lee county arts council

The Lee County Arts Council is pleased to host Troy Calkins, a Golden Leaf Foundation Scholar at N.C. State, as our summer intern. Troy will be teaching classes at Center for Independent Living, LCI, Inc., Stevens Center, and will also be teaching classes to local Hispanic group. He has a very small stipend for supplies, so we are asking the community to help him out with donating any of the following items (10-15 people per class): chairs or step stools, paper (construction and tissue), tiles or plates to break up to make mosaic tiles, grout, matboard, cardboard, canvas, flower pots, t-shirts, paint (acrylic and watercolor), charcoal, pastels, paint brushes, scissors, adhesives, and magazines for collages. All donations are tax deductible and will be used to enrich the lives of many people in our community. Please call Beth Whitehead at 1-919-799-6596. Items may be dropped off at the LCAC office in The Carolina Artists’ Colony or Beth will be glad to come to you for these items.

 Mitch’s work caught my eye because I noticed that he seemed to have a lot going on.  After meeting him, I cannot believe what an understatement that was.   Mitch works full time at RTP, is active in music and outreach at New Hope Baptist Church, works closely with young musicians in Sanford and surrounding communities, owns and operates L2 Media Productions, and is a photographer.  

There has been a lot of buzz about up and coming music groups in Sanford and Mitch has a lot to do with that.  He wanted to provide outreach to musicians and offer them a forum in which to connect with each other and the community.  He created a webpage, The Central Scene, whre these groups are able to bounce around ideas, collaberate on projects, and promote their bands.  Many local bands have participated in events at the Jaycee Hut and the Lee County Arts Center recently.   These young artists are so committed to our community that they rented the venue with their own funds, and either took donations of canned food for Christians United Outreach Center or charged a cover fee and then donated all of the proceeds to local non-profit groups.  Mitch has helped further by photographing the bands at their events and allowing them to use the pictures to promote themselves.

 In addition to his commitment to being a mentor, Mitch also believes that we have much to learn from our youth.  His son, Sam Lassiter, produced his own film, “Burying the Truth,” which has been submitted to four film festivals; FilmSpark in Raleigh, The Ava Gardner Film Festival in Smithfield, Sidewalk Film Festival in Mobile, AL, and ConCarolina Festival in Charlotte, NC.  Sam inspired Mitch’s interest in film-making, and he gives credit to Tony Murnaham of Fayetteville for mentoring them.  Currently, L2 Productions is producing a faith-based film titled “Broke But Not Broken.” The production group is currently casting for this film and plans to include local actors among the cast.

Mitch is a great guy who loves his family and is committed to his community.  I encourage you to visit his websites,  www.l2mediaproductions.com and www.thecentralscene.com , as well as his facebook sites of the same names.