Ethical Society Grants Support Youth Art Experiences

By Moe White

The Ethical Society of Asheville recently awarded grants of $2,500 each to Delta House and to Asheville Middle School. The awards were presented during the Ethical Society’s Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, platform meeting on January 16, at which Beverly Kaiser Wedthoff and Kathryn Liss spoke on Eliminating Racism in Asheville.

Both grants will be used to promote education programs through the arts, according to Jackie Simms, president of the ESA. “These grants are designated to provide visual and performing arts activities to low-income youth who would not otherwise be able to participate,” she said.

Shirley Whitesides of Delta House and Travis Herbert of Asheville Middle
School, Supervisor of LEAAP and Campus Director of IRL, accepted the
awards from John Spitzberg, Chair of the Ethical Society of Asheville’s
Ethical Action Committee. [See below for details of the two programs.]

The Ethical Society was able to provide the awards through a bequest
from the estate of attorney Maurice Spitzberg of Boca Raton, Florida.
John Spitzberg noted that his father’s life was enriched by the arts; he
painted in both water color and oil, and two of his paintings were on
display during the January 16 presentation. “There is no doubt that my
father would have been pleased at the awarding of these grants for low
income youth to experience learning through the arts,” he said.

The Ethical Society of Asheville is a non-theistic alternative faith
community affiliated with the American Ethical Union. Inspired by the
ideal that the supreme aim of human life is to create a more humane
society, members respect the worth and dignity of the individual and
strive to treat each human being so as to bring out the best in him or
her.

At the group’s next meeting on February 20, local author Bill Branyon
will discuss liberal thought in the context of a wide variety of
religious and non-religious communities. For more information contact
[email protected], www.aeu.org, [email protected], or
(828) 687-7759.