The Apache Pow Wow

To show Tyler's appreciation for the arts, the City of Tyler has created an advisory committee called the Downtown Tyler Arts Coalition. Since last fall, Tyler has been in the process of forming this organization. The DTAC currently consists of several artists, art collectors and art faculty from Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas at Tyler. The DTAC will consist of four subsets of activities: covering visual art, theatre, music and dance. The membership will be open to the public and each subset will pull together possible events for the city. "DTAC will be comprised of people living in Tyler and its surrounding areas, people who will actually create new ideas and do the work in order to bring the arts to Tyler," Debbie Cannatella, an artist who has displayed work from New Orleans to Chicago, said. She is one of the main representatives for the visual arts subset. She was selected by Beverly Abell, Tyler Main Street Program director, and started with the original concept of DTAC. "I have found these guys to be extremely professional and experienced," Abell said. "This idea has been a real joy among artists." The organization is currently focusing on the Visual Arts subset and an opening of a Main Street Gallery. The city wants a high-end gallery and intends to keep the bar raised on the quality and integrity of the work. The city is hoping to open the gallery this June. DTAC Visual Art subset also will be organizing First Friday art walks to highlight local artists through window displays in the businesses located around the square. They hope this will help their plan to revitalize downtown Tyler. "Downtown is the calling card of a community. It speaks more of (the) condition of your community," Abell said. The coalition hopes for community involvement in the upcoming projects. "Anyone is allowed and more than welcome to join in." Abell said. "From what the community knows about it, they are really excited." As an example of their involvement, Festival on the Square continues to move toward being a large musical event with concerts, as well as Tyler's Blues Festival. DTAC hopes musicians will be interested in venues during the First Friday art walks, as well as choral opportunities for the downtown area. DTAC already has helped the East Texas Symphony Orchestra relocate to the square, and they look forward to organizing art events to coincide with special openings of the Symphony. "Theater is strong and vibrant in Tyler, and we hope the theatre subset will organize events to bring theatrical opportunities to downtown Tyler," Cannatella said. "Open air theatrical performances for the public are one of our dreams in order to expose Tyler to more theater and bring them into the auditorium halls." The dance subset will create venues to showcase Tyler's dancers. From belly dancers to ballet dancers and liturgical dance. All dancers will have an opportunity to share their form of movement with the rest of Tyler and expand its dance interest. For more information go to the Tyler city Web site www.tylertexas.com.

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