An Athens nonprofit dedicated to helping area youth is receiving some assistance from a local artist. AthFest Educates is getting a new mural downtown.
Time and the elements have taken a toll on the Washington Street mural which is in the process of being replaced. Artist, David Hale is revamping his original panels, “20 Georgia Songbirds”, and will create a new work of art for the nonprofit.
“Now we have the opportunity to take those panels down. He’s able to touch them up and then we can auction them off, and AthFest Educates will be retaining one of the panels for our own historical preservation of the mural.”
Jill Helme is the Executive Director of AthFest Educates, the organization behind the AthFest Music and Arts Festival, and the AthHalf Half Marathon and 5K.
“We will put together an online auction site that will go live on October 1st.”
Proceeds from the sale of the panels will benefit AthFest Educates, which has awarded more than 460-thousand dollars in grants for music and arts education to date.
“Historically, we have funded kindergarten through eighth-grade programs, but beginning with this school year, the 2020 school year, we’re now able to extend our grantmaking so we’re now kindergarten to twelfth-grade programming.”
The theme of the new artwork by Hale is Hope and it will commemorate the 25th year of the festival. It is expected to be completed by October 25th, the day of this year’s virtual race.
Registration for the now virtual AthHalf Half Marathon and 5K is open. Visit AthHalf.com for more info.
