Local Draw-A-Thon Proceeds Go Toward Regional Art Grant Funding

Inside the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts, with jazz music playing softly in the background, people drew from the various still life setups or from the live model that was on the stage. 

For three hours on Oct. 24, the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts hosted, in collaboration with their sponsored local organization, the Cayuga Arts Collective, the fifth Draw-A-Thon. 

The Draw-A-Thon

Managing Director of Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts (TCFA), Mark Costa, defines the Draw-A-Thon Café as a local part of a global event.  

“The Draw-A-Thon is a regional event, which is a part of The Big Draw; The Big Draw being an international event, which celebrates drawing in all of its forms,”  Costa said.

The Big Draw Festival is an international event backed by The Big Draw organization located in the UK. 

The Draw-A-Thon Café was open and free to the public, while it provided drawing materials for community members and attendees to participate in the art of drawing.

Attendees of the event could find inspiration from one of the multiple stations. The set ups included a scientific illustration station that had fresh plucked plants from the same morning, and a microscope that can be used to see the structure of natural elements such as a leaf or flower. 

The still lifes consisted of themed tables of various objects including a table with fruit, wine, plants and a teal watering can. Another table had purses, a mannequin head and a bottle of Chanel perfume. Musical instruments were placed on another table. In addition to the still lifes, there were two models for live figure drawing. There was also a children’s section with coloring pages, crayons and markers.

Donations

As the event was open and free to the public, there was no entry  fee, but donations were encouraged as they would go toward funding for the new grant titled the Paddle Grant. The grant will provide 500 dollars to one of the Cayuga Arts Collective members as an opportunity for professional growth. 

Co-founder of The Cayuga Arts Collective, Marina Delaney, talked about the decision to create the grant. 

“This is the first year we’re doing it, kind of as a commemoration for our 5th year in business. So we wanted to come up with something that would be meaningful, again to serve our members, because that’s our purpose,” Delaney said. 

Domenica Brockman, co-founder of Cayuga Arts Collective, said the Collective has gained about 70 members since its founding. 

 “Our goal was to bring together all the artists in the community under one roof in an environment where we could gather and show work,” Brockman said.

Cutting Back and Adding coffee 

The first Draw-A-Thon in 2017 was 10 hours long. Then the event was cut back to six hours after the first year. Now, in 2021, this year’s Draw-A-Thon was cut down to three hours due to Covid. 

Delaney said the decreasing time led to a change in structure of the day — and the introduction of coffee. 

 “It was a long event and so we decided to kind of scale it back and to make it more to make it more of like a Sunday afternoon,” co-founder Delaney noted, “It’s like once you decide to scale it back and then it’s like, well why don’t we move it from Saturday to Sunday and then we thought, well we could serve coffee.” 

After this idea came, the organization reached out to local coffee business Gimme! Coffee to ask if it  would be willing to donate coffee for the event. 

About the TCFA 

Mark Costa, director of the TCFA,  said the conservatory’s mission, which includes sponsoring events, is critical in keeping the arts alive in our community.  

“Fine arts are an integral part of our mission to provide opportunities for personal expression, as well as enjoying performances and engaging in the arts at all of it’s levels,” Costa said. 

As the TCFA historic building structure was made in 1851, it’s in need of some renovations and Costa said that the plan is to work on that for the next two years. Even as the space is looking to do upkeep and grow, it is still providing people with the atmosphere of community. 

“It’s such a beautiful space. It’s so perfectly located. And it’s a way to bring people together,” Delaney said. 

To learn more about the history of the Draw-A-Thon watch the video above.