Volunteering Connects Community: Arts Center Depends on Valley Volunteers
By Jessica Klarp

For the past three years Don Talley has been volunteering with the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, specifically for the monthly Upbeat! Concert Series. Among a host of other reasons for giving his time, Talley says, “It’s a lot of fun. Through my involvement I’ve heard a great variety of music and had the chance to get to know the performers better. I’ve also gotten to know several of our regular attendees and see them at other community events.” The hours he spends and his level of involvement are a way to give back to the community and to expand his passion for music. The service Talley provides to the Arts Center is invaluable.

Each year more than a hundred people throughout the Valley donate their time to the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. It is just one way they give back to this vital community resource. Without the efforts of volunteers the organization couldn’t exist, the building wouldn’t be so beautiful, and critical programming and special events would not be possible. Some give once, others commit on an extraordinary level.

Gale Jackson, the executive director of the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, points out that, “Most non-profits don’t exist without a cadre of volunteers behind them. The public doesn’t always see the amount of work that they do or the number of people necessary to keep our organization running smoothly. Volunteers and donors are the life blood of our organization.”

At the Center there are only two paid employees: Jackson, and Program Coordinator Rita Vermillion, each of whom puts in more than 60 hours a week. This encompasses opening the building in the morning for yoga and music classes, and closing at night when the last of the classes are over, or the Gallery reception or concert concludes, and coordinating everything that happens in-between. But they can’t do it alone. Running the Center with its monthly music concerts, gallery exhibitions and openings, theater and film events, classes and workshops, and annual special events takes not a village, but a valley. Due to the help of volunteers throughout the Swannanoa Valley, the Black Mountain Center for the Arts is able to provide for the more than 20,000 people who walk through its doors each year.

“We have a core group of people who fill a niche of need all year round,” Jackson said. “And then when we have a special event, the numbers swell with volunteers who are working for that specific event. As an example, we recently held the annual Art in Bloom Event that included a garden tour. We had over 70 people volunteer for the garden tour alone.”

For the Upbeat Concert Series of which Talley is so vitally a part, Jackson says that about six volunteers are needed to work the actual event night.  Many people work behind the scenes and throughout the year to make the monthly concerts appear effortless and to offer a welcoming venue for the performers. “But you don’t see that part,” Jackson said. “People don’t consider all that goes into an evening of entertainment.”

Talley’s immersion in the UpBeat! series has its own rewards. “I like being involved in the local community and giving something back,” said Talley, whose day job is at the Montreat College Library. “I believe in being civically involved.  Volunteering at the BMCA is a very simple, enjoyable way to do so.” He is not alone.

Sheila Yost has been working the garden in the back of the Arts Center for the past year. A real estate investor who works from home, Yost saw volunteering as a win/win proposition. “Originally I was motivated because I was new to the area and I wanted to be involved with the community. I love gardening and when I heard there was a need at the Arts Center, it seemed like a good opportunity to get involved.” 

Yost is not only gratified by the time she gives, she is a ceaseless advocate for additional help. Once a person sees the amount of effort involved in keeping an aspect of an organization going, they are very passionate about sustaining it, and know that the only way to do so effectively is to recruit other volunteers. To that end, Yost is hoping interested gardeners who would like to give back to the community will join her in the backyard of the Arts Center for a fun day of gardening on Saturday August 30th at 10:30 a.m.

Between maintaining the facility and assisting with the events there is plenty for all comers, native or transplant.  Jackson was quick to point out all the different ways people can and do give to the Arts Center as volunteers,  - from the board members, to Pam Potter, the bookkeeper who, according to Jackson spends “at least three or four hours a week in what is the equivalent of a staff job,” to committee members who are just regular folks with a passion for the Arts, and other devoted volunteers who might help a child tune a guitar for the Junior Appalachian Musicians, to people like Talley who effectively run different events at the Center, or Gary Semlak who has been the board chairman, been on multiple committees and who, among other things, helps the Arts Center with all its computer needs.

“Volunteering with the Arts Center is an opportunity to work on something larger than myself,” Semlak said. “Giving back gives you an opportunity to grow, to establish yourself in the community. Volunteer work is a great way, especially for new people, to get to know your neighbors and to get to know how your community works, what its values are. Those are basically the reasons why I volunteer.”

Once involved, it is hard not to become passionate about all the Arts Center offers its citizens and guests, and the many ways it enhances this small town.

“I think a lot of folks take the Arts Center for granted,” Talley said. “With the rising cost of gas, it’s great to have such a resource without having to travel to Asheville. Very few towns our size have a facility to compare with the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. There is constant activity there. With rising costs for heating and lights and decreasing opportunities for grants to support the arts, it is essential that the local community embrace the BMCA and support its programs.”

To find your volunteer niche at the Center for the Arts, call 828/669-0930, or stop by at 225 W. State Street.  Jackson says that there is a job for everyone. Volunteers range in age from 14 to 88, and their abilities and qualifications have a similar range. “It takes all kinds,” she says. “And they get to be a part of the arts in their own way.”