Peace thru the Arts concerts allow people to get to know the performer and
one another.
7/17/08
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/169635
By Amy Matzke
BLACKSBURG
-- Bringing the community together for a night of music and camaraderie.
That's the goal of Sandy and Tom Marano, a Blacksburg couple who started Peace thru tHe
Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting peace through events such as concerts,
drum circles and dance.
"It's basically a community mechanism to foster any form of arts,"
Tom Marano said. "Our objective is to just foster that and help out
wherever we can. There are no hidden agendas. ... We just want to help the
musicians follow their dreams."
A major part of Peace thru tHe Arts are the concerts, of which there are
about six a year, Sandy Marano said.
She books an artist in a small, private venue so the concert is more
intimate. Dinner is usually offered before the show, and the audience is
encouraged to mingle between the performer's sets.
"Songwriting is really neat because they have the guts to express
themselves from the heart, and not everyone is that brave," Sandy Marano
said.
She said she tries to bring in artists from outside the New River Valley.
"I support local music, but if the artists are from close by, people
can see them at other venues," Marano said. "I want people to
experience music from outside the community."
On Friday, Peace thru tHe Arts is hosting a barbecue dinner and a concert by
the Flyin' A's, a Texas
jazz-blues-country group.
The Flyin' A's are also performing tonight at Gillie's in downtown Blacksburg.
This is the second time Gillie's and Peace thru tHe Arts have hosted the
same artist in the same week, said Anita Lackey, music coordinator for
Gillie's. The first was Bob Sima in April.
"I hope we can continue to do that because it's so expensive for bands
to get out and tour with the price of gas and everything," Lackey said.
"It helps them to get as many gigs in the same area as possible."
Since starting the Peace thru tHe Arts concerts 212
years ago, Sandy Marano said she has tried not to book the same artist twice.
Instead, she said she would like to work with other venues, so performers could
return to Blacksburg
to play at different locations.
"If we had other places they could go they could
come back more often," she said. "There are so many good artists out
there, I don't want to book them more than once."
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