 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
  
|
|
Information Update -- June 2008 The Andrews Art Museum Inc. In the interest of advancing the AVI initiative for a special art museum for Andrews, the Andrews Art Museum Inc. has been formed as a North Carolina not for profit corporation and is a separate entity from AVI. Lee Nichols is its president and Annette Rawlings is curator and director. Some funds may still flow through AVI to it as AAM does not have its 501©3 status with IRS as yet. BRU-Architects, www.bruarchitects.com, has been hired as per contract and Lee and Annette have put together a team to organize and put together a board of directors. AVI will also be contracting with BRU-Architects to do work for them and is looking for grants to get that going. In pursuit of that goal, AVI has made presentations at Western North Carolina University under the Mountain Landscape Initiative and at Warren Wilson University under Handmade in America. Both presentations had foundation representatives present and were both well received. The Andrews Art Museum Spring Season The Art Museum at the Cultural Center is finishing its very successful first Spring season at the end of June and will re-open in September for a fall season. The Board of the Center with the help of Eric Goldman has raised more grant money for bathrooms and other improvements. Eric will be preparing a report on his work before he leaves in August which we expect will distributed to the group. The Cultural Center has been a hive of volunteer community activity and work. Although there is a laundry list of items that need funding, the need for a heat and air system is the major issue for providing functionality. The Trails Committee Jerry Pullium and the AVI trails committee have funding in place for a number of their projects and implementation is under way. Jerry will have a lot to report over the next couple of months. Jerry's trails program is the oldest and most popular of AVI's initiatives and has been frustrated by some of the player entities slowness in permitting its implementation but these hurtles have now been overcome and work is underway. Downtown Andrews Our downtown merchants had a rough winter and with the downturn in the general economy are struggling mightily but are very hopeful. Beans and Novels building is finishing up and the bookstore and coffee shop should be open for July 4th. The Bradley Inn is under construction and will be ready in a month for our bakery to move in and after that AVI will move in next door. It is proposed that AVI and the Tri-State News will occupy two small offices in the front and a nascent black box community theater in the rear of the building. The El Kouri building finished its renovations and has in it the El Kouri's beauty salon and Kappi's Consignment Shop. Joy Murphy and Tom Jurecavic have finished the renovations to their two buildings and have opened Cabin Country and it is doing well. The Phat Trout Wine Garden, next to Cole House, is doing entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights and experimenting with other innovations that are enhancing Andrew's night life. Ted Scott's Downtown Project Ted Scott is providing the breakthrough project in AVI's initiative to bring more residential density to our central business district. Located on about .68 of an acre behind the old Doris Wilson house on Main Street, now owned and under renovation by Maki Winkleman, Ted will break ground July 7 on six clustered cottages in a community setting. We are hoping that this project will become a pilot for other investors that have expressed interest to AVI in this kind of group development. Ted's project will bring us a step closer to an Andrews with a lived in, walkable downtown. Ted's project was the first to be approved by Andrews new Design Advisory Board. Andrews Vineyards and the Andrews Farmers Market Eric Carlson has launched two initiatives of note. He has helped Roy Sargent, Loren Leith, and Joel Franks with vineyards at their homes just out of town and Jerry Pullium with a small one at his home on Main Street. Although still at modest levels, this more than doubles the grape production in the valley. Also Eric assisted Vickie Milsaps in starting a Saturday Farmer's Market that opened on June 21st. |
|
|
|
 |
|
||||