Photo courtesy of Linda Campbell.
A Hoover Songbirds quartet sings "Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Director Fred Ernst said the Songbirds plan to use grant funds from the Hoover Arts Alliance to help pay for costume accessories and flower arrangements that are given out to members of their audience at each show.
The Hoover Arts Alliance recently gave out $3,200 in grants and awards to various groups and artists.
The largest was a $2,000 check to the Hoover Public Library’s fine arts department. Library Fine Arts Manager Matina Johnson said the library plans to use the money to support artist receptions, artist lectures and new educational initiatives related to the arts.
The library has long held receptions for artists whose work is on display at the library but suspended them early in 2020 due to COVID-19. Johnson said artists were leery to attend the receptions, but now that things are improving, she expects to start having them again by January.
Also, she would like to have more artist lectures and begin offering periodic educational classes, Johnson said. Potential classes could include dance, art and improvisation, she said.
Linda Chastain, treasurer for the Hoover Arts Alliance, said members of the group read a story about the Hoover Songbirds in the October edition of the Hoover Sun and were impressed with the community service the choir is performing.
“The past several years, while dealing with a pandemic, it has been especially hard for seniors who have been isolated from friends and family to maintain a positive attitude,” Chastain said. “The Songbirds have brought not only cheer but a little normalcy back to folks with their music and positive spirit.”
Music therapy can improve the mental health for some groups who may have been neglected during the pandemic, she said.
“The Songbirds also serve as an example to older citizens that life still has possibilities to participate in meaningful work into their 80s and in some cases 90s. Life is never over til it is over,” Chastain said. “It is this positive influence on the community that we at the Hoover Arts Alliance enjoy encouraging and rewarding.”
Fred Ernst, director of the Songbirds, said he greatly appreciates the grant money from the Hoover Arts Alliance. The Songbirds plan to use it to help pay for costume accessories and flower arrangements that are given out to members of their audience at each show, Ernst said.
“Prior to that, it basically all came out of my pocket,” he said, noting that other members of the group occasionally chipped in to cover expenses, too. But “if we’re going to be a show choir, we’re going to look like a show choir.”
The Hoover Arts Alliance also recently gave a $500 award to Cindy Barr, a painter from Mountain Brook who participated in the Bluff Park Art Show, and a $200 grant to the Alabama Woodworkers Guild, which recently displayed its work at the Hoover Public Library.
The alliance in the spring plans to award two $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors who plan to continue their art education at the college level. The alliance’s mission is to provide incentives to local groups that bring visual and performing arts to residents of Hoover. Learn more about the group at hooverartsalliance.org.
