Submitted photo Guitarist and Columbus native Kevin Silva performs with The Toons.
The Columbus Area Arts Council is presenting its largest fundraiser of the year, Uncommon Cause, with a Masquerade theme.
The fundraiser will be 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Harrison Lake Country Club. Tickets cost $150 and they can be purchased at artsincolumbus.org/ucc.
Throughout the night, guests can dine on hor d’oeuvres and dance to live music provided by The Toons. The atmosphere and decor will be a little more mysterious and artsy than what one might see at a masquerade party, Columbus Area Arts Council Executive Director Brooke Hawkins said, and everyone is invited to wear a mask. Awards will be given out for the most mysterious mask and the most creative mask.
“… that’s a theme that people are getting excited about because they love to not only come up with the costumes whether they make them or buy them, but it’s kind of the idea of going to a masquerade and getting to be maybe a little anonymous and the whole mystery that goes along with that type of party,” Hawkins said.
A live auction will be held with items including an arts tickets package, which includes tickets to art experiences such as shows at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. A similar sports tickets package, with tickets to Colts games, Pacers games and Indiana Fever games, is also available for guests to bid on.
“And then there are a couple of dinners at people’s homes, which those always surprise me how much money they bring in for the organization,” Hawkins said. “It’s the generosity of the people who are offering to host the party, but then also the generosity of people buying those dinners, and I think they’re just a lot of fun.”
Ending the live auction is Art Made Possible, this year’s Fund-a-Need. This will go towards supporting programs that connect people to the arts in local, joyful and lasting ways, according to artsincolumbus.org.
Hawkins said Art Made Possible focuses on three categories of programs based on the demographics that the Arts Council serves; youth arts, community arts and placemaking. Youth arts consists of their legacy program First Fridays for Families, as well as their Make/Matter program and the soon-to-return Battle of the Bands.
“So (Art Made Possible) will fund that, and then also our community arts, which is ColumbusLIVE which is a new line of programming that we launched last year and then also our placemaking stuff,” Hawkins said. “So the 6th Street Arts Alley and other placemaking projects that we do, as well as Artist in Residence which will be at Studio C, which is the ceramic studio that we’re opening this fall.”
Uncommon Cause will also include a silent auction consisting of art from several different artists as well as a pop up shop. This will feature products that local artists and designers have produced, Hawkins said.
“So there will be multiples of those, (it’s) more like a boutique shop or something where you can just grab a hat and buy it,” Hawkins said. “So it’s not an original work of art that is in the silent auction, it’s more of like a shop format.”
As Uncommon Cause is approaching its 50th year, Hawkins said they have shifted over the last couple of years to focus just as much on the social aspect of the night as well as the fundraiser. She hopes attendees have fun while also learning about the Arts Council.
“I think this event is oftentimes maybe the first time people have interacted with the Arts Council because they come as a guest from a sponsor or they come because their friends are going or whatever,” Hawkins said. “And so we really try to inform people about our work, kind of what we do and then also the impact of our work throughout the community at the event.”
