Grandparents and honorary grandparents are invited to bring their grandchildren to a dance at The Arts Center Friday, May 30 from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM.
Donations are accepted at the door and proceeds from this event benefit AACA scholarships.
The event is produced by Sloane Shepherd, the ten-year-old daughter of AACA Executive Director, Lauren Brown.
Sloane Shepherd said: “I have been saving money to rent The Arts Center because I have wanted to host a dance for grandparents and kids. My mom mentioned to me that she was trying to think of a fundraiser for camp scholarships for this summer and I realized that a grandparents’ dance would make sense as a fundraiser for summer camps!”
Shepherd describes the event as a dance party featuring music from the 1940s to the 2020s with balloons, cookies, a selfie station, and the opportunity to help children go to camp.
AACA is so committed to funding arts experience for those in need that its youth scholarship program, known as the Marian Biddle Trew Scholarship Fund, was in a deficit at the beginning of the year.
“Thanks to a generous annual donation from the Kiwanis Club of Athens our scholarship fund is no longer in the red, however, we remain short of what we need to fund the tuition requests we anticipate receiving for our eight weeks of summer camps,” said Brown.
“One of the things that charmed me about Sloane’s idea,” Brown continued, “is that the audience for the dance she envisions is the very same audience that benefits from AACA scholarship programs.”
AACA has always been committed to providing arts education and enrichment opportunities for McMinn and surrounding communities. One of the ways AACA does this is by eliminating barriers to participation in the arts. Financial limitations are a significant challenge for our community in which the median income is well below the national average and a majority of public school students qualify for free lunch.
Sloane Shepherd and Lauren Brown have a goal to raise at least $2,000 for youth scholarships as Brown anticipates that is the minimum amount needed to fund all financial aid requests for 2025 summer programs. Donations to both scholarship programs may be made as admission to “The Grand Ball,” or as a donation to AACA in person, over the phone or online athensartscouncil.org. Donations are tax-deductible as AACA is a registered 501c3 charitable organization.
Details on each AACA scholarship program as well as information on how to apply are below:
MARIAN BIDDLE TREW SCHOLARSHIP FUND
AACA funds from $2,750 - $5,000 in youth scholarships annually with the Marian Biddle Trew Scholarship Fund from donors including Kiwanis Club of Athens, Brenda Mitchell, and other anonymous individual donors.
Marian Biddle Trew worked to develop a scholarship program for area youth during her time on staff at Athens Area Council for the Arts. In 2004, AACA, in partnership with Chris Trew, Judy & Bill Biddle, and the AACA Auxiliary, established a scholarship fund in Marian's memory. Marian was a beloved friend and AACA supporter who helped make the AACA arts in education program a strong asset of our community.
Since the scholarship was established, AACA, the Trew and Biddle families, and the AACA auxiliary have donated $20,000 to graduating seniors in our county who chose to pursue an arts education. In 2013, the AACA board of directors and Marian’s family decided to honor her commitment to building AACA’s arts in education program by using the Marian Biddle Trew Scholarship to fund tuition for AACA classes and camps.
LAURA ABBOTT SCHOLARSHIP FUND
The Laura Abbott Scholarship Fund will provide financial support to senior citizens to enroll in arts classes at The Arts Center or other nonprofit organizations through funding from Community Artist League fundraisers, private donations, and other anonymous individual donors.
Laura Abbott was a beloved arts educator and friend of the arts who earned her Master of Fine Arts from University of Tennessee at Knoxville and taught Art and English at TMG High School for many years. She was an active participant in classes at The Arts Center and a member of Community Artists League (CAL). In 2022 CAL established a memorial scholarship to honor Laura's devotion to arts education, and help provide arts access to senior citizens with financial need. AACA began serving as fiscal custodians of the scholarship fund in 2023 so that donations would be tax-deductible as AACA is a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications for both scholarships are available upon request to AACA via email or in person. Email requests can be sent to
YXJ0c2VkIHwgYXRoZW5zYXJ0c2NvdW5jaWwgISBvcmc=. The Marian Biddle Trew Scholarship form requires a parent or guardian to fill out a single page indicating financial need and includes a second page that must be completed and returned to The Arts Center by a teacher, administrator, or non-family member in a leadership role such as a youth pastor or piano teacher. Seniors should submit applications at least one week in advance of the registration deadline for Arts Center classes and at least two weeks in advance of the registration deadline for classes offered elsewhere.
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