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- [S27] The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com/, (Blount County, Tennessee), 28 Jan 2009.
Art and philanthropy: Talents run in family involved in new Civic Arts Center
Harold and Jean Lambert and grandson Kevin Painter may not agree on whether artistic talent runs in the family, but it's obvious that a commitment to Blount County does.
Recently, the Lamberts and Kevin, along with wife Amanda (Winn) Painter, have made generous pledges to the Civic Arts Center (CAC), fervently believing that the CAC will help improve the quality of life for Blount Countians, the economic health of the community and the educational experience of Maryville College students.
"A project like this can take a community from being good to being great," said Kevin Painter, who serves as chairman of the executive committee of the CAC Advisory Board. "Amanda and I aren't just supporting this project financially; we're encouraging others to contribute to ensure that the Civic Arts Center becomes a transformational arts gathering place for the College and our community."
On Friday, Kevin Painter will announce the launch of the community campaign for the CAC in a special event scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Davis Loft. The public is invited.
"When again will we see the federal government, the state government, the cities' governments and Maryville College agree to something?" he asked. "This is a partnership of a lifetime -- an opportunity that shouldn't be overlooked."
A major performing arts facility that is being constructed through a partnership between Maryville College and the cities of Maryville and Alcoa, the CAC will celebrate the art and culture of the Appalachian region by serving as a venue for local musicians, performers and artists.
Its design will also accommodate plays and musicals, concerts by touring musicians and orchestras, traveling art exhibits, film series, children's plays and presentations by nationally recognized speakers.
The price tag of the CAC is expected to be around $47.3 million. Partnering with the cities of Maryville and Alcoa and state and federal government, Maryville College committed to working with Clayton Homes CEO Kevin Clayton and other members of the CAC fundraising committee to raise the necessary dollars, in addition to donating the land where the facility will be located.
"Now is the time for all residents who want the CAC to become a reality to participate and give," Painter said, referring to the launch of the community campaign. "Gifts of any and all amounts are welcomed."
Lifelong connection
For Maryville native Kevin Painter, the arts and Maryville College have been intertwined since his childhood.
He started taking piano lessons at age 6 from Mary Lee Coleman, a Maryville College alumna, and was later a pupil of MC graduate Trent Gilmore. He learned to play the cello from Bill Robinson while in the fourth grade, and joined the Maryville-Alcoa College-Community Orchestra (now called the Orchestra at Maryville College) while in the eighth grade, performing with the group in Wilson Chapel until he graduated from Maryville High School in 1993.
He performed on MC's stages as an actor in the Blount County Junior Playhouse.
"The college was very important - not only having the teachers and other instructors who had been over at the college, but having a location there on campus where you could perform. Such as they were, (the Fine Arts Center and Wilson Chapel) were the best that we had in the area."
Painter's vocal training came from years of participation in choirs at First United Methodist Church in Maryville. He considers the church's choir director, Terry Wilson, and Robinson "major musical influences" in his life.
The musical training was more than sufficient. Painter earned a music scholarship to Furman University in Greenville, S.C. He double-majored in music (emphasis in cello) and political science.
His positive experience at Furman — coupled with his and Amanda's commitment to this area — were motivating factors in the Painters' decision to back the CAC.
"Here, we have a huge opportunity to really attract more students as fine arts majors to the college and to have a facility that will help build a faculty that is truly renowned not only in East Tennessee but in the Southeast," he said.
Amanda Painter, a William Blount High School graduate who earned her degree from Maryville College in 2004, studied photography at MC and remembers the less-than-desirable learning and work spaces in the Fine Arts Center. She agreed that a state-of-the-art facility will help recruit gifted arts students, but pointed out that it will also make a positive impression on other prospective students touring the campus.
Generational appeal
For decades, the Lamberts have pulled into the Maryville College campus from Court Street, taken a right onto Circle Drive and searched for a parking spot near Cooper Athletic Center.
Inside Cooper Athletic Center, son Randy has coached the Scots' men's basketball team for nearly 30 years. They've also seen grandsons Jason and Wesley play baseball and basketball, respectively, for the Scots.
A left turn onto Circle Drive is also familiar to the Lamberts, and they're looking forward to visits to that side of campus again when the CAC is opened. As grandparents, they attended numerous rehearsals and performances inside Wilson Chapel and the Fine Arts Center.
"We loved every minute of it," Jean said of watching her grandchildren perform on campus.
In addition to Kevin, his sister, Shannon (Painter) Johnson, was a longtime student of the Van Metre School of Dance and a performer with the Appalachian Ballet Company.
Tickets to musical performances and ballets at the CAC are likely the first the couple will purchase. But like so much of the Lamberts' previous philanthropic acts, their motivation in supporting the CAC isn't what they'll get out of it, but rather how others will benefit.
"I love what this facility is going to mean for all children - not just ours," Jean said.
Harold Lambert was a Maryville College student in 1947, when Voorhees Chapel caught fire and burned to the ground.
"We've come a long way," he said, reflecting on that 1906 structure, the mid-century Fine Arts Center and Wilson Chapel structures and finally the CAC, which is expected to be completed next year. "We've never had anything like this (CAC) in Blount County."
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