Upcoming FUNdraising Events

You are invited to a little bit of the Cowan Music School near you!  Three sets of our down-state friends are hosting these great events to raise money for our teaching assistantship program. Come out and dance, jam, catch up with your music school friends, and help us give lots of talented young people the chance to learn to teach old time music.  If you have friends or family who haven’t yet come to the school, this is a perfect opportunity to show them how much fun they’re missing!

MOREHEAD Friday, April 21st  6:30 to 10:00 pm Rowan County Arts Center, Main Street:   Silent auction, mini-concert, jamming, cakewalk and square dance. $5/person, $10 family.  For more information contact: Karly Dawn Milner karlydawn@gmail.com

FRANKFORT  Saturday, April 29th  7:00 pm to 10:00 pm  Church of the Ascension, 331 Washington St. : Square dance, cake walk, soup beans & hot dogs, and silent art auction. $5/person. For more information contact Jim Webb: (502) 330-6688 or jimwebb1971@gmail.com

LOUISVILLE Tuesday, May 9th   6:00 pm to 8:00 pm  Kaiju Bar, 1004 East Oak St.:  Square dance at 6:00 pm, two-stepping to country classics at 7:00 pm with music by the Kentucky Round Ups featuring fiddler John Harrod. For more information: Liger428@aol.com

Welcome from Carol Ison 2017

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January 30, 2017

Dear Cowan Creek Mountain Music School Friends,

My goodness how fast a year does go!  Last year we celebrated 15 years of successful Cowan Creek Mountain Music Schools, and now we are eagerly looking forward to beginning another 15.  Even though the ground is snow covered today, I can easily visualize the grounds in June at the Cowan Center filled with all of the beautiful sounds of the varied musical instruments, harmonizing voices, the excited children’s voices in Kids on the Creek, and everything else that makes the CCMMS so very special.

From my perspective, having been a part of the school since its inception, each year I become more appreciative of what we really have right here in this little rural community of Cowan.  Growing up here on Cowan as a child, we were lucky just to have a three room school where the Cowan Center now stands, and during the summer absolutely nothing happened there.  So, when I experience the music school each summer and the anticipation and excitement of the preparations, it amazes me that something this noteworthy has formed roots right here in my own little piece of the world.  Looking at the website this morning , reading the descriptions of all the wonderful classes the school offers, and the amazing bios of the folks who are involved with the school make me so proud to be a part of it. I am so thankful that I was blessed to remain here on Cowan and be a part of the development of something so remarkable.

But that’s enough of bragging on my part.  You probably want to know if anything is going to be different this year.  Well, one thing is still the same:   it’s going to be the best year we have ever had.  We don’t know yet exactly what we will do that will make that distinction, but we promise you that we get better every year.  When you read the description of some of the Visiting Masters, maybe that is what will make the difference. Or maybe it will be that Angie DeBord is reconnecting with us in Story-Telling. Or perhaps it is the fact that Stacy Dollarhide is returning as the Program Coordinator.

Whatever it takes to make it a great year, that’s what we here at Cowan Community Center want to commit to doing.  We just want all of you who are returning, or those who are coming for the first time as students or faculty, or teaching assistant, or work study participants, to come with the idea that you are coming home for a week.  Leave the cares of this turbulent world behind and come to Cowan where you can become a part of family and of community.  Let’s all look forward to a week of renewing acquaintances, making new ones, enjoying a pace of life that still lets you sit on the front porch with neighbors and wave at the cars going by.   If you find while here that you just need a ‘time out’  I have a nice front porch just two houses below the Cowan Center, and I offer you a rocking chair or a front porch swing.  Stacy Dollarhide says she makes you the same offer.

So, with that said, what else do you need to make your plans to come to the 16th Annual Cowan Creek Mountain Music School during the week of June 19-23, 2017?  Brochures will be sent out soon, and if you have any questions feel free to call Carol Ison, Center Director, Stacy Dollarhide, Program Coordinator, or Kevin Howard, Artistic Director.

Until we see you in June, please stay warm, safe, and comfortable.  Enjoy good music when the opportunity allows you to, and please come and share your music with us on Cowan during the week of June 19-23.

My very best to all of you,

Carol Ison, Director

Cowan Community Center

81 Sturgill Branch

Whitesburg, KY  41858

Telephone:  (606) 633-9831 or (606) 634-3683

Congratulations!

We would like to congratulate the 2016 winners of memorial scholarships and teaching assisantships.  We’ll look forward to seeing you at the CCMMS 2017!

Art Stamper Scholarship Olivia Robinson, fiddle, Kings Creek, Ky
Burt Hatfield Scholarship Joey Webb, guitar & vocals, from Frankfort, Ky
Rodney Sanders Scholarship Curt Kilgore, banjo, from Neon, Ky
Teddy “Cowboy” Martin Scholarship Allie Slone, from Hindman, Ky
Paul Smith Teaching Assistantship Ella Webster, fiddle, Lexington Ky
Ray Slone Teaching Assistantship Maya Burke, banjo
Paul Adams Teaching Assistantship Heather Somers, banjo & guitar,  Louisville, Ky