The New Wilmington Arts Association (NWAA) has launched an initiative to promote healthy lifestyles for the artistic community while giving artists a new opportunity to put cash in their pockets.
Active for the Arts is NWAA's latest experiment, encouraging artists to use their athletic abilities to raise awareness and funds to support the creative activities of the New Wilmington Arts Association.
The idea was dreamed up by Communications Director Brookes Brittcher and Directror Michael Kalmbach. The board members noticed a number of NWAA members were as passionate about athletics as they were towards arts and crafts. In addition to encouraging healthy living, Active for the Arts is designed to help artists fundraise for various projects or events they're interested in by encouraging them to seek sponsors for their athletic endeavors.
“Artists are extremely economically alienated,” said Kalmbach. “When [artists] graduate with a degree in art, we don't have clear cut jobs to step into.”
Kalmbach said artists in Wilmington share similar backgrounds that include: growing up in working-class families and graduating college with “student debt.”
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Support Active for the Arts Click here to sponsor Michael Kalmbach or support the New Wilmington Arts Association. |
“These are the challenges for us to make art," Kalmbach said of some of the financial hardships faced by working artists.
On Sunday, Sept. 12, Kalmbach will compete in the Delaware DiamondMan Triathlon in Bear to fundraise and raise awareness for the NWAA and its members. He said this will the first attempt to promote Active for the Arts.
"[The triathlon] is the first foray to try to formulize this idea, because at this point [Active for the Arts] is just an idea."
He's currently accepting donations and sponsorships for the triathlon, where he will swim0.6 miles,bike16 miles and runtwo miles.
Kalmbach has never competed in a triathlon, but said he became interested in the even once he realized he was good at all three components.
“I do all these things pretty well,” he said.
Time will tell whether Active for the Arts will succeed or fail, but Kalmbach is certain of one thing: NWAA is here to stay as a beacon of light for Wilmington’s artistic community.
And its main goal is to reverse a sense of pessimism about the viability of the city’s arts scene.
“I find there is a cynicism in downtown Wilmington, that kind of permeates,” said Kalmbach, noting that Delaware artists are finding it hard to make a living off their art. “Our goal is to maintain a level of hope.”
