FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — March 25, 2020

LINCOLN CITY – Are you looking for ways to express yourself in this time of isolation? Are you missing the fellowship that comes from attending a concert or an art reception? Do you find yourself wondering what your friends and neighbors are up to, alone in their homes? If so, the Lincoln City Cultural Center invites you to experience community while keeping your distance: through the LCCC’s Creative Quarantine.

The LCCC’s Creative Quarantine will be a daily dose of art, by our community and for our community, free and accessible for everyone. You’ll find these events and activities on the center’s Facebook page, @lincolncityculture, and through Creative Quarantine family art projects. These resources will be available starting on Thursday, March 26, and will continue through the end of April – and beyond, if necessary.

The Cultural Center welcomes the community to participate in this project. If you would like to provide a project, donation, idea or other contribution, send a message through the Facebook page or contact Niki Price, 541-921-2006 or lcccdirector@gmail.com.

CREATIVE QUARANTINE KITS

Are you and your family sheltering at home, looking for a new creative activity? Come to the Creative Quarantine Drive-Through, open 1 pm to 3 pm on Thursday, March 26, at the Lincoln City Cultural Center, 540 NE Hwy. 101. Art instructor Krista Eddy is creating special Abra Cadabra Art Kits, filled with supplies, instructions, and a surprise or two. They’ll be packed using safe and sanitized procedures, and they will be available for social-distance pickup from 1 to 3 pm or while supplies last.

Were it not for the COVID19 virus, the LCCC would be in the midst of its 9 ^th annual Festival of Illusions spring break celebration of magic and art. Each afternoon, the meeting room would be crammed with kids making magic-related projects and playing creatively at the Abra Cadabra Open Art Space.

The Cultural Center has already purchased all the supplies for these projects, and art instructor Krista Eddy wants to get them in the hands of students.

“We usually call it make and take. But, for the next month, it will be take, then make,” Eddy said. “We are assuming that you have some existing art supplies at home, like glue. But if you don’t, let us know when you come through the Creative Quarantine Drive-Through. We have some extras and we can share.”

The Abra Cadabra Art Kits available on Thursday will include magic hats to assemble and decorate, a scratch art kit, sock rabbit instructions and a kit to make a multi-media “boat sailing on the ocean” art piece (in which the boat actually moves). There will be special packets for kids of different ages (depending on hat size and color preference).

There will be a bucket for donations, if you are so inclined. All contributions will go toward the purchase of more art supplies for future projects and kits.

The fun will continue with this week’s Creative Quarantine DIY Art Relief Project, a series of art projects that can be accomplished with everyday household items. These how-to sheets will be published, physically and digitally, every week in the Oregon Coast TODAY. It will also be available for download on the Cultural Center website and the LCCC’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. The first one will be “Magic Sock Rabbits.”

Artists of all ages are invited to post their projects on the LCCC Facebook Page, in the comments section of Creative Quarantine posts, or by using the hashtag #LCCCOR and #creativequarantine.

THE CREATIVE QUARANTINE STUDIO

But wait, there’s more. Starting on March 26 and until further notice, the LCCC Creative Quarantine will broadcast an online video at 7 pm every evening, Monday through Saturday, and 2 pm on Sundays. Whenever possible, the video will be live, allowing all those who are watching to post comments that the artist can see in real time.

Highlights in the upcoming calendar: a multi-media session with Nora Sherwood, a natural science illustrator, and her musician husband, Gary Burman, set for 2 pm this Sunday, March 29. Celtic music lovers should also mark their calendars for Sunday, April 12, when fiddler Kevin Burke will give a special 30-minute concert from his home studio in Portland. Burke was originally scheduled to perform at the LCCC at the same time and place. He’ll be taking requests from LCCC Celtic season ticket holders for this special Creative Quarantine presentation.

The schedule is still under construction, but look for art demonstrations, yoga sessions, gallery tours, cooking classes and more. If you’d like to be included in the schedule, leave a message on the @lincolncityculture Facebook Page or write to LCCC director Niki Price at lcccdirector@gmail.com.

“If it weren’t for this virus, we would all be enjoying art, craft, yoga, music, culture and community, together at the Cultural Center. Until we can be together again, let’s celebrate our own talents in the Creative Quarantine studio,” said LCCC director Niki Price. “We need our culture, more than ever. We’re counting on our community to respond, by posting their own work in the comments section of each video.”

It’s free to watch and participate in the online Creative Quarantine. The daily Facebook video will also feature an opportunity to donate, if you want to support creativity on the central coast. Each day’s contributions will be split evenly between the nonprofit Lincoln City Cultural Center and the featured artist (or the artist’s chosen charity). There will be occasional promotions and giveaways, to spice up your social isolation. On March 29, for example, Nora Sherwood will be giving away three sets of notecards featuring her illustrations of flora and fauna.

The LCCC will also reward its donors, both new and renewing members giving $35 or more, with the official Chessman Gallery 2020 canvas shopping bag. Tough, useful and beautiful, this tote has an original graphic owl design by Danelle Jones on one side, and the 2020 gallery schedule on the other. For more information on the Creative Quarantine studio series, call Niki at 541-921-2006.

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