Daniel McDonald
A new Baldwin County organization seeks to bring the best out of the community’s young people by providing them with a creative environment in which to express themselves.
Gregory and Toyia Barnes are launching Campus Club Milledgeville to give area students, ages 12 to 18, the opportunity to engage in the performing arts and thusly increase their possibilities for success inside and outside the classroom.
Thursday, the Barneses are inviting the community to learn more about Campus Club Milledgeville by attending a “Getting To Know Campus Club” informational and fundraising dinner at 7 p.m. in Georgia College & State University’s Magnolia Ballroom.
Campus Club Milledgeville will be an affiliate of Macon-based Campus Club Inc. The organization will partner with groups like the Pittsburgh Industrial Teacher Service Company (PITSCO) and the Berklee City Music Network to provide area youth with the resources to explore their creative sides in an artistic environment while learning the skills that will help them to succeed in the classroom and in life.
Gregory Barnes told The Union-Recorder that students who engage in creative activities such as music, theatre and the graphic arts are shown to perform better in the academic setting.
From his own experiences, Barnes said he has come to know himself and what he is capable of, better, through his dedication to the arts and more specifically songwriting and sound engineering.
“As an artist, songwriter and sound engineer, I’ve felt the need to get the attention of kids through the expression of the things they like,” he said. “By educating with art we can begin getting through to the kids.”
Barnes said Campus Club Milledgeville will use technology to connect students at the Milledgeville site to partner organizations, such as the Berklee City Music Network, across the country.
“The program is designed to give young people an interactive opportunity to grow in the arts,” he said.
Campus Club Milledgeville will provide its programming to the community’s young people free of charge, so the Barnes’ will work to solicit donations, receive grant funding and create mutually beneficial partnerships to sustain the program.
To learn more about Campus Club Milledgeville, attend Thursday’s “Getting to Know Campus Club” dinner benefit at the GCSU Magnolia Ballroom or call Campus Club Milledgeville at (478) 387-0200.
Barnes said Campus Club Milledgeville will have a soft start in January but hopes to enroll about 250 young people by summer 2010.
Visit Campus Club Milledgeville’s Web site at www.campusclubsus.org/Milledgeville/.
