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Art centers come together for a special day of celebration

Event is geared towards kids with workshops and parades

Julia Guenther, 8, paints an art project during the first annual Community Arts Center Day at the Fairfield Community Arts Center last year.

E.L. Hubbard/File Photo Julia Guenther, 8, paints an art project during the first annual Community Arts Center Day at the Fairfield Community Arts Center last year.

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By Eric Robinette , Staff Writer Updated 5:54 PM Tuesday, August 30, 2011

When local arts centers opened their doors for the first Community Arts Center Day last year, the idea was to show the community what arts centers could do. This year, the aim is to march the arts around the community.

Arts centers in Middletown, Fairfield and Oxford will participate in this effort, as will a number of other centers in the Greater Cincinnati area. The event is coordinated by the Cincinnati ArtsWave organization (formerly the Fine Arts Fund), which asked all the centers to hit upon the parade theme.

Middletown

The Middletown Arts Center’s Community Arts Center Day will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, and will be geared toward kids, said executive director Patt Belisle. There will be a Crazy Hats and Sunglasses workshop, followed by a parade, followed by an ice cream social. The afternoon will also include painting, sand sculpture and face painting.

“It will be a whole day of fun,” Belisle said. The arts parade route is especially appropriate. Starting at about noon, it will run along Broad Street to Middletown’s other arts venue, the Pendleton Art Center at Broad and Central Avenue, The parade will head back to the MAC, where there will be an ice cream social and other food, like hot dogs and popcorn, Belisle said. Work will also start on a new mural to replace the one created last year that has hung outside the building,

Belisle said last year’s event drew about 120 people, and added, “We’re hoping for more so we can introduce the community to something new and fun.”

Fairfield

Fairfield’s Community Arts Center Day will be on Sunday, Aug. 28, and its parade will be called Sidewalk Art Parade, for which kids of all ages can decorate their bikes, a musical instrument or even their pets, said Heidi Schiller, the manager of the arts center.

The arts activities start at 12:30 p.m., with the art parade beginning at 2 p.m., in the center’s parking lot. The route will wind from Wessel Drive, to Nilles Road, to Pleasant Avenue, and back along Wessel Drive, ending in Village Green Park. At that time, there will be an ice cream social, with the ice cream being donated by United Dairy Farmers.

Last year’s Community Arts Center Day “went pretty well. That was more of ‘See what the arts center can do for you. This is more about taking the art out into the neighborhood,” Schiller said.

Oxford

Oxford Community Arts Center will celebrate Community Arts Center Day starting at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28, in Memorial Park with costume-making workshops. The art parade will begin at 2:30 p.m., winding around the park and then go west on High Street to College Avenue and the Community Arts Center, where it will culminate with entertainment and a free ice cream social. The parade and workshops will feature original artworks created by Jim Crosser, Diane Stemper and local community members.

Oxford community members can participate in art-making workshops in advance of the parade from 1 to 2:15 p.m. at Memorial Park or by signing up for a special workshop with Diane Stemper scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at OCAC.

The Joy Clown Company will be in the park to make balloon hats and costumes with children of all ages, and then the kids will join in the parade.

Director Caroline Croswell thinks the event is scaled down somewhat this year, but in a good kind of way. Last year, “We just kind of did what we always did. It’s a good opportunity to go small this year,” she said.

She had seen an art parade that marched in Cleveland, which included wheelchairs decorated as floats. One of them looked like a zebra on wheels, she said.

“This is something new and exciting. To have several of these going on in the Greater Cincinnati area is great,” Croswell said.

OCAC intern Brian Smith will be at the park on Sunday to assist anyone needing additional work on their creations for the parade. Children younger than age 6 must be accompanied by an adult.

Community Arts Center Day is collaboratively organized by ArtsWave, ArtWorks and the arts centers, with financial support from the Carol Anna and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation. For more information about Community Arts Center Day, a complete list of the community arts centers involved, and details about the types of programming scheduled, go online to findyourcenternow.com

Contact this  reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.