The focus will be as important as ever for discovering and supporting the local arts. But the mix-and-mingle atmosphere will be less structured and formal than in past years for the 42nd annual Uncommon Cause auction fundraiser, “Designing the Future,” Oct. 21 at the Columbus Learning Center.
Tickets, priced at $100 each, less than in previous years, are available online with room for at least 350 people amid the center’s first floor lobby and hallway, according to organizers.
Proceeds will help the nonprofit Columbus Area Arts Council “to integrate art and cultural experiences into community life,” according to its new mission statement.
That includes free children’-oriented Old National Bank First Friday for Families presentations and JCB NeighborFEST street concerts.
Last year’s sold-out fundraiser with 340 people at The Commons raised $77,000.
The event has taken on even more importance in recent years as general city funding of the arts council’s budget has been discontinued. But the city does provide support for select activities such as the Live on the Plaza concert.
“We have to simply think of it today as every donated dollar being very important,” said Kathryn Armstrong, the arts council’s executive director.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
