Baker University alumnus and jazz vocalist Kevin Mahogany will return to Baker University to perform at an Artist & Lecture Series event Wednesday that will raise money for the Lumberyard Arts Center Project.
“We’ve had Kevin here a number of times, so we’re eager to have him back,” John Buehler, co-chair of the advisory board for the project, said.
Director of the Artist & Lecture Series Susan Buehler, also co-chair of the advisory board for the project, said the actual fund-raiser for the project will take place directly after the performance.
“There is an invitation-only, after-hours buffet with Kevin Mahogany after the concert, and that is the fund-raiser part,” she said. “We’re charging about $50 a person for people to go to that, and that will be our primary way of raising money. Plus, we’re hoping that somebody will drop $1,000 in the pot above and beyond what the actual evening will cost.”
Susan Buehler said the idea to combine the series and the fund-raiser for the project into one evening was so the fund-raiser would be easier to conduct.
“I said ‘Well, let’s just make it a special fund-raiser through the Artist & Lecture Series, and then the Artist & Lecture Series can help sponsor this,'” she said.
Susan Buehler said the project involves fixing up a historic Baldwin City building located at 718 High St.
“It’s an old lumberyard that has since been closed … so the president of the (lumberyard arts center project) board decided one time that it might be a nice arts center for the community in which there could be art classes given, private art instruction given, complete with a theater,” she said. “… We have a Baldwin community theater, but they have to use either Rice (Auditorium) or the (Baldwin Junior High School) because there is no place else really in town for them to present anything.”
Junior Kari Gales said she was wary of a new arts center.
“It might make me a little worried that Rice might get underused,” she said. “I know they have school concerts and what not in Rice as of now because it’s kind of the big auditorium or theater in the community.”
Though concerned about the lumberyard arts project, Gales, a music education major, said she is intrigued by this Artist & Lecture Series event.
“I’m kind of excited about it because (Mahogany) came back last year and talked to some of us … about careers in the music industry,” she said.
Freshman Tawny Decker said this event interests her because it involves music she enjoys, as well as benefits an organization.
“Anything that can benefit a community that I’m a part of – I like going to stuff like that,” she said. “I love jazz so that makes me all the more want to go.”
John Buehler said the crowd series events draw depend on the performer.
“(Mahogany has) done a number of things,” he said. “He’s done master classes here, he’s done a number of concerts, he’s been involved big time in what we’ve done around here. I hope the whole thing – the concert, the pre-concert involvement down at the site, the whole thing – evolves into a real strong fund-raiser.”
Susan Buehler said a tour of the lumberyard will be available to the public at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. She said donation boxes will be placed accordingly, but no fee will be charged for the tour.
She is optimistic about the evening.
“I hope it turns out to be a really good fund-raiser,” Susan Buehler said. “I hope they earn some big money that night.”
The Artist & Lecture Series event is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Rice Auditorium.