Making Woodstock Our Town

While writing an NEA grant for the Big Read featuring Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" it occurred to me that if we received the grant, we would be producing the play "Our Town" while making Downtown Woodstock 'our town' when we moved in February 2011. That amused me so that I actually put it in the grant narrative. It must have worked for we did receive the grant!

We are ecstatic to finally be a part of Downtown Woodstock after several years of trying to find a way to be here. The merchants and businesses have been so welcoming, and our patrons now have a real parking lot and enough bathrooms for intermission.  (Those of you who came to our location on Bells Ferry know what I'm talking about...) 

Thanks to Mayor Donnie Henriques and the , we have a wonderful new place to continue our work in the community. And thanks to Chairman Buzz Ahrens and the County Commission, we have a location secured for our future home just a block away!

We also have enough space to fully incorporate the visual arts here at the City Center while we raise the funds to build . The Arts Alliance of Georgia will be holding Spring classes and Arts Up! camps this Summer - right here! Things are really starting to hum...for example:

Just this week we closed , hosted a belly dance recital, had rehearsals for "Cinderella", "Peter Pan" and iThink Improve Troupe, dress rehearsals for a show by another theater group, a and a teen drawing class hosted by artist John Horne. Oh, and final performances by our drama classes for family and friends. Many of the hundreds of patrons, parents, volunteers and performers who came through City Center headed to our local restaurants and merchants while they were Downtown.  As I explained to dozens of middle school students during Career Fairs, this is economic development that helps everyone whether or not they are interested in arts and culture.

We hope you'll take a moment to check our new website at www.elmstreetarts.org, call us at 678-494-4251 or stop by City Center at 8534 Main St. (between and ).  

Love to show you around and tell you more about Elm Street!