Summer Celebration 2024: It’s Poppin!
Join us for Batesville Area Arts Council’s annual Summer Celebration: It’s Poppin’ fundraiser on June 8, 2024 at The Loft on Main Street (267 E Main St. 3rd floor), presented by First Community Bank.
Summer Celebration is back with a pop! It’s Poppin’ is a celebration of pop art, pop music, and all things pop culture. Guests will enjoy dinner, drinks, and live music by Luke Middleton and Trevor Graddy, followed by a pop music dance party with DJ Colyn Bowman.
Highlights of the night will include a pop-up art studio where guests can make their own pop art, photo ops with iconic pop art imagery to commemorate the night, and BAAC’s signature silent auction featuring unique art pieces from local artists. Throw on a pop of color or pop your collar and join us for a night of creativity, entertainment, and philanthropy!
Proceeds from Summer Celebration will support BAAC’s mission to provide educational programs, art exhibitions, workshops, and community art projects for Batesville and the surrounding areas. BAAC recently launched a capital campaign to expand its workshop space to meet growing demand for arts programming. A portion of the funds raised at Summer Celebration will go to support this important project for our community.
Tickets are $60 or $50 for BAAC members, and are available at the BAAC Gallery on Main (226 E Main St), or clicking the button below. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. For more information call (870) 793-3382.
Cathy Drew is a lifelong resident of the region that she loves to promote. She was born in downtown Batesville in the late ’60s, located in one of the eight counties she now enjoys encouraging people to visit.
Drew became associated with the Ozark Gateway Region in 1990 while working at the ad agency (The Media Market Inc.). The agency handled marketing for the regional association, where she and her co-workers produced an annual tabloid publication. She began working as the Ozark Gateway Region director in June 2000.
After Drew became director, she took the region to the next level by helping the tourism organization create a new website and moved it from the old newspaper paper tabloid publication to a color magazine format. She helped open a visitor center for the Ozark Gateway, allowing visitors to pick up information from the entire state 24/7. Over the years, Drew has helped the organization meet new marketing goals, such as in- and out-of-state marketing, assuring that all 100,000 copies of their magazines are distributed each year.
In 2016, she assisted in creating the first Ozark Gateway Region Golf Classic. The tournament continues to grow each year, allowing the organization to expand its co-op program and helping each county have dedicated promotion. Drew stays busy at Ozark Gateway as the ad sales manager, magazine editor, day-to-day office operations, trade show representative, and magazine distribution representative, all while ensuring that the region is represented all over Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Drew was featured in several local and statewide publications over the years, as well as the 1997 cover of the Ozark Gateway Region tabloid, along with her then 4-year-old son, Jon. She has received several awards, such as the Batesville Rotarian of the Year in 2010 and a three-time Paul Harris Fellow.
She also has served as an Independence County election commissioner for several years. She now serves as their co-election coordinator, helping with behind-the-scenes management of voting equipment, day-to-day election deadlines, and poll worker training.
Drew is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current membership chair.
In March of 2018, Drew was honored with induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame for her many years of dedicated service to the tourism industry.