When Sweet Briar College held its first Cultural Arts Day 20 years ago, it consisted of an architectural and historical tour of Sweet Briar House, the Sweet Briar Museum and the then-new Pannell Art Gallery.

Flash forward to 2006, and you’ll find that Arts Day has come to incorporate all facets of the College’s vibrant artistic life. The fifth-graders of Amherst County Public Schools will have much to enjoy as they attend Sweet Briar’s Arts Day, to be held this year on Friday, April 7.

According to Rebecca Massie Lane, director of the College’s art galleries and the arts management program, one of the program’s goals is to strengthen relations between the College and Amherst community. Another is to artistically impact area youths. “We’re hoping to reach children young enough to not have pre-conceived ideas about art,” she says. “We also hope that we’re fostering sparks of interest in art and in arts patronage, and perhaps encourage young artists.”

Arts Day has come a long way from its inception in 1986, and today encompasses both the visual and performing arts. The young participants of this year’s program can expect to learn about everything from African masks to Chinese writing and calligraphy, in addition to the tour of Sweet Briar architecture that marked the beginning of Arts Day 20 years ago. The programs are created and presented by staff, faculty and students.

“It’s a chance for [students] to explore things they haven’t done before,” Lane says, noting a particular favorite of past years. “One of the things they love a lot is dance, because they like movement. It’s a chance to express themselves through movement in a non-athletic, less competitive and more creative way.”

But is it possible to fully engage a fifth-grader in arts appreciation in just one day? Lane emphatically believes so. She relates a story of two Sweet Briar dance majors who volunteered at Arts Day a few years ago, and who had been exposed to Arts Day as Amherst fifth-graders a few years earlier.

“They said, ‘Arts Day was what told us that we could be dancers for a living,’ ” she says.

As for the current batch of students, “If there’s a fertile soul out there who’s ready to be inspired, then it can happen.”

For more information, e-mail rmlane@sbc.edu or call (434) 381-6248.

— By Katie Beth Ryan '08