Leaving Manteo

The last couple of days in Manteo were very weird and strange as we were involved in a car crash on October 23^rd and so we had to miss our Bon Voyage Party and waste 2 days waiting for a replacement hire car as the last memory.

To coin a phrase we were ‘t-boned’ – I was driving and started to turn left at some traffic lights, turning on to a main road and as I pulled out someone ran straight into me driver’s side on as he had gone through a red light. Luckily myself, Dave (who was in the front passenger seat) and our friend Sally (visiting us from Tucson and was in the back) were all not too badly injured. Sally was actually hurt the most and had a ot of bruising and was hardly able to breathe immediately after the accident. Sally and I were whisked off very quickly to the hospital, in separate ambulances, for an MRI to check for any damage. I took a little longer to get out of the car as I had neck and head pain and so the paramedics didn’t want to take any chances and the damaged driver side doors were cut off by the ‘jaws of life’ courtesy of the fire department so I didn’t have to climb out over the passenger side!

All of this was expertly handled by the various departments – police, fire, hospital – the driver of the other vehicle was devastated and hung around until we were all on our way to the hospital. His insurance company will handle and pay for all the costs for the car and medical treatment.

The worst thing was that we missed our Bon Voyage party that had been organised for us by our friend from The Elizabethan Gardens, Carl Curnutte. We did put in a brief appearance on our way home and there were a few people still there, but it was very sad not to have everyone gathered to say goodbye to, eat and drink with, deliver a leaving speech and take final photos of the many great contacts and new friends made. There was a lot of food and rink left over and we were given some 'to go' boxes filled with goodies to eat when we got home. We finally made it home to recover and get over the shock of it all about 3 hours after the accident. Carl Curnutte was amazing - he came to the scene immediately and stayed with us at the hospital, driving us all home. Thank you Carl!

The Sunday and Monday were the last 2 days in Manteo and very frustrating as the rental car company had to be dealt with, we had to wait until 4pm on Monday for another vehicle and were going backwards and forwards to the rendezvous point only to have another delay (tho I did borrow a friend’s car on Monday) and also had to fit in packing and tidying and cleaning the house.

So an unusual and unplanned end to the Manteo side of the fellowship.

I left feeling that an awful lot had been put into place as very much a starting point for future projects, collaborations, journeys and relationships. A lot has been learnt about how a small town has worked together to plan and develop it, particularly with a view to creating an attractive place for both residents and visitors and to capitalise on the history there. I have drafted a 3-year plan for an Arts Exchange Programme, between Bideford Bay Creatives and Dare County Arts Council initially, with scope for other partners to become involved, including Bideford 500, Burton Art Gallery and Museum in Bideford and The Elizabethan Gardens, The Lost Colony and the Aquarium in Manteo. As the start of the 3-year plan, there is a confirmed 'postcard project' that will happen at the end of May / beginning of June 2011 with an exchange of artist made postcards in Bideford and Manteo and a simultaneous exhibition of them in both towns.

Also the town of Manteo is very excited about and keen to jointly celebrate Bideford's Heritage Day on July 2nd, being organised by Bideford 500's Committee and by me as their Project Development Worker. There will be a live web link up and celebration on the day so that both communities can see and hear each other.

Artrageous Extravaganza

Dare County Arts Council organise an annual extravaganza called 'Artrageous' – I remember seeing this on their website earlier this year and finding it amazing that Bideford Bay Creatives had put on an event with the same name last December (a different kind of event though). I was looking forward to witnessing this and getting involved behind the scenes to understand how its all done and exactly what it entails. To say its just an art auction is an understatement. A team of about 20 volunteers, some of whom are on the Arts Council Board, work on this event year round and it culminates in an evening Art Auction to raise money for the Arts Council's Education programme. The most staggering thing other than the $20,000 they raise annually is the amount of support generated through the local community. It takes place over 2 days – the first day being a Childrens' Day with hands on art workshops where kids paint images of the area and these are used to promote the following year's event. The best ones are framed and auctioned off 1 year later – the Arts Council rather than children own the posters to encourage their parents to bid for them. They can sell for $60 to $100. One lady I spoke to was the proud and happy winner of her own daughter's poster. She had a poster in the auction in the 2 previous years also which both raised such high prices that Mom was out bid both times! There's also a kid's auction where stuff is donated by local businesses such as bikes and skateboards to be bidded for and won.

The art auction took place in the Ramada Inn at Kill Devil Hills, going North up the 'bypass' road from Manteo. Dave and I arrived in the morning at 10.30 and we both helped to put artwork on display for both the silent and live auctions. The silent auction had around a 100 pieces donated and each piece had to be identified and a bid sheet written out to go with it. All artwork had a starting price of $25 with bids going up in $10 increments. The highest bidder, identified by their bidder number, wins the art. This was open all night from 6pm and closed around 9pm. The live auction programme started with doors open at 5pm, food and drink available and whilst browsing the art on show and listening to live music from a band. At 6pm there were speeches from Kitty Dough (President of Dare County Arts Council) and Laura Martier, Executive Director. At the end of Laura's speech she announced that she is working with us on planning an arts exchange programme, and that was wonderful to have it endorsed in public. Throughout the auction itself, I was helping out on the check out desk – a bit of a procedure I had to learn - get the bidder's file, add up all the purchases, add 7.75% tax, total it up and take the payment. The 'runners' (including Dave) went off with the sheet or ticket to collect the artwork. It worked well as a system and went very smoothly, it was just a bit busy at times as a few people all wanted to check out at once.

It was very valuable to take part behind the scenes and during the event, its given me an insight into how its all planned and executed and this is something that we at Bideford Bay Creatives aspire to do. Hopefully now we can go ahead and plan an event like this, perhaps not as big in scale at least not right away, to help raise funds for the BBC.