The Spruill Center for the Arts Artistic Affair on March 24 surpassed all expectations, breaking records for attendance and exceeding its fundraising goal by more than $20,000.
More than 365 tickets were sold for the event, which was held for the first time at Chamblee’s Atlanta Factory. Spruill Center CEO Alan Mothner said the experience, which included a live painting by artist Leslie Cannon, blind contour portrait drawings, card-reading fortune tellers, paintings, glass and pottery works created by Spruill artists and several large-ticket live auction items, grossed more than $80,000.
Mothner said while the organization’s employees, volunteers and artists were thrilled with the success of the fundraiser, they were equally excited “about the fact that so many people came out to support Spruill and the arts community.”
“It was great to see so many new faces celebrating our community, and supporting the arts in general,” he said.
The city of Dunwoody, which awarded Spruill $1 million to help fund the center’s seven-studio expansion project, was the winner of the center’s Bob Kinsey award. Kinsey, the center’s longtime CEO, retired in 2020 after 16 years at the helm.
“After his retirement, Spruill established the Bob Kinsey Award, that recognizes three hallmarks of Bob’s tenure at Spruill – dedication to Spruill Center for the Arts, passion for the arts, and inspiration of others through their work,” Mothner said. “This year, on the cusp of a transformational expansion project that will create seven new studio spaces and a community room, we recognized the longstanding partnership between the City of Dunwoody and the Spruill Center for the Arts by extending this year’s award to the city of Dunwoody.”
Regency Center was the presenting sponsor of the event. Other supporters included Discover Dunwoody, Alston & Bird, Georgia’s Own Credit Union, Georgia Power, interlokit, JWB Realty Services, the Piedmont Bank and the Perimeter Center Improvement Districts.
The event sponsors included Rough Draft Atlanta/Reporter Newspapers, which Mothner said was a key component in the fundraiser’s record-breaking attendance.