OACC News

Fall is coming and so is another exciting event sponsored by the OACC! On Sunday, October 24th, we will be going to the famous B.B. King Blues Club for brunch and a performance by the Harlem Gospel Choir. The Club is conveniently located in the heart of Times Square and its fabulous brunches include a home-style 'all you can eat' southern buffet that their brochure says is, "--guaranteed to fill the hole in your soul. " while the performances are rumored to "have you dancing at your seat!"

Check out this typical menu -- Bacon, Sausages, Scrambled Eggs, Fresh Fruit Salad, Cinnamon Brown Sugar French Toast, Mini Bagels with Cream Cheese, Buttermilk Biscuits, Caesar Salad, Cheddar Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Sliced Baked Yams with Pecans and Syrup, South Carolina Grits, Cornmeal Crusted Catfish with Tartar Sauce, Baked Beans with Smoked Bacon,Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Jambalaya, Mild Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese,Vegetarian Pasta Salad, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brownies, Fruit Cobbler with Pastry Crust, Orange Juice, Coffee and Tea. Bring your appetites and eat to your heart's content! Following the brunch will be the performance by the Harlem Gospel Choir.

The price, $85.00 for members and $90.00 for non-members includes transportation from Orange, buffet, show ticket and reserved seating.

For reservations and/or more information, call 203-389-2044 or 203 795-3127. it is recommended that you call early, this should be a popular event!

Join us for a food-filled, music-filled, fun-filled trip!

The Program Committee, under the Chair Judy Primavera, has been meeting to work on scheduling events for the coming year. In September, we will again sponsor the "Build a Better Bird House" Tent at the Orange Agricultural Fair. Flyers were sent home with all Orange School Children in June and a follow up will be sent when school starts in September. In October, as you will see in another article, we are sponsoring an exciting bus trip to the B.B. King Blues Club in New York City, and on Saturday, March 26th we will sponsor The Galvanized Jazz Band in a fund raising concert, with a pre -concert reception and cabaret seating at Holy Infant.

Plans are being formulated for a Dine Around Orange series, which will feature exploration of the ethnic epicurean foods and cultures represented in Orange by various restaurants. More information will be forthcoming as plans are developed, but it is hoped that the first of the series will take place in January.

In the Spring, we will sponsor our annual Young Performers Concert--Date and place yet to be determined.

We also are contemplating another museum trip--possibly to the Clark or the Wadsworth Atheneum.

We are always interested to hear from anyone with additional ideas for programming.

Dorie Petrochko,President of the Oxford Arts Council contacted the OACC regarding a new program at the Yale Orange Campus. (The former Bayer facility). Four Connecticut artists, Dorie Petrochko of Oxford, Susannah Graedel of Madison, Cindy Gilbane of West Haven and Jan Prentice from Branford, have launched a new program at the Yale Peabody Museum Education Center's West Campus location in Orange. The newly formed group, Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators (CTNSI) offers beginning, intermediate and advanced levels of drawing and painting of natural science subjects and habitat studies. Classes begin September 8th and include "Butterflies in Colored Pencil", "Fundamentals of Natural Science Illustration", "Drawing from Museum Specimens", "Botonical Watercolors", "Field Sketching" and "Stipple Techniques in Pen and Ink." For more information and a brochure call 203-934-0878 or visit www.ctnsi.com.

Partners in the Arts was inaugurated with an exhibition co-sponsored by OACC and Laurel Gardens in Orange. Orange artists Rosemary Bencivigna, Thomas Cook and Sharon Morgio, along with several other Connecticut artists, exhibited their work in the art show, which was mounted through the month of June at the Laurel Estates facility in Orange. Brianna Benn, Director of Recreational Activities at Laurel Estates, co-ordinated the event. The show was well received and the opening reception was well attended. There are plans to repeat a similar event in the fall to coincide with A Business After Hours sponsored by the Orange Chamber of Commerce, which will afford attendees the opportunity to experience the Partners in the Arts Program in Person.

OACC's Partners in the Arts Program is currently soliciting both artists and business/community organizations who want to participate in this program. Artists Rosemary Bencivigna and John Ulatowksi are currently exhibiting work at local businesses -- Ultimate Image and Inner Essence Spa in Orange.