Winston

The Emporia Arts Council will host Grammy Award winning pianist George Winston at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Granada Theatre.

“Personally, I have been a fan of George Winston since my freshman year of college and know many people who really enjoy his art,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of the Emporia Arts Council. “He’s very well received and people appreciate his work. We knew that he would be a good fit for Emporia.”

Winston received a Grammy for best new age album in 1996 for the album “Forest.” He also founded Dancing Cat Records in 1983 to record the “Masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar,” according to his Web site.

“When I’m producing in the studio, I’ve been there myself,” Winston said. “I understand what’s going on here because I’ve been in that position, so I feel like sometimes that’s the main purpose, but it’s a dual purpose. I’m very happy that somebody’s inspired me to do something for them.”

Winston recorded the solo piano soundtrack for “The Velveteen Rabbit” with narration by Meryl Streep in 1984 and for “This is America Charlie Brown: The Birth of the Constitution,” in which he played mainly Vince Guaraldi’s late pieces, in 1988 according to his Web site.

Winston said that he plays three main styles of piano music: folk piano, New Orleans R&B and stride piano. He said that he is playing his “summer show” for the concert at the Granada.

“I’ll be playing some Vince Guaraldi, some of The Doors, some New Orleans R&B, and some of the melodic folk things from some of the recordings,” Winston said, “songs that I regard as having to do with spring summer and nature.”

In 1967, when he was 18, Winston said he heard The Doors and they inspired him to start playing music.

“I was an avid listener, especially to the instrumentals and particularly the organ,” Winston said. “When I heard The Doors I said ‘I gotta get an organ and play in the band.’ They inspired me to go to the next thing with that.”

Windsor said the concert is being funded by ticket sales, Arts Council membership fees, funding from Internal Medicine Associates, its sponsor, Kansas Continental Express and ESU.

Proceeds from CD sales at the show will go to the Salvation Army food bank and attendees are also allowed to bring canned goods to help.

“Obviously, something like this just doesn’t come along very often and he’s definitely an amazing performer and an amazing musician,” Windsor said. “I would recommend to anyone who is interested or might be interested to come because I guarantee you will not be disappointed. He’s definitely a phenomenal musician and it’s just going to be a fantastic concert.”

Lauren Walbridge/The Bulletin

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The Emporia Arts Council, currently located at 618 Mechanic St., will move to the 800 block of Commercial Street just north of the Granada Theatre. Over the past two years, they have raised $2.8 million for construction of a new center in downtown Emporia. Giri Nam/The Bulletin.

The Emporia Arts Council has raised $2.8 million in gifts and pledges over the last two years for a new building that will be located between 811 and 815 Merchant St., just north of the Granada Theatre.

“We’ve met our fundraising goals to start construction,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of the EAC. “We’ll plan on starting construction in the next 30 days and it will be about a year long project.”

The fundraising campaign has drawn support from the entire community and surrounding areas with over 340 donors, Windsor said.

“It was beyond our hopes,” said Mel Storm, professor of English and former president of the EAC board. “People contributed. People came back and increased their pledges. People contributed multiple times. We’ve had donors come forward that had not contributed before.”

Two major donors helped meet the final budget requirements for the project.

“The Jones Trust issued a challenge matching grant back in last October,” Windsor said.

The Jones Trust matched what the EAC could raise up to $245,000. An anonymous donor helped with an additional $75,000.

“In the end of the August we were issued a second challenge gift from an anonymous donor that to help us finish out the campaign,” Windsor said. “They would give us $75,000 if we could raise the last $62,000 in 30 days. As of last Friday, we were successful and announced that we were able to meet that challenge in three weeks.”

However, the anonymous donor would like to stay anonymous.

“At the donor’s request we are not announcing who the donor was,” Windsor said. “They’ve chosen to remain anonymous and believe in the community.”

One of the main objectives of the new EAC building is to be more present in the community.

“We’re hoping to increase our presence in downtown Emporia and to enhance the arts and entertainment district in downtown Emporia,” Windsor said. “We know a number of businesses are starting to come to Emporia. It’s starting to grow.”

New features of the building will include a larger gallery, a larger art store with unique gifts and three art studios.

“It will provide a very good companion facility to the Granada Theatre,” Storm said. “It will provide opportunities for students

A clay studio, a small theater, a full kitchen, an art library and upgraded offices and equipment.

“We can host small performances,” Windsor said. “We can also host small groups, group meeting, as well as recitals.”

The EAC hosts a performing arts series that brings a variety of entertainers to several venues in Emporia including the Granada Theatre and Albert Taylor Hall, located in Plumb Hall.

“Every thing that the Arts Council brings to the community, will also have an educational component to it,” Windsor said. “We do free activities to area schools, free performances for area school children.”

Storm was impressed with the efforts of all of those involved in the project.

“We’re a relatively small city, which I think characterizes Emporia,” Storm said. “We’ve been able to fund a multi-million dollar arts complex. It says a great deal about the community.”

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