Millington Chamber of Commerce

Business Lunch

For the past nine years, I have had the unique experience of owning a thriving business that was one of the largest performing arts programs in this area, right here in Millington, Tennessee. I will tell you more about that shortly, but first let me take you back for a moment to help you understand where this started and how it shaped the lives of hundreds of families in our community.

Beginnings

This is a picture of my bedroom window in my childhood home in Picayune, MS where, as a child, I daydreamed about my future. I was the stereotypical “artsy” kid with the weird clothes and even weirder ideas, who never quite found my place in our small town, which before hurricane Katrina was roughly the size of Millington. But I always knew two things for sure, my mama loved me and that I was meant to dance. I started taking lessons at the ripe old age of 3. By age 14, I was more in love with it than ever. While my peers were either into their own hobbies, or out being hooligans, I was in the studio. Working, sweating, and being shaped and molded into an athlete and an artist.

The thing about dance lessons or any performing arts training, is that it can be costly, especially for a kid who spends roughly 5-6 hours a day, 5-6 days a week in the studio. My mom was a single mom who often worked extra jobs on top of owning her own hair salon, just to feed us. My entire childhood was spent living at or below the poverty line. My options for rising above these circumstances were extremely limited. There just aren’t many dance scholarships, or dance jobs in the world. My mom did my studio owner’s hair in exchange for some lessons, as a teenager I worked as an assistant teacher and eventually a full teacher to help offset the costs. But what really set the course for my training and the rest of my life, was a generous scholarship given by my dance school and community leaders. Without that incredible gift, none of what I tell you about next would have ever happened.

In 2006, I moved to Millington to be with my husband after graduating from Ole Miss. He had started his career working for NPRST on the Navy base in 2005, and we bought our first home here. I immediately noticed there was no dance school in Millington. I couldn’t sleep after this discovery! Even in my tiny hometown, there were six dance schools. All those days of daydreaming out of my bedroom window, all of the years spent learning my art in the studio, it all crystalized in that moment. It was then, I realized the reason I was brought to live in this town where I didn’t know a soul.

Dreams Become Reality

My purpose was to create a safe space for children to express themselves through dance. My husband let me use our newlywed savings to open the Millington School of Dance in August 2007. Our first year, we had 38 kids in an 800 sq ft building. I was the only instructor. By year two, we had grown to 65 kids, with an additional instructor and two teenage assistants, and we needed a new building. Our next three years were spent in a 3000 sq ft building, rapidly growing from 65 students to 140 students, and supporting 6 staff members, including myself, and several high school teaching assistants. By 2013, we realized we needed to move again, this time to a 9, 360 sq ft building. By 2014, we hit our maximum enrollment, with long waiting lists to join with over 220 students age 18 months to 64 years old. I employed 7 instructors and office staff, and 14 middle and high school aged teaching assistants, some of whom were earning their tuition, just as I had at their age.

Aside from patronizing dozens of local businesses on a weekly and monthly basis, we also supported the arts community by hiring seamstresses, architects, graphic artists, photographers, and videographers. In 2014 we were voted Best Business by the Millington Star, and by that time had a students representing not only Millington, but surrounding areas such as Atoka, Munford, Covington, Brighton, Eads, Arlington, Bartlett, Downtown Memphis, Cordova, and Germantown. At least 20-30% of our families were also military.

Between our dance families and my own donations, we gave over $7,000 in dance scholarships during the 2015-2016 school year alone to families in our community who were unable to pay due to reasons like job loss or parent illness. We gave because we know that when life gets difficult, that’s when kids, more than ever, need a healthy outlet to express themselves.

What I could not have known back in 1996 when I was daydreaming out my little window, or in 2007, when I taught my first class as the owner of my studio, the greater impact the studio would have on our community. My studio brought over 220 families a week to an area of town that needed the traffic. Our families patronized two hair salons, a bank, a pharmacy, two retail shops, and two restaurants in our street alone every week- this is not to mention the families who were not from Millington, who ate, shopped, and formed very strong bonds with other families and businesses in our town. I also could not have known that Millington School of Dance would one day represent Millington on a national stage, winning top awards for excellence in technique and more importantly, sportsmanship. Many of the kids who joined as preschoolers and young elementary kids are now as close as family, attending each other’s High School graduations and still dancing along side each other every day. The young woman from Nashville I hired back in 2008 eventually became the owner of the dance school when I sold it a last year. Her full-time instructor is one of the people who joined our school 8 years ago, when she was in Middle School. They are now both nationally recognized teachers and choreographers.

