Jackson Group Applying For Arts Grant

The Roaring River Cultural Alliance will apply for a grant to build a pocket park including amphitheater in Gainesboro.

Alliance Co-Founder Valerie Goetz said Jackson County would benefit from having easily accessible art. Goetz said the mission of the Alliance is to empower minds, ignite futures, reveal possibilities, and transform lives through the power of art, especially among children.

“This Pocket Park Amphitheatre that were hoping to build will be a place where even the elementary students can walk to,” Valerie Goetz said. “And there classes can have performances on a stage that they aren’t able to do now.”

Goetz said the open-air amphitheater will be located between Timeless Events and the Roaring River Distillery. It would feature an elevated stage, allowing children to participate “on stage” for the first time. Goetz also said the Alliance plans to partner with other organizations to advance the arts initiative.

“We’re already working with a number of other non-profit organizations here in Jackson county,” Goetz said. “To promote the arts and sharing resources.”

Goetz also said that the renovations will extend beyond the Pocket Park Amphitheater, with plans to collaborate with the Tennessee Arts Commission in the future.

“We hope to keep them (events) as inexpensive as possible or free,” Goetz said. “And so were very excited about rolling it out and once we get some of this grant money, I think we can do bigger and more things.”