Our Mission and Goals
MISSION
Carpe Diem Arts works independently and in partnership with other non-profits in the greater D.C. area and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to bring the visual, literary and performing arts to life in a broad range of educational and community settings – facilitating culturally diverse performances, workshops, residencies, and exhibits, while also presenting/producing community dances and concerts, choral arts programs, and fundraising events to support innovative projects arts outreach to under-served audiences.
GOALS / SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES
(a) to organize week-long engagements with artists, taking advantage of block-booking and travel discounts, while also providing artists with an opportunity to work with diverse audiences: elementary, middle and high school students and teachers, special needs populations, at-risk youth, and seniors – culminating in public performances;
(b) to produce concerts and special events at various venues, representing a broad range of cultural traditions and artistic disciplines;
(c) to host a monthly community dance with live music and dance callers (contra, circle, and square) at a venue on Maryland’s Eastern Shore;
(d) to facilitate arts enrichment activities (workshops, master classes, residencies, after-school programs) for all ages and levels of ability, with both local and visiting artists – in the visual, literary and performing arts;
(e) to produce choral arts residency projects with master composers and recording artists working with school and community choirs, culminating in major public performances -- as well as a monthly community sing, with guest artists/song leaders;
(f) to provide summer arts camp experiences for children and youth, and weekend retreats for adults and families, with opportunities to work closely with professional teaching artists;
(g) to host artist retreats on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and organize an informal network of property owners willing to share their guest houses with artists seeking opportunities to create new works;
(h) to help establish a coordinated on-line arts calendar for Talbot County, building on the success of Passport to the Arts c/o Avalon Foundation and the Office of Tourism;
(i) to partner with other area non-profits to produce fundraising events, showcases, festivals, summer arts institutes, and other cultural offerings with the goal of celebrating the arts and building strong living-learning communities.
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FOUNDING DIRECTOR, BUSY GRAHAM
Busy Graham has devoted the past three decades to education and the arts. She taught music, dance and French at schools and camps in Vermont, Denmark and France, and was the head of Arthur Morgan School in Celo, North Carolina before embarking on a career in arts administration. After eight years as founder/director of Five Corners Music, an artist booking and management agency, she became executive director of the Institute of Musical Traditions, producing over 50 concerts and special events each year from 1995-1999. In 1995 she founded the non-profit Class Acts Arts outreach and presenting organization, initially as an outreach project of IMT. In 1999 she transitioned into a full-time position as executive director of Class Acts Arts. In its first decade, Class Acts grew from a grassroots, home-basement venture to a nationally recognized non-profit arts outreach and presenting organization with a staff of 11 and a budget of over $1 million. Class Acts Arts currently facilitates more than 2,500 programs per year, reaching an estimated 450,000 children and teachers, adults, at-risk youth, seniors and special needs populations throughout Maryland, D.C. and Virginia. Several initiatives were launched under Busy Graham’s leadership: Project Youth ArtReach (targeting at-risk youth and youth in correctional settings), Class Acts Arts Presents (Kaleidoscope Family Performance Series, Arts Alive, Jump Start with the Arts), Hoop & Holler for Health (teaching health and nutrition through the arts), Class Acts on Tour (national touring roster of artists, now owned and operated by Margie Farmer), and the Carpe Diem Choral Arts Residency Project.
Ms. Graham has served on numerous steering committees, grants review panels, and played a key role in Silver Spring’s designation as one of Maryland’s first Arts and Entertainment Districts. In 2006 she received a Certificate of Honor from the Smithsonian Discovery Theater for a “Legacy of 20 Years of Excellence in Service to the Arts and Education of Young People,” and in 2004 received the Community Award for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities at the Montgomery County Executive's Ball for the Arts. She served as president of the board for the Old Blair Auditorium Project in Silver Spring from 2003-2005, and currently serves on the board of Lumina Studio Theater, the YouthReach committee of Chesapeake Chamber Music, as well as the Maryland State Arts Council steering committee for the Maryland Presenters Network. Since 2006, Busy’s focus has been on arts development projects and the presenting of fundraising events for numerous non-profits, community dances and concerts, both on the Eastern Shore and in the D.C. area. She continues to work as an independent arts consultant and producer, while also expanding the reach of a new initiative, Carpe Diem Arts, involving the partnering of community arts and social service organizations to bring a broad range of visual, literary and performing arts programs to schools and communities.
