If you go
› What: Dinner and the Arts› When: 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28› Where: Center for Creative Arts, 1301 Dallas Road› Admission: $30; reservation deadline 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25› Phone: 423-209-5929
Ever wonder what happens on an average day in an arts school? Allan Ledford says it’s the most-asked question of students and educators at Center for Creative Arts, Hamilton County’s performing arts magnet school.
“People always have questions about what it’s like to go to an arts school. Do you sing and dance all day? They think it’s like (the movie) “Fame” and ask if people dance on tables,” says Ledford, former musical theater teacher at CCA before retiring.
So Ledford has written four vignettes answering these questions. Their performance will highlight CCA’s annual fundraiser, Dinner and the Arts, on Thursday, Jan. 28, at the school on Dallas Road in North Chattanooga. Reservations must be made by Monday, Jan. 25.
The event starts at 5 p.m. with a silent auction, followed at 6:30 by a seated dinner catered by Southern Star. Dinner will be interspersed with these four vignettes before the night closes with a live auction. Among items up for bids are tickets to Dollywood and Walt Disney World, gift certificates from local restaurants and attractions and even artwork created by CCA students.
Students from eight arts disciplines within the performing arts school will participate in the program, both onstage and behind the lights in theater tech work. These CCA dinner programs showcase some of the top youth talent in this city and are professionally presented under Ledford’s direction.
“We are using artistic vignettes – such as a dance number, scene from a show, a string quartet – to show ‘This is how we do things at CCA,'” explains Ledford. “It’s a humorous and touching look at how CCA ‘does school,’ how we deal with all sorts of issues from conflict resolution to showing compassion, how we handle interactions when we have kids from every neighborhood in Chattanooga here – how we make it work,” explains Ledford.
Guests get dinner and a show for $30, with proceeds supporting students and faculty in their academic and artistic programs.
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.