Nancy Adelis, who has volunteered for many years to help raise money for teacher grants and student scholarships in Brunswick County schools, has also helped to obtain free needed supplies for the fine arts.  Nancy discovered the NAEIR - the National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources.  The NAEIR provides needed materials and supplies to their members (qualified schools and non-profit organizations) through quality donations of inventory from American corporations.

This year Nancy was able to get the following items:

• 15 soft sided guitar cases
• 2 keyboard soft sided cases
• 50 hard cover books on how to write for 3rd through 7th grade
• 30 hard cover books on printmaking
• 6 sets of Hispanic fine art posters
• More than 30 Bell & Howell 35 mm non digital cameras
• An assortment of oil pastel crayons and dry erase markers
• An assortment of kindergarten and early Elementary craft items
• A huge amount of dance shoes in a variety of sizes.

Constance Enis, the Director of Fine Arts Brunswick County Schools was very appreciative of Nancy's efforts to get all these wonderful supplies for the fine arts teachers and students. The Artisans also appreciate Nancy's efforts as well! Awesome job, Nancy!!

To read more about the NAEIR, go to https://www.naeir.org.

Thursday, January 24th, Stepping Up For Arts held a ceremony to present grants to Fine Arts Teachers in Brunswick County. Teachers, students, benefactors and artisans all attended.  Watch videos from this event!  Congratulations to all the teachers! And thank you to everyone who helps us raise money for this important educational cause!

This year, the Artisans Gallery from St. James partnered for the first time with a Brunswick County elementary school at their 19th Annual Holiday Boutique held in Southport on November 9 and 10. The Jessie Mae Monroe School, in Ash, has the great fortune to have Theresa Reiter as an art teacher. Ms. Reiter is bringing creative learning opportunities to her students, and some of those opportunities have melded with the goals of Stepping Up For Arts (SUFA), the not-for-profit arm of the St. James Artisans.
 
SUFA’s mission for over 10 years has been to raise money for arts education in Brunswick County. It has been awarding college scholarships to aspiring art students in the county, and giving grants to art educators in all the county schools. SUFA and the Artisans Gallery are now expanding that mission.  To that end, SUFA has begun "hands on" partnerships in which it can support the schools in new and creative ways and the schools can likewise assist SUFA.
 
The Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary students of Theresa Reiter have been raising money for a smart board that will not only handle the standard functions of a smart board but will enable video teleconferencing discussions and group projects with other schools via the virtual classroom and virtual field trips to museums.
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As part of that endeavor, each year the students design holiday cards and print them. Over 400 cards are individually designed by all levels, including special education. Twenty-six designs are then selected by the principal, to be printed and sold in boxes of 26 cards, online by Ms. Reiter at treiter@bcswan.net.  This year, the Artisans were honored to be able to work with the students to market and sell these cards at the Holiday Boutique in Southport.
 
Earlier this year, the students from Jessie Mae Monroe plus students from Brunswick Early College and South Brunswick High School, helped with “The Pirate Invasion”, SUFA’s event in October, by painting murals for the event’s wall decoration. This allowed the students to learn the history of the pirate era ands and expand their art knowledge. SUFA in turn was able to show its supporters the benefits of their donated funds. SUFA and the Artisans look forward to continued joint art partnerships with Theresa Reiter and the other art educators in Brunswick County.
 
From Barbara G. White, Communications VP Artisans

Geri is a fabric artist known for her very popular and adorable pumpkins! Congratulations to Geri for being the St James Sales Center Featured Artist. Read more about her at ​http://www.stjamesartisans.com/sales-center-featured-artist.html .

The Artisans Gallery re-opens Monday, September 24th and will remain open until Friday, October 12th. Please join us for a Thank You Celebration of your patronage over the last 8 years. We will have wine, cheese and live music!

The Artisans, who manage the Artisan Gallery and the non-profit organization Stepping Up For Arts, is facing two major challenges in 2018. First, our Gallery is losing its rental space as of October 2018, where more than 70 local artists display and sell their fine art. Losing this space negatively impacts the individual revenues of our local artists, minimizes our presence in the community and reduces our ability to support both in human and financial resources our non-profit Stepping Up For Arts. 

Meeting the art needs of our county teachers and students is our second challenge. We have recently become aware that the county teachers receive about $1.00 per student for art supplies each year. Stepping Up For Arts, our non-profit, has consistently provided financial resources to those teachers and students, having contributed more than $30,000 to those endeavors. Now we are faced with having to increase our revenues to support these needs. With the potential disappearance of the Gallery, due to lack of space, we risk losing the help they have given us.

In the past, our overhead had been reduced due to assistance from kindly and generous folks like yourself. Now the process of moving and renting new space presents short term financial challenges that we hope you can help us overcome. Thank you in advance for your generous help. And thanks to everyone who has supported the Artisans Gallery for the last 8 years!

https://www.gofundme.com/the-artisans?teamInvite=gszkBHcRY3fDsm5odOkWq2VpValqp5KjtJ3vqM1v0MgZ5dgAGvA5Ftf0TyjLGzT4