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Attendees of the first annual Richard
Brooks Visionary Awards of Artistic Distinction – held this
Tuesday, April 29 at the Coweta County Centre for Performing and
Visual Arts – are being urged to arrive early.
Centre director Don Nixon is asking audience members to be in
their seats no later than 6:50 p.m. that night, as country music
superstar Alan Jackson, author and wife Denise Jackson and the
late writer Erskine Caldwell are honored as the first inductees
into Coweta County’s “arts hall of fame.”
Because of high public interest in the event, unfilled seats
will be opened to those without a ticket approximately 5 minutes
before the awards ceremony begins at 7:00 p.m.
Seating is limited in the 1,000-seat CPVA, and Brooks Awards
tickets offered to the public at 3 p.m. on April 24 were quickly
exhausted. “We had such an overwhelming demand for tickets that
we gave out the last of them before four o’clock,” said Nixon.
The Brooks Awards are being inaugurated to honor people who have
contributed significantly to the arts through Coweta County, and
are named for former Coweta County Superintendent Richard
Brooks, who will also be among the honorees. They are intended
to serve as an ongoing “Coweta County arts hall of fame” and
will be given each year afterward to local artists or
contributors to the arts in Coweta County, said Nixon.
Tuesday’s ceremony at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts
(CPVA) will welcome Alan and Denise Jackson back home to Coweta
County, and Tim Gooding – the grandson of novelist Erskine
Caldwell – will be welcomed as he accepts a Brooks Award in
honor of the late writer.
All three awards recipients are Coweta County natives – both
Jacksons hail from Newnan; Caldwell, who died in 1987, was born
near Moreland, where the home he was born in resides today as
the Erskine Caldwell Birthplace and Museum. Museum Director
Winston Skinner will appear with Gooding as Caldwell is honored
for his lifetime literary contributions.
The Jacksons will appear in Newnan earlier in the day as well,
at Scott’s Bookstore in downtown Newnan from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Denise Jackson will be signing copies of her new book “The Road
Home” and Alan Jackson will be autographing copies of his newest
recording.
On Tuesday night, a host of family members, old friends,
supporters and dignitaries will welcome them both onstage at the
Centre for Performing and Visual Arts in Newnan.
Newnan native and Broadway actor Glen Rainey will serve as
Master of Ceremonies for the evening. The honors choirs from
Atkinson and Grantville Elementary Schools will serenade the
Jacksons during both of their appearances, along with several
high school vocalists and instrumentalists. Actor Michael
Scialabba will read excerpts from Erskine Caldwell’s “In Search
of Bisco.”
Adam and Shannon Wright – who make up the country music duo The
Wrights – are among the several members of the Jackson family
who will appear onstage Tuesday to honor them, along with
lifelong friends, childhood teachers and local community
leaders.
Organizers of the brooks Awards urge attendees to consider
making a donation to arts scholarships offered through the
Centre for Performing and Visual Arts.
The scholarships are awarded to local graduates who are pursuing
studies in the fine arts, including the music, the visual arts,
theatre, dance and other fields served by the Centre.
“The scholarships benefit talented students in Coweta County who
are pursuing a career in the arts,” said Nixon. “They help
worthy students follow their dreams, just as the people who we
are honoring Tuesday night have, and we hope the scholarships
will encourage the same spirit of excellence that is being
honored by the Brooks Awards.”
Nixon said that he has been very gratified to see the community
interest in Tuesday’s awards ceremony.
“It is very encouraging to see people in the community react as
they have and want to honor these people,” said Nixon. “And this
gives us a chance to show our appreciation to Richard Brooks for
his courage and willingness to envision, and win community
support, for the creation of the Centre for Performing and
Visual Arts.”
Tuesday night’s awards are named for Brooks – who served as
school superintendent from 1994 to 2002 - for his stewardship
over the planning and construction of the Lower Fayetteville
Road Centre. The Centre will begin in 5th year of operation this
April. Brooks and school board members included the Centre as
one of the major projects proposed to voters in Coweta County’s
first Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which was passed
in 1997 by local citizens.
Since its opening the Centre has received significant public
support and use, said Nixon. “Because of that, people can easily
forget that the Centre was originally met with some skepticism.
People were not sure it was going to be used by our students and
our community, or that it would be a worthwhile value to the
community.”
That wasn’t surprising, said Nixon, “because in 1997, when the
Centre was first proposed, it was very new and very different.
It was visionary then, it was visionary when it was being built
5 years ago, it remains visionary today.”
“We have visitors from other communities who come to the Centre
today, just like visitors from around the country tour the
Central Educational Center. Everyone is floored when they
realize the Centre is owned by the school system, and yet it
makes sense when they see what it does for students and our
schools. And just like at CEC, they want to see what we do here
and how we make it work because they want to create something
like it for their own communities,” said Nixon.
“That makes a huge statement about our community, and also about
Richard Brooks’ vision for this Centre,” said Nixon. “It took
courage on his part to do this and he had a board behind him
that agreed and backed him up, and the whole community has
benefited.” |
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