some art class instruction. The band and instrument lessons are well attended by most of the 4th through 6th graders and provide an important dimension to their educational experience. Unfortunately, we still have not been able to fully restore the programs in the Middle and High Schools. The main goal West Boylston Bicentennial Arts Festival will be to raise funds to continue to assist the arts program in the schools. All our Festival proceeds will be dedicated to the school arts programs. The Festival will include artwork sales, music, and cultural performances throughout the day and into the evening. Another element of the arts festival will include a college & career arts fair to have various schools and professional organizations show that the arts are not just an "extra" for the schools, but are a viable career path.
The Bicentennial is a major event for West Boylston with happenings ongoing throughout the year. The West Boylston Bicentennial Arts Festival will be a part of a weekend celebration culminating with a parade and fireworks the following day. We are planning for the Arts Festival will run from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, September 20, and then transition into an evening program with more music, a wine tasting (if we can get it permitted), a square dance, kids games/races, and a celebratory bonfire. The Festival will be advertised in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and will likely be very well attended.
We hope that photographers of the Seven Hills Camera Club might like to participate in the West Boylston Bicentennial Arts Festival. I have attached the Festival's Artist Registration Form and Call for Artists, please forward to the Seven Hills Camera Club members, friends, and other area art organizations that might be interested. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me here at this email or at Lbaldi@msn.com, or by phone at the numbers below.
Thank you,
Mark Baldi
West Boylston Arts Foundation
115 Maple Street
West Boylston, MA 01583
(508) 767-2803 - work
(508) 835-6489 - home