June 10, 2008

LIVINGSTON, Ala.--Two members of the University of West Alabama family recently received a pair of grants from the Black Belt Community Foundation to support the arts and culture in Sumter County. The Black Belt Arts Initiative grants, awarded through the Sumter County Fine Arts Council, will fund upcoming workshops for both children and senior citizens.

Jessica Smith, a third-year UWA assistant art professor, will hold a ceramics workshop for visually impaired children in the region. A sculptural ceramic artist, Smith is currently serving as an artist-in-residence at the International Ceramic Research Center at Guldagergaard in Skaelskor, Denmark. She spent last summer working with architectural ceramics at La Meridiana in Tuscany, Italy, another important European ceramic art center.

“Thanks to the foundation’s support, I can share my knowledge and love of ceramics with a group who may not otherwise be exposed to the art,” Smith said. “I am extremely appreciative of this opportunity, and I look forward to getting the project underway when I return to Livingston.”

In addition, Dr. Neil Snider, director of UWA’s Julia Tutwiler Library, will direct a workshop to assist local senior citizens in making memory books about their lives, especially their experiences growing up in Sumter County. 

“Everyone has a story to tell, and unless these stories are preserved, much of the richness of Black Belt culture and heritage will be lost to future generations,” Snider said. “The stories collected at the workshop will become a permanent part of the University’s local history collection.”

The memory book workshop will be conducted July 14-18 by Billie Fuller Goodloe of Mobile with the assistance of Dr. J. Russell Goodloe Jr. The workshop will be held daily from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on the UWA campus. There is no charge for the workshop, with all supplies and lunch provided each day.

Workshop participants will keep the memory books they create so they may pass their stories on to their children and grandchildren. The Julia Tutwiler Library will make digital copies of the memory books and tapes of each participant telling his or her story to preserve the memories of the Black Belt’s older generations. For more information or to sign up for the memory book workshop, please call Vivian Hauser at 205-652-3611.

The Black Belt Community Foundation, established in 2003, pulls together human and financial resources to improve life in the 12-county area by funding projects that bring about permanent improvement and change to the region. The Foundation seeks to engage Black Belt residents and leaders to improve the environment, health and human services, education, youth, arts, culture, economic and community development in the region by providing grants, building an endowment, providing leadership and forming partnerships.