As the Vilar Performing Arts Center celebrates its 14th season we are reminded how truly fortunate we are to have such a jewel of a facility in our back yard. A cultural center like this, providing such a breadth of exceptional live performing arts is cornerstone for building community. The Vilar Center Guild is dedicated to ensuring our whole Valley has access to this amazing resource and we would like to send our sincere thanks to all of you who have supported our fundraising and community outreach endeavors.

Some of you reading this article may be asking yourself, “What is the Vilar Guild? We are an organization of more than100 men and women from across the valley with a mission to build awareness, accessibility and audience for the Vilar Center. We fulfill that mission through community outreach, fundraising events and performance underwriting. We use the term “outreach,” but really we are a “reach out” organization. We reach out to people and organizations from east Vail to Gypsum providing diverse opportunities to make VPAC part of their lives.

For eight years now our reach out programs have included scholarships for young performers to attend the Vail Valley Performing Arts Academy, collaborating with the Buddies Program and The Literacy Project to bring children and their families to the Vilar who might not otherwise be able to attend.

We have provided tickets to Eagle County senior citizen groups and students attending area dance schools. We are also proud of the fact that every year since our inception we have provided significant program and series underwriting. The guild is constantly striving to create more opportunities to make the Vilar Center a place to be utilized and treasured by as many Eagle County citizens as possible.

Our next exciting fundraising event will be Sunday, Feb. 19, in the Vilar Center's lower lobbyfrom 5 to 7 p.m. Wear your festive Western attire and join the guild for cocktails and appetizers before an unforgettable concert with country superstar Randy Travis. Call the Vilar box office at 970-845-8497 for your ticket to this great event!

Every dollar raised goes directly to guild endeavors. Not one dollar goes to our administrative work. Tickets for the pre-performance event are $40, and that covers drinks and appetizers.

Special auction items this year include an opportunity to bid on a private performance by singer-songwriter Joni Harms for 24 lucky folks! Joni, no stranger to success, has been a winner of multiple Academy of Western Artists Awards, including top honor for Entertainer of the Year in 2002.

In 2003, Harms was named Female Vocalist of the Year and accepted the award for Song of the Year from the Western Music Association. Harms continues building audiences through appearances on the famed Grand Ole Opry and even an appearance at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Learn more about this exciting performer at JoniHarms.com.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet Joni and hear a sampling of her great music on the 19th!

Our second auction item will be a fabulous original oil painting, “Mountain Lake Reflections,” by highly acclaimed artist Josh Elliott, who says, “A successful painting, to me, represents nature's trut filtered through the artist.” Stop by Claggett Rey Gallery in Vail to view this beautiful artwork before it becomes available for auction on the 19th at the Vilar.

The Vilar Guild is always looking for new members. If you are interested, contact the guild's president, Doris Dewton, at VilarGuild@gmail.com. Please check us out at the vilarpac.org website.

The mission of the guild is to create an atmosphere of awareness and appreciation for the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek.

Vilar Guild