By Claudia Loucks
Correspondent

The next Brown Bag Lunch will be from 12 to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the Geneseo Public Library. The public, who wants to meet in friendship, are invited to attend. No reservation is required. Questions can be emailed at David Smith at david@smithstudiogenseo.com.

What began as an “action” group of Geneseo citizens that met in an effort to better understand the different existing art groups in the city has become “All For Arts,” a meeting of people who believe in supporting the arts in Geneseo.

The founding members are Don Beck, David Smith and Sheilah Wigant-McGee.

David Smith explained the history of the group, which first met in 2019…”Several civic leaders were present, with the goal of seeing what might be done to create a better understanding between Geneseo’s arts organizations. Kevin Maynard joined in, and at the time he had recently been appointed executive director of the Quad City Arts. Kevin has a close connection the community as he graduated from Geneseo High School.”

It was through the discussion held that day that the group learned from Maynard about the constructive brown bag lunches held in Galesburg…”These lunches had brought people together who had similar interests, and it gave everyone an opportunity to share ideas.”

This spark of direction helped anew Geneseo group to merge into what is today known as “All For Arts.”

The three founding members organized a first “Brown Bag Lunch” in June of 2019 at the Geneseo Public Library with one main goal, to bring together community members who had an interest in the arts, Smith said, and added, “This included all the ‘Arts,’ in its many forms – music, fine art, dance, theater, writers and poets, gardeners – anyone who might wish to get together with others of similar interests.”

At that first gathering in 2019, it was decided that periodically getting together was a good idea, and four times a year seemed to be enough, Smith said.

Those who attend take their own lunch to the Geneseo Library for an informal gathering….”Notes and minutes are of minor concern,” Smith said. “This is not a formal organization. It operates on the idea that participants are all there in support of each other, and to hear what is happening within the community from different points of view.”

In 2020, the pandemic interfered with the quarterly gatherings of “All For Arts,” and the well-established beginning of this civic group began to fade. Recently, in the last 18 months the group has begun to gather again.

“This group is simply a meeting of people who believe in supporting the arts in Geneseo,” Smith said. “They don’t raise money, but they do raise ideas and interest in the arts.”

There are now more than 60 participants on the mailing list of All For Arts and Smith explained these people are kept informed on what is discussed at the lunches, and on occasion they receive e-mails to remind them about important events in Geneseo.

“Meetings are designed to be extremely positive and supportive in their roundtable format,” Smith said. “Brown Bag Lunches are strictly limited to 60 minutes with every effort made to allow everyone to be heard. This is not a formal group and no one leaves a lunch with extra tasks to tackle, unless they want to develop a new idea/direction that the meeting might inspire.”