Why Arts Matter

What happened in our community because of Millington School of Dance is not an anomaly. I share my story with you today to make you aware that there is a hunger for this type of education and experience in the arts among the youth and families in our town. Dance is only one example, and it will now impact generations of Millington residents. The arts are the true heart of any community. Art is more than a hobby, it is the purest and oldest form of universal human expression. Supporting the arts, especially for our youngest citizens is essential to our businesses and our quality of life in Millington. Being involved in any area of the arts, be it painting, photography, dance, music, theater, fashion, sculpting, design, etc, not only keeps kids focused on their goals, it also gives them a reason to rise above difficult issues at home as opposed to seeking excitement in unhealthy ways, such as drugs and violence.

The arts have a GREAT impact on the type of people we become. Artists are disciplined. Artists are problem solvers. Artists are self motivated. Artists are doers. This sounds like someone you would want to hire to work for you, right? Creating is more than a hobby for some of us. It is necessary to who we are. We make things happen. We can’t do it alone.

Support the MAC

This is where the MAC serves a great purpose in our community. Our goal is to create a network for businesses and artists that will in turn, create a vibrant community. Our goods are intangible, but our effect is far reaching. As a group of creative problem solvers and doers, the MAC supports all areas of the arts in our community. For example, we are sponsoring Playhouse 51 for the March performance of the World Premiere of a new play, “Both Sides.” We are hosting our annual Student Art Contest where we will exhibit over 250 pieces of art, we will hand out ribbons to students, and checks to area Arts teachers. We are hosting a slient auction to support area Arts scholarships. In addition, we are sponsoring the Millington + Military Centennial Art Contest and will host a special exhibit at the MAC House in April to honor awardees in grades PK-12th grade. We have scheduled summer art classes for children and adults, and one of our most exciting projects this summer, we will offer our first week-long theater camp for up to 30 children in the community.

We are also thrilled about creating the opportunity for Millington to have its own Student Arts Council. I’m sure many of you have seen great things come from Millington Youth Leadership and we are excited to create another way for middle and high school students to engage in our community. We are planning to help establish the Student Arts Council and then mentor these kids as they develop youth activities in our town and give other kids the chance to share their music, poetry, visual arts, choreography, and photography. The MAC believes that allowing children to become passionate about the things they love will empower them to create a better world.

We want Millington to shine! Millington is already home to many successful artists, singer-songwriters, published authors and playwrights, a nationally award winning costume designer, winners of national poetry and art contests, and we have kids going to colleges on full rides because of their participation in band, choir, and fine art. And of course, we are home to these awesome goats. Speaking of the painted goats, they are a great example of how so many businesses in Millington stepped up to partner with the MAC to enrich our community. There are so many ways you can join us in making Millington a better place to live. The Millington Arts Council is a 100% volunteer non profit organization. For us to make a better place for you to do business, we have ways you can get involved:

-As a business owner, you and your employees can volunteer to help set up and run an art exhibit, man a table at Goat Days in the artist village, help organize materials for our theater camp;

-You can donate supplies such as paper and paint for our free children’s art classes, or donate materials for building sets and displaying art;

- You can sponsor local artists to create public works of art at the new park Millington is building- such as sculpture, painted benches and trash cans;

-You can promote our events and display promotional material in your businesses. You can display local art in your businesses;

We want you to join the MAC as an individual, or as a business- where you can become part of our community and promote your business while sponsoring the MAC.

Today, we have new windows to look out and daydream. The MAC recently acquired the old Chamber of Commerce house, and we are working to renovate it as we make home for the Arts right here in Millington. Inside these walls, we will hold classes, exhibits, book signings, open mic nights for poets, singers, and songwriters and many other events that will bring beauty to life in this town. It's time for you to become a part of our story. Join the MAC and let your art be the heart of our community.

Photography by: Bing Osterman

Why Art is the Heart of Our Community

Bing Osterman, Special Events & Fundraising

2017 Community Student Arts Show