Paul Szmal: I'd like to welcome Becky Wachowk. Did I get it right?
Guest: You nailed it.
Paul Szmal: Awesome. It's gonna be a good day already. Becky's with the Phelps Arts Center and I don't know that we've had a chance to really talk about the facility before so why don't we start with the the what and where.
Guest: Absolutely. So the Phelps Arts Center is a little bit new, a little bit old. So the actual building was a church, Episcopal Church, up until 1976. It was repurposed into the Phelps Library until about 2006 and then it became a Arts Center by name but has been kind of reinvigorated with new management and everything this year. So that's probably why it hasn't been on your radar yet.
Paul Szmal: And it sounds like you're doing a variety of events at the Arts Center, not just performances but other activities too.
Guest: That's correct. It's not just a performing arts center. We are celebrating human creativity in all of its forms. So we have performing arts, visual arts, galleries, lessons. We're pretty much trying to pull in every art aspect that we can.
Paul Szmal: Just to give you a little sample of some of the events that are coming up, let's talk about a couple of them. There is a Daddy Daughter Dance this Saturday.
Guest: There is. This coming Saturday we have a Daddy Daughter Dance but it is also, again, in that celebration of the arts, it's actually with a dance instructor. So it is cutesy Daddy Daughter Dance but Daddy's gonna learn how to actually do some dance moves with his daughter as well. And of course refreshments to make it cute.
Paul Szmal: And then July 1st there's a special cookie decorating class. I'll let you fill everybody in on why.
Guest: Yes. So let's be clear, culinary arts is art too but this one's very niche. If you are a Swifty, then you know that Taylor Swift is getting married this year. So this cookie decorating class is actually themed for the Swifties. So if Taylor Swift is your jam, then you are gonna want to come out and learn how to ice these cookies.
Paul Szmal: I love just the idea of cookies. I don't care how they're decorated but cookies are good. Hosted by Wilkins Bakery and they're in Clifton Springs. So that's, you know, you're supporting a local baker as well, which is just fantastic.
Paul Szmal: Becky Wachob is here with us from the Phelps Arts Center here on FLX Morning. We're talking about some of the different activities and things that are happening in and around the center. Around the center, something that the organization is involved in, will be the annual Phelps Sauerkraut Festival. That's coming up before too long.
Guest: It sure is. Now Phelps is popping. So sauerkraut is their favorite time of year. So the Phelps Sauerkraut Festival, we are absolutely participating this year. We will be having a cabbage head decorating contest outside. Which, you know, well that's art too. But we also, this part I'm very excited about, are partnering with the Phelps Historical Society and we'll have a small gallery inside the Arts Center celebrating the history of the Sauerkraut Festival.
Paul Szmal: I'm intrigued. How do you decorate a cabbage head? Do you carve it like a pumpkin? It sounds like you're gonna have to come and enjoy this event with us.
Guest: Honestly, I will also be learning how that goes.
Paul Szmal: Okay. Something new every day.
Guest: Yeah. Absolutely.
Paul Szmal: Some of the events that are happening in August include an affordable youth arts program called the Summer Art Club. That's gonna run the 10th through the 13th.
Guest: That is. I think that's the one that we are, I mean we're excited for everything we have going on. This one's a big one because it's incorporating our artist youth. So we have M.W. Murals, who is a fantastic artist out of Victor, New York. She has actually graciously decided to host this at the Phelps Arts Center. We will be welcoming children ages 6 to 14 into two different sessions in August. They will learn about a different artist each day and then get to paint and or draw or create in the theme of that artist for the day. And then it will culminate to an art show on the 14th.
Paul Szmal: And then you have a performance right after that on August 15th.
Guest: Sure do. If you are a Jim Croce fan, we do have the Ayers Brothers, who are local famous, and Tony Holiday, who is actually a national touring blues musician. Fantastic musician. They will both be there on the 15th for a concert.
Paul Szmal: Yes. So we've talked about all these different events that are happening and all these different activities. How do these events happen?
Guest: These events are happening because of a very mobilized community right now. Phelps, New York, if you're not super familiar with it, we're all used to Canada. We're Geneva, Rochester. Phelps is surprisingly an arts hub. It is an arts center. So, you know, we have the 49 years of the Phelps Clifton Springs Community Theater. We've got galleries. We've got the, you know, very popular sauerkraut festival. And so the arts center is really just kind of a culmination of all of those artistic community members who have decided to just create a hub and put it all in one place.
Paul Szmal: And I imagine that stuff like this doesn't happen without some pretty important help from people like volunteers.
Guest: Exactly. That's what I meant about the community. We had a new board established in the beginning of this year, and within about a week we had committees that are completely derived of volunteers. All of us are non-paid, and there's got to be 40 to 50 people at this point who are actively engaged in making these events happen.
Paul Szmal: Now, if somebody wants to get involved with the Phelps Arts Center to volunteer, and there's a variety of things that you could do, how do they go about doing that?
Guest: Well, first of all, we welcome you with open arms. Come on in. This party is fun to be part of. We have tried to make it as accessible as possible. If you go to www.phelpsartscenter.org, arts is plural, then we have a contact page in there. We have a mailing list that you can just plop your email into that mailing list name, or there's a contact form that you can reach out to us. Also, if you just Google Phelps Arts Center, we are pretty much everywhere, all over the social media and on Google, so that you can find us, reach out to us, and we'll welcome you with open arms.
Paul Szmal: Any of these activities, do they require any kind of registration or anything like that?
Guest: Some do, absolutely. These events that I just spoke about today are all listed on that website, and the ticketing links are there if there are tickets. If they're not, that will also be stated there as well.
Paul Szmal: Beautiful, and again, that's www.phelpsartscenter.org.
Guest: You got it. www.phelpsartscenter.org.
Paul Szmal: Becky, thanks so much for filling us in. It sounds like things really are popping out.
Guest: Yes, stay tuned. I hope that there will be more and more as we continue on.
Paul Szmal: Sounds great. Thank you so much. Appreciate you coming in this morning.